|
|
Spore!
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: England | San Francisco
Status:
Offline
|
|
From the mind of Will Wright comes SPORE, a journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space. Begin your odyssey at the dawn of life as a simple microbe just trying to survive, then use the fun, intuitive Editors to evolve the creature from its microscopic origins into an intelligent, tool-using race.
Guide your species as it builds (and the player designs) villages, buildings, cities, and vehicles. Along the way to becoming a global civilization you can choose whether to hunt or forage, attack or trade, be nice or play rough. All the action takes place in a huge, lush world populated with creatures evolved by other players and shared over SPORE's central servers.
Handy Links
http://forums.macnn.com/77/gaming/37...ighlight=Spore
http://forums.macnn.com/77/gaming/28...ighlight=Spore
Downloads
Character Creator
Videos
YouTube - Robin Williams Plays Spore
YouTube - Spore 35min Demonstration from the GDCe
YouTube - Spore: Overview Video
Reviews
Review: Spore reviewed - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
IGN: Spore Review
Spore Review - Page 1 // PC /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More
Metacritic = 92
Anyone got it early? excited? hyped? let down by specs?
|
we don't have time to stop for gas
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: The New Posts Button
Status:
Offline
|
|
Enjoy making your penis monsters.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status:
Offline
|
|
I’m not quite buying into the whole hype around the game but I’m definitely looking forward to passing some time with it.
Apparently it’s out there already — for both Mac and PC. I’ll wait for the legit download link in my inbox.
|
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: NY
Status:
Offline
|
|
I see a lot of people using the Creature Creator at work. It looks pretty interesting and it's a possibility that I may buy the game when it comes out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Boston
Status:
Offline
|
|
I haven't bought a game for my computer in years. This will change next week when spore is available. I'm not into the hype but what I have seen, it looks pretty good.
|
~Mike
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
Status:
Offline
|
|
I'll stroll into Fry's when I have a moment and pick it up. Looks like a fun way to kill some time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
Status:
Offline
|
|
I may get it for the iPhone. Not the same gameplay, but that's OK.
Spore!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
Status:
Offline
|
|
Just pre-ordered the Galactic edition, runs on PC and Mac.
-t
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Regular
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: surrounded by dogs
Status:
Offline
|
|
I'm pretty excited, but I'm going to be waiting for my early-October birthday to receive it.
No penis monsters for me, just strong, successful, and smart critters bound for galactic domination.
I too have been playing the creature creator for a while now, it's a nice break from ridiculous comp sci and chemistry homework.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Standing on the shoulders of giants
Status:
Offline
|
|
Isn't the next incarnation of Dakar going to be Spore developed?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2000
Status:
Offline
|
|
I planned on buying this game since I first heard about it - then I read about their dial-home business.
No thanks.
Epic fail EA.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: UK
Status:
Offline
|
|
Is this going to be PC/Mac only or will it be on other platforms (ie consoles)? I'll probably give the iPhone version a go. I tried the creature demo but it told me my MacBook's graphics wasn't good enough (2.16GHz C2D, 2GB RAM, GMA 950).
|
It'll be much easier if you just comply.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status:
Offline
|
|
The activation key just arrived in my inbox: Spore is unplayable on my MBP.
I don’t know if the port is just extremely bad or it’s my machine.
My framerate is around 1-3 FPS, even with the graphic settings and resolution set to lowest.
Some sources reported that there’s a bug with the X1600 chipset with Cider but I couldn’t find any hard facts yet.
17"/2.33 C2D/2GB/X1600 256MB (late '06)
|
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Status:
Offline
|
|
That's peculiar to your machine or that model, because I just got Spore and it runs decently on my brand new base-model MacBook, which only has the crappy X3100 integrated graphics.
As for the game... so far so good! The cell and creature stages are pretty intuitive, for the tribal stage I found that I need to read the manual (which is what I'm currently taking a break from).
FWIW, I got the Galactic Edition of the game and the limited edition Strategy Guide, since I suck at games and need all the help I can get!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Cape Cod, MA
Status:
Offline
|
|
I just messed around with the free creature creator for a half hour and ended up chuckling at what I had created. So I'll probably end up buying the game soon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
I was seriously contemplating buying it but was waiting to see how it ran on some other peoples macs, i'm unsure how my Macbook Pro 2.2Ghz/2GBRAM/128MB GeForce 8600M GT would handle it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Status:
Offline
|
|
Considering how well it runs on my aforementioned MacBook, you should be just fine on the MBP. (On the MacBook's integrated graphics, it runs reduced-quality graphics that didn't impede gameplay even one bit. I enjoyed playing on both machines equally.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
well it looks like i'll have to purchase it, anyone find any good deals? or a quick pickup/shipping?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status:
Offline
|
|
A friend of mine happens to have the same machine and is also experiencing the same issues. I’d wager it’s a bug with the X1600 GPU under Mac OS X.
Anyway, after installing Bootcamp and Spore the game runs perfectly fine. I haven’t played a lot yet — I only just completed tribal — but so far Spore is a bit of a let down to me.
The different stages feel desperately stitched together, almost like a compilation of shallow minigames (ok, that’s a bit extreme but you get the idea).
Creature designs seem to have little to no effect in the game, et cetera… i guess I just expected too much.
|
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: England | San Francisco
Status:
Offline
|
|
bit lame really, so much hype for this game.
designs have no effect on what you do. You could create a building with no doors and they jsut walk through the walls, if you create a door they just ignore it.
there isnt any RTS elements in the galatic thingy. There are the same amount of buildings (4) and thats it.
Basically go play Sim City 4.
|
we don't have time to stop for gas
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status:
Offline
|
|
“Finished” the game now, it’s really just a mix of Sim Ants and The Sims with fancy graphics.
I guess EA is looking for a new cashcow to milk casual gamers with. (prepare for Spore: More Limbs, Spore: Even More Limbs and Spore: Limbs galore)
|
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Ah, it's a shame no one seems to like it that much. It looked good, and Wright's previous games have always been quality work.
|
Chuck
___
"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Hmmm....looks like there's a prob with MBPs. I can't even get the thing to launch - I keep getting "Critical Section <<gibberish>> failed at address <<more gibberish>>. Do you want to debug it?" errors. Clicking either yes or no has no discernible effect.
Installing the game on my wife's MacBook worked. Won't run on any of the other 4 macs in our house. I wrote up the whole thing and sent it to TransGaming, since I can't seem to find an EA support address/forum. I knew this game wasn't a real port but rather ran under cider - should have paid attention to my doubts. Lame.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: England | San Francisco
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
we don't have time to stop for gas
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Cape Cod, MA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Chuckit
Ah, it's a shame no one seems to like it that much. It looked good, and Wright's previous games have always been quality work.
I am also surprised at the lackluster reviews in this thread so far. Maybe I should hold off getting it...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by dogzilla
Hmmm....looks like there's a prob with MBPs. I can't even get the thing to launch - I keep getting "Critical Section <<gibberish>> failed at address <<more gibberish>>. Do you want to debug it?" errors. Clicking either yes or no has no discernible effect.
Installing the game on my wife's MacBook worked. Won't run on any of the other 4 macs in our house. I wrote up the whole thing and sent it to TransGaming, since I can't seem to find an EA support address/forum. I knew this game wasn't a real port but rather ran under cider - should have paid attention to my doubts. Lame.
Which video card is in your MacBook Pro?
|
Chuck
___
"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Chuckit
Which video card is in your MacBook Pro?
NVidia GeForce 8600M GT 128mb. It's a 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM. I've reinstalled the game, created a new Spore-only user, started up in single-user mode (shift key held down) and installed game on an external USB drive, all with same result. Well, not exactly - when I started up in single-user mode it said it couldn't find my graphics hardware, but otherwise same result as above.
As I said, I was able to install and run the game on my Wife's MacBook with no prob. BTW - this machine has a new install of OSX as of 5 days ago - I did bring over my previous user settings.
Not sure if this is a conflict with the Cisco VPN client (that install a kext), but if it is, there's no question which one I'm keeping.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
sounds like i'm holding off on a purchase, looks like MBP's are having trouble
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Right here
Status:
Offline
|
|
! sad reviews!! nooo
I ordered mine on amazon already... damn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Right here
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Peter
bit lame really, so much hype for this game.
designs have no effect on what you do. You could create a building with no doors and they jsut walk through the walls, if you create a door they just ignore it.
there isnt any RTS elements in the galatic thingy. There are the same amount of buildings (4) and thats it.
Basically go play Sim City 4.
Have you said that before?.... I just had crazy dejevu! I swear I have seen that exact thing said before...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Status:
Offline
|
|
Reading the reviews it seems the Galactic phase has quite a lot of depth in it. Not true?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: California
Status:
Offline
|
|
all the people i've talked to have breezed through the different stages of the game in a matter of hours and become bored. that's on easy mode though.
|
not all who wander are lost.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Vancouver
Status:
Offline
|
|
Wow, I thought it would get raves and cheers. Having said that, I just gave the DS version a spin and it's pretty lame.
Big Little Planet (PS3), here I come!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status:
Offline
|
|
In case someone missed it, Spore is getting trashed big time on amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/review/product...owViewpoints=1
Not only for the DRM but also for the disappointing gameplay and variety. ATTOW it has 1,139 1-star reviews out of 1,224. I’m unsure how long that is going to last as people have reported that amazon.co.uk is deleting 1-star reviews without a comment.
|
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: UK
Status:
Offline
|
|
The iPhone version is on the app store now. I've played the first couple of levels and its a nice looking game, tilt control is fine for me.
|
It'll be much easier if you just comply.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jul 2008
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Status:
Offline
|
|
Well, I've played it with my girlfriend for four hours and we had immense fun
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2002
Location: New York
Status:
Offline
|
|
I also don't understand alot of the negative reviews. I am sitting here bleary eyed through another day of work because I was up until 3 last night Sporing about!
But of course it is a 1.0 version of a ground breaking project, so there are lots of issues. I think people have become jaded with the whole creature thing because they've seen it so much in demos. But it is amazing and really fun to watch your creations fend for themselves.
I do think there will be add-ons galore to make the creature phase more into a Warcraft clone, and so on, so if that sort of thing makes you mad then maybe you should wait. But I wonder now hard many of the reviewers looked for the 'missing' depth.
I spent all of yesterday in the creature phase and while it does get repetitive there are hidden long term missions. Besides finding all the parts you can earn badges for eliminating 20 species as well as getting a max rating in 4 categories.
But even more fun there are many monsters that are huge, like this nasty giant squid. I was finally able to take him down by allying with other powerful animals and attacking him right after he had battled someone else, it was exhilarating!
As noted earlier its also a game that the wife likes, she can just be friendly to every one, its also cute enough to be fun to watch. So color me a fan! But also really looking forward to where this goes. And I haven't even gotten to the Space phase yet!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Personally, I don't understand the negative reviews based on gameplay. The bit I could play seemed pretty much what I had expected, and from what I've read, the Space phase (which I've yet to attain) sounds like the real payoff. Compared to grinding in World of Warcraft, this is great, and my kids throughly enjoy it as well.
Being on a Mac, the DRM issues don't appear to have bothered me either. Unless the issue I describe above is related to DRM.
The real problem seems to be using cider to "port" the game. This would have been a wonderful game if Maxis would have taken the time to actually develop it for the Mac. Sadly, they didn't, and the results show.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: PDX
Status:
Offline
|
|
I have only played it for about 2 hours, but I really enjoyed it. I got myself out of the primordial phase and am now on land milling about. I love the creature creator. I didn't play with it at all up until now.
It runs pretty well on my 24" white iMac.
With only about 2 hours of exposure, I like this game a lot. We'll see how it pans out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Cape Cod, MA
Status:
Offline
|
|
......aaaaand now I'm officially back on the fence.
Maybe I'll wait for GOW 2 and my lust for new gaming will subside.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
GOW 2 will definitely ruin my senior year of college, (we'll have to get some online play sek)
BTW i finally got to elite in RSV2 (sorry for the thread jack)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Australia
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -
Well, I've played it with my girlfriend for four hours and we had immense fun
I missed the word "it" on first reading.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
Status:
Offline
|
|
I've been playing for the past week or so. It's a fine game, but I think once I pick up Rock Band 2 tonight I won't be touching it anymore.
|
All glory to the hypnotoad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2001
Status:
Offline
|
|
So far, the splash screen is awesome. Seems that is all I get to see of the game though, as there isn't much to do beyond dig around for Activity monitor and force quit two Spore entries. For all the hype, I had expected more. I guess maybe Spore 2 might actually add something beyond a splash screen.
*waits for EA support to send me a bunch of worthless steps to try, like standing on my left foot while option clicking something*
|
<This space under renovation>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Boston
Status:
Offline
|
|
From what I read EA placed some rather restrictive DRM technology in the game - you only get three activations for the game. That seems kind of over kill. That leaves a rather sour taste in my mouth, if that turns out to be true.
While I was going to get it last week, I'm holding off until I see some more feedback. Speaking of feedback, amazon user reviews has it pretty bad. 2,133 1 stars
|
~Mike
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Maflynn
From what I read EA placed some rather restrictive DRM technology in the game - you only get three activations for the game. That seems kind of over kill. That leaves a rather sour taste in my mouth, if that turns out to be true.
While I was going to get it last week, I'm holding off until I see some more feedback. Speaking of feedback, amazon user reviews has it pretty bad. 2,133 1 stars
All of those reviews are due to the DRM. Which is overly restrictive IMO. Three installs and then you're done - you either have to call and beg EA for another or buy another copy. Only one account per install. So if your computer has more than one user you all need to share an account. For a game that's marketed to the "family audience" it's not very family friendly.
If given the option I would pirate the game - you don't have to put up with any of that BS.
|
All glory to the hypnotoad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Boston
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by jokell82
All of those reviews are due to the DRM. Which is overly restrictive IMO. Three installs and then you're done - you either have to call and beg EA for another or buy another copy. Only one account per install. So if your computer has more than one user you all need to share an account. For a game that's marketed to the "family audience" it's not very family friendly.
If given the option I would pirate the game - you don't have to put up with any of that BS.
Not all of the single star reviews are about the DRM. Yes the majority of them are about how restrictive it is, but there's enough bad reviews about the game play to give me pause.
|
~Mike
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hampton Roads, VA
Status:
Offline
|
|
Originally Posted by Maflynn
Not all of the single star reviews are about the DRM. Yes the majority of them are about how restrictive it is, but there's enough bad reviews about the game play to give me pause.
I'd trust this before trusting the Amazon.com reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/spore
Amazon was bombarded by a few groups pissed about the DRM. Their reviews are extremely skewed because of it.
|
All glory to the hypnotoad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Status:
Offline
|
|
I don't like the DRM either, but think one step further and you'll see who this is aimed at. No, not you: Gamestop and other retailers selling previously owned games. If you cannot get installs back, you can't really sell it on, can you? EA and other publishers hate Gamestop for pushing the previously owned games over new sales, and this is their way of fighting back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Rules
|
|
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|