Maxis's Patrick Buechner has explained why Spore is to be released in Europe on September 5, two days earlier than in the US.
Asked if Maxis was always aiming for a simultaneous release Buechner said, "Oh, absolutely. Europe probably represents about 60 per cent or more of our PC business, so getting it right in Europe is going to be a real focus over the next few months."
EA is releasing a separate SKU for a creature-editor edition of Spore even earlier than its September 7 game launch. The company confirmed with us that the stand-alone product will let players begin creating crazy creatures, although it won't include other components of Spore's Creature Phase. Those creatures will then be able to be used in the full version of Spore.
Spore will be released here for PC on 5th September 2008 and in the US two days later on 7th September, EA has confirmed to Eurogamer. Europe first! Woo!
EA's since confirmed that Mac, DS and mobile versions will both arrive on that date too.
"We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year," Will Wright said in the obligatory release quote.
Will really wanted to make a single-player MMO." With this blunt and baffling statement, producer Thomas Vu sums up the last, most remarkable thing of the many remarkable things about Spore. This is an entirely solo, yet massively multiplayer experience. At no point in Spore do you compete or co-operate with other players. But you're in their company - or that of their creations, at any rate - every step of the way, and it's a profoundly social game.
An exclusive interview with Will Wright from N'Gai Croal of Newsweek fame. Will Wright talks about why Spore is taking so long to get right and why it'll be worth the wait. The interview is in two parts, this is a link to the first, there's a link at the bottom for the second.
funny how a stock jumps as soon as it gets a release date and is brought to peoples attention even though it may be completely unfounded otherwise. yes it means its hitting the holiday season but will this game really see 7million copies on pc when you take into account the considerable downturn in pc gaming recently (when compared to consoles), it being multiplatform and the fact that it the majority of hype is in hardcore circles and not along the same lines as GTA4 for example.
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