UPCOMING 2008 - Spore

To begin with, Spore interested me very little. As someone who's never been particularly fond of Maxis franchises, I could have been mistaken in assuming that this would be another Sims. However, as time has gone on and along with the release of the fantastic Creature Creator, I can now see the potential that this game clearly has to offer. Despite the gaming press swarming all over the project for some years now, it's still a little hazy to me as to how the game will actually function. The five stages, from the point at which your creature crashes onto a planet encased in a meteorite to the final stage of space exploration, seem to embrace a variety of different genres, including arcade-action, strategy and simulation. It's an intriguing prospect and right now IGN are running a series of explanatory videos to show the game in more depth. Worth keeping an eye on.

Of course, anyone who is half-interested in the game will at least have tried out the Creature Creator Demo which was released in June. It's hard not to love a tool that let me create a donkey with large bollocks and a spiky cock. His name is Ned.

As well as being simple to get the hang of, the program provides a lot of hidden depth to the creation of animals as hideous or as beautiful as your imagination will allow. The animation is spot on for whatever freak you wish to bring into the world and it's hard not to feel something for the little scamp as he moves about the screen.

In related donkey cock news, PC Gamer US magazine editor Kristen Salvatore was given a hearty slap by EA recently when her creature, Boobalicious was pulled up for being the first to breach the terms and conditions of the online Sporepedia. Check out this link for the full story.