Spore (by Will Wright): Release Date Announced

Will Wright, creator of such games as Sim City and The Sims, has been working on a game called Spore for… oh, years and years now.

I first heard about the game back in 2005, and after seeing various videos of the how the game works… I’ve been anticipating its release ever since. Two years ago, I signed up for the newsletter; today, I got the first newsletter they sent out, announcing that an official release date has been announced: September 7th, 2008.

The trailer is well made, but nothing really to write home about. The big news is that an actual date has been offered up.

Listen. I don’t know that I would necessarily classify myself as in the “gamer” category. I like video games, I have fun playing them. I enjoy them. But I feel the need to stress this point:

I have been waiting, with no small degree of anticipation, for the release of this game. I was so impressed with the video clips and theory behind the game that I’ve remembered it for two years (two years!), hoping to hear more about when it becomes available.

Here’s a quick synopsis of the game: Starting at the micro-organism level, you initially control one character/thing. As you evolve, you become more advanced and begin forming groups or tribes. At that point, the gameplay changes and you no longer control an individual – you control a group. Moving away from the traditional POV for most games, this feature in and of itself is pretty fascinating.

To top things off, there’s a killer interface for character design. With the ability to add on legs/feet/eyes and basically create almost any configuration you can imagine, the character editor for this game is as impressive as the gameplay. That editor also applies to the buildings and vehicles used in the game, allowing users to customize almost every aspect of the world.

There’s been an unprecedented amount of hype and buzz about this game, ever since it was first unveiled. I hope I’ve piqued your interest enough to convince you to check out the site/videos a bit more. When the game is released, I have this strong feeling that our whole notion of what a “game” is will shift, tremendously.

//Edit: Turns out they’re releasing a Mac version at the same time the PC version gets released. Woohoo!