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Cipher13 · Sep 15, 2008, 08:51 PM

Well, by targetting those retailers, they lost my money too.

I won't buy a game when the pirated version is MORE convenient than the retail package.

I'm not gonna pirate it either, though - I'd rather EA ended up with terrible sales and mediocre "download" reports (though those are fabricated anyway, I'm sure).

- - e r i k - - · Sep 15, 2008, 08:52 PM

Unfortunately, I really don't think it's going to happen. Spore will be the new Sims.

moep · 03:12 AM

I don’t play the game anymore but I did fire it up after today’s 10.5.5 update to check if the performance with my mobile X1600 improved. And sure enough, it did. The game runs smoothly at just about any setting now.

Originally Posted by jokell82

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.

did you read the user reviews on metacritc? Yeah, some are DRM related but the majority isn’t.

jokell82 · Sep 16, 2008, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by moep

I don’t play the game anymore but I did fire it up after today’s 10.5.5 update to check if the performance with my mobile X1600 improved. And sure enough, it did. The game runs smoothly at just about any setting now.

did you read the user reviews on metacritc? Yeah, some are DRM related but the majority isn’t.

I didn't read them, just looked at the score. And it's not at the same level that Amazon reviews would lead you to believe, either.

Drakino · Sep 18, 2008, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by P

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.

I doubt this was a move against Gamestop, as they haven't accepted used PC game in ages, and quite a few of their stores now don't even bother carrying PC games at all. Used PC games has always been a bad idea with the CD-Key issues and such. Offline it isn't such a big deal, but online games really couldn't thrive in the used market as there wasn't a way to guarantee the person bringing it in couldn't play anymore.

Maflynn · Sep 19, 2008, 01:22 PM

From what I've read, the early phases of the game seem to be pretty good, but once you're done creating and evolution stuff, it gets pretty mundane. The last review I read (I forgot where) questioned the re-playability. That last bit, is keeping my from buying the game. I played sim city (in the various incarnations) and found it a great game, that you could play over and over. While not a fan of the sims, many people got into it. It seems once you did spore once, you'll not be anxious to redo it again.

jokell82 · Sep 19, 2008, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Maflynn

From what I've read, the early phases of the game seem to be pretty good, but once you're done creating and evolution stuff, it gets pretty mundane. The last review I read (I forgot where) questioned the re-playability. That last bit, is keeping my from buying the game. I played sim city (in the various incarnations) and found it a great game, that you could play over and over. While not a fan of the sims, many people got into it. It seems once you did spore once, you'll not be anxious to redo it again.

It's actually the opposite. The first phases are boring and tedious, while the final phase is where all the action takes place. The worst thing is that actions in the first phases have zero effect on the later phases. Not too great for a game all about evolution...

Jawbone54 · Sep 22, 2008, 04:35 PM

I just found the thread today (I forget about the Games forum)...

A lot of you guys have come down pretty hard on the game. I guess what happened is that a lot of Molyneaux-esque hype was placed on Spore that it couldn't possibly live up to.

I didn't have unreal expectations for the game, and I'm LOVING it so far. I created a carnivore and then an herbivore, playing each game alternately. Before I even started the game Saturday night, I spent about 2 hours just creating creatures, and then played again for four more hours (into the civilization phase), until 5 AM. I had to wake up at 8 AM, but I couldn't make myself stop playing.

I love the creative aspects of the game. The creature creator hasn't gotten a bit old to me yet, and I'm blown away by some of the creations I've seen. The way other peoples' creatures are integrated into your game has been interesting, although I'd like to see even more in it. A lot of Maxis' creations seem to dominate the selections during the creature phase.

I did see an awesome creature in my first game that someone created that looked just like the rabbits from the Rayman games on Wii. Hilarious.

But yeah, the DRM sucks.

Jawbone54 · Sep 22, 2008, 04:38 PM

This is the simplest of my creations so far, but I made Bigfoot's cousin, Bigbutt...

And, yes...

As juvenile as it may be, he spews poison from his "rectum."

I just wish Spore would recognize this feature, resulting in him approaching enemies, facing away, bending over, and...

jokell82 · Sep 22, 2008, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

I created a carnivore and then an herbivore, playing each game alternately.

What I think really sucks about the game, is that neither of those choices matter at all once you get past the creature stage. Sure you hunt animals instead of find fruit as a tribe, but it's really the same process. And civilization and space stages aren't affected by that choice at all.

Makes the first few hours you spend on the game seem completely pointless.

Jawbone54 · Sep 23, 2008, 03:36 AM

Originally Posted by jokell82

What I think really sucks about the game, is that neither of those choices matter at all once you get past the creature stage. Sure you hunt animals instead of find fruit as a tribe, but it's really the same process. And civilization and space stages aren't affected by that choice at all.

So starting as a carnivore doesn't result in a more aggressive society during the civilization stage? I know my species with the carnivorous past developed tanks during the civilization stage. I haven't advanced that far with the herbivores.

ajprice · Sep 23, 2008, 05:28 AM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

So starting as a carnivore doesn't result in a more aggressive society during the civilization stage? I know my species with the carnivorous past developed tanks during the civilization stage. I haven't advanced that far with the herbivores.

But they can make a damn fine caesar salad!

jokell82 · Sep 23, 2008, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

So starting as a carnivore doesn't result in a more aggressive society during the civilization stage? I know my species with the carnivorous past developed tanks during the civilization stage. I haven't advanced that far with the herbivores.

Any creature can become any kind of civilization. Want to be a religious one? Easy enough. Or you can go merchant if you prefer. It's all in how you decide *for that stage*.

Then of course, you get to space, when none of it matters in the slightest.

Mac User #001 · Sep 23, 2008, 11:34 AM

I was a little disappointed with the later stages as well.. but I just love creating creatures, and the Creature stage is pretty fun.

Oh. and Jawbone, thats quite the character.

::maroma:: · Sep 23, 2008, 12:18 PM

I have yet to get passed the tribal stage. I keep going back and starting new characters to play with. I love evolving my creature, and I can still spend hours messing with in the creature creator. One thing that I enjoyed was seeing one of my old creatures show up on another planet when I got my new creature evolved enough. Very cool.

jokell82 · Sep 23, 2008, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by ::maroma::

I have yet to get passed the tribal stage. I keep going back and starting new characters to play with. I love evolving my creature, and I can still spend hours messing with in the creature creator. One thing that I enjoyed was seeing one of my old creatures show up on another planet when I got my new creature evolved enough. Very cool.

You should seriously play the space stage more - it's definitely the best part of the game IMO.

Jawbone54 · Sep 24, 2008, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by jokell82

You should seriously play the space stage more - it's definitely the best part of the game IMO.

Ugh...I haven't had time to play the past few days. STILL haven't experienced the space stage.

MattJeff · Sep 27, 2008, 04:47 PM

I quit the game after reaching the center of the galaxy... it becomes way to time consuming and frustrating.

Guess my mac gaming days will go back to Medal of honor until COD4 comes in the mail.

mr. burns · 07:30 PM

well, i decided to buy this game and i've enjoyed it so far. it was really quick and easy to get to the space stage. i had a lot of fun designing my land and space vehicles. i'm a military species. i'm still pretty early in the space stage. i only have colonies on two planets and i've just gotten into my first war. still only using my first puny missile launcher. i do get some nostalgic escape velocity moments here and there and that's nice.

i installed the game on my vista partition just out of habit, but i'm interested to see how the mac version performs in comparison so i'll probably do that soon. i have a first gen 2.66ghz mac pro with an x1900xt and 6gb of ram. [edit: just saw that the mac version is a cider port. no thanks.]

one thing i thought was cool, that i found out about while looking for my screen shots, was that the game records your progress, as you create things and saves it as a small animated gif for using as an avatar. it also saves a still version too. here's my tank and space ship :]

Andrew Stephens · Sep 28, 2008, 01:05 PM

Well my kids love it. However, just run the updater which hung in mid update and hosed the game, so it looks like we're starting again from scratch.
Was running fine on my MBP 2.1 but now I get an exception error and a crash.

That's not to impressive.

srfdriver22 · Oct 21, 2008, 11:35 PM

I loved it until I got into the Space stage. Horribly boring and very tedious. I have been following this game since Wright first showed it off. It has such great potential but they ruined it by making it too kid friendly. Single cell organisms don't have blue eyes! Come on!

I was also hoping for a more advanced Civ stage, something halfway to Civilization 4.