Your creature is then thrown into a three-dimensional environment where it must dodge predators and find a partner with which to reproduce. Once the spore collects enough DNA, an editing palette pops up that lets you design the next evolutionary stage of the creature's body. It starts, fittingly, in a two-dimensional world, with a single-celled organism that gobbles up microbes and plants to accrue DNA points. The game unfolds through five stages, each of which riffs on an established genre of play. ”I call Wright a genius because he truly is one of the most innovative developers out there,” writes one gaming blogger. If Spore lives up to its creator's vision, it will likely be heralded as one of those milestones that redefines what a game can be-just as Doom, a first-person shooter game, pioneered fast-action multiplayer competition in 1993 and Guitar Hero delivered the thrill of music performance by introducing a guitar-shaped controller. It offers players far more choice and open-ended play than any game before it. Other games may look and sound better, but few games are as original as this one. ”I'd rather spend a couple of extra years and have it be a big seller than short it by a year or two and have it be mediocre.” ”For games, it is a long time, but for me it's not a big deal,” he says, sipping coffee in his cluttered corner office. Wright concedes their point but shrugs it off.

Others around the Maxis office cite the boss's high expectations. Wright attributes its recent delays to localization, the process of tailoring the game to different countries and languages.

Spore is finally due to be released this month, more than a year behind schedule. In Spore the players create life itself-starting with ooze-dwelling, one-celled creatures that learn, grow, and evolve into intelligent beings with advanced cultures and technologies, able to conquer their planets and outer space.Ĭomputer gamers everywhere have eagerly awaited Wright's latest project since he began talking about it in 2000.

But Wright's Spore is by far the boldest in terms of unleashing players' creativity. LittleBigPlanet, an upcoming game from Media Molecule for Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, is built around player-made terrains and characters. In games like Fable and Black & White, the characters even evolve in appearance and reputation based on how the player defines them: the more evil your beast, for example, the more feared it becomes. Sure, there've been virtual worlds like Second Life, which let you customize your characters. The game they're working on this bright February day is called Spore, and it's the most ridiculously ambitious simulation game yet.

Spore character