There really has been a big info dump from Will Wright’s new game Spore. Some of it confirms what many have speculated and even more is new and wonderful.
MySpore Page: There was mention of a sporepedia and asynchronous content but this has really been enhanced with what seems to be a full social network. Not only will the content you create have a life outside of your computer but you will get full reports and even a profile page where people can rate your creates, leave notes, and have friends. This means that spore is a full social network and Will alluded to the fact that the social aspects really slowed the game down.
Interstellar Maps: Oh, how I love maps. It does nto say but this is clearly an interstellar map. There are lots of icons that we can only guess at this point. A full circle could be a planet you completely own while a empty circle could just be a colony. Some looks like radiation symbols. Could they be under attack?
Different colors are obviously different species and the lines between them are probably just denoting who owns what planets. The white lines are most likely the trade routes but what are the two white rings? Perhaps just how far you can travel with your space ship. I suppose that grows over time.
Apparently there is a final battle in the center of the galaxy. I wonder if this creature is randomly generated or is preselected by Will to give every one a single enimie to hate. I assume it’s all random but it would be sad to have the final boss look weird or goofy. I kind of want it to be mean looking.
Will has also announced that the creature editor will be released early. No one has said if it will be free or not. I read that EA said people will enjoy playing it as a standalone game which makes me think they want to charge. But if they are smart they will release it for free which will serve two purposes. One is that if they get people downloading it will make a killer demo. But two is that if you can create an account and start creating creatures there will be millions of variations of creatures before anyone even gets the game. This would be a great way to pre-pollinate the game.