On Ep 58 of Podtoid, Tiff thinks that Spore will be a flash in the pan game that will flop (or something along those lines). From everything that I have read about people trying it out and playing with it. I just don't see it. Did any of the Sim's flop like that? (I am asking I don't remember, too many of them) For the most part I would say no. And there is a very loyal following to them. I don't see how a game that is supposed to be the holy grail of the Sim's could possible be a flop, especially since they seem to be giving it the time and attention a well finished game should get.

So I downloaded the Mac trail of Spore Creature Creator to my MacBook Pro to give it a whirl. Luckily I had no issues running it. Now coming from someone who went to college in the 90's for 3d animation, holy shit this is cool. Its amazing how quick, fluid, and awesome the modeler is. You are working with a limit number of parts, but what you can do with those parts, and the amount of time it takes one to build a creature is just unfathomable to someone that started working on this platform:

(Yeah this is what I started on in college, That is an Atari Mega ST)

So I made a couple of creatures...


(These me and my son made together)



And now I can see where Tiff thought it could just be an over-hyped game. After creating a couple guys... I am bored, actually no, not bored... excited and pissed off at the same time. I have these things I created, and I can't do a damn thing with them besides make them dance and jump. This leaves me with a very hollow, empty feeling inside. I want to take these things out and interact with the world. Will they survive? Are they good enough? Can they make friends? is it actually going to use that giant spiked ball to attack things, or is it going to beat itself senseless?

Now looking back a few hours... I really wished I would have just laughed at the penis monsters on youtube, and continued on my way. I can wait for the full game to give my final opinion on it.

I share Tiff's other concerns about this game... Is my world going to be overrun by Giant Penis monsters? As expected (really), it seems a lot of people are building obscene creatures. Which is all good and fine, but I would like some variety. So is the Sporepedia going to ass rape me with this none stop flow of sudo penis worlds, or am I going to get a little more?

What do you think, is it going to flop or will it rock?



On a related but different note:

Quick digression into a story about my son. I sat down with my son (who is 2 years old) to have him help me create some creatures. I thought this would be something we could really get into together. And for the most part I was right. He knows all the parts of the body, and is really fascinated by his belly button. So the first thing he says is, "He needs a belly button." I say ok, not knowing why he assumes its a male. Then my 2 year old son, who knows nothing about the world or the internet or youtube or the perverse people that roam them all says... "He needs a penis"

Facepalm...

You see, my son is being potty trained right now... and he knows the creature is going to have to go. He was just trying to help the little guy out.

I held back my laughter (which I did an amazing job at). And by that point he was onto something else...

I love kids, they are so full of awesome, especially when they don't know it.