September 11, 2008 Archives

Electronic Arts' much-hyped evolutionary computer game, Spore, hit U.S. stores last weekend.

In the first 30 seconds of Spore, the game's creators answer the question of how life began: an asteroid crashes into a planet and cracks open to reveal a googly-eyed little microbe. The microbe is you. You guide your species through evolution, from a cell swimming in aqueous murk to a space-faring civilization. You design the creatures, and later the buildings and vehicles that they control. As you advance in the game, you can stretch and shape your creature's spine, and add arms, legs, spikes, and wings. Spore then animates your creation and gives it a gait, a voice, emotions, and enough cunning to attack rivals or ally with them. The game contains the entire history and future of a universe created by you, the player -- and because it lets you explore the cosmos forever, its limits are the player's own imagination.