@afsplat, Quote: 'I'm not saying Spore wasn't fun, because it was... from time to time. But you can't ignore your brain when it starts prodding you to move on, and I ended up leaving a lot earlier than I thought I would. '
More and more doubts about Spore's fun factor ... This can be expected for a title that has been over hyped for so long ....
The last stop on our Electronic Arts booth tour at PAX was dedicated to Spore. That's right, it's more Spore news. It's not a real day on Joystiq unless you get some minor Spore news, or a definitive hands-on experience. With the game actually coming out (can it be?!) in five days, maybe you'll start to see these die down a bit. Unless, of course, there's a secret Hot Coffee level that we find during our explorations.
@deftangel, The digital distribution side is much stronger on the PC front than the console front, but I do agree that at this point in time, the 9 million+ target for GLS could be pushing it.
91% by PC Gamer Uk: Spore's triumph is painfully ironic. By setting out to instill a sense of wonderment at creation and the majesty of the universe, it's shown us that it's actually a lot more interesting to sit here at our computers and explore the contents of each other's brains. [October 2008] - and 90% by a polish mag
My mistake (+1 bid :) . I'm still convinced this isn't getting anywhere 9m though. We rarely get data on digital distribution, which doesn't mean that copies aren't being sold, XBLA can move 100k+ first week but even with retail sales of millions I can't see it being more than a few hundred k here and there.
Big profit opportunity for people to get into before September's NPD's I think. I'm short, naturally.
The sad thing is they don't even need to. One of the most compelling things about the game is the user-generated content, sharing (Sporecasts) and YouTube integration. These require a connection to EA servers so they could have simply validated copies each time transparently and rejected pirate versions.
This method will still get cracked and pirate copies will exist. It's just not going to sell anything like 8m at retail given the current state of the PC market for a plethora of reasons. A shame because it's a fantastic game from what I've played of it.
We stopped by EA last week to get hands-on time with the civ stage as well as the final space stage as part of our exclusive coverage leading up to the September 7 release date. Be sure to check out our Spore Launch Center for additional coverage of the cell, creature, and tribal stages, plus a look at the game's innovative community features.
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More and more doubts about Spore's fun factor ... This can be expected for a title that has been over hyped for so long ....