Kotaku
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gaming greats
Will Wright Talks Team Building
The only thing tougher than coming up with visionary video game ideas? Putting together a team to see your vision to fruition. Here's how gaming legend Will Wright does it. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by AnalysisDialysis (and a MudkipNDS): Oh yeah, Wright? What about city building?! I need my SimCity 5 fix now!! (Please?) [P.S. SimCity Societies was not a... 3 Responses | Other threads
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capcom
Mega Man Losing To The French In Robot Hall Of Fame Race
Mega Man is a man among robots, but is he spiffy enough to top a French robot built in 1810 that writes poetry for a spot in the Robot Hall of Fame? More »
9,193
By AJ GlasserComment by Cheezsama: Considering we all know mega-man is just one of the thousands of takes on Astro Boy, wouldn't it make more... 7 Responses | Other threads
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what
Zootfly Signs Up Mr. T For Some Video Game Jibber Jabber
Listen up, fools! ZootFly and Mr. T have formed a licensing A-Team, announcing that the developer will create a series of games "packed with the trademark over-the-top adrenaline-pumping action of Mr. T." Don't do drugs! More »
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Comment by excel_excel: Remember kids don't be a fool, stay in school! 9 Responses | Other threads
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ea
Will Wright: Why Spore Wasn't Released On 360, PS3
For such a big game, you'd have thought Spore would release on every platform under the sun. But it didn't. Just PC, Mac, DS and iPhone. Here, Will Wright explains why. More »
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Comment by 4nonymo: And Will Wright continues to prove that he is the most disconnected man in video games. I can't even begin to... 13 Responses | Other threads
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well played
Spore Creator Wants to Make Toys Fun Again
Will Wright, the man who launched a million sims, is broadening his horizons.
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Comment by NeVeRMoRe666: Don't worry some adults still play with toys.... Butt plugs anyone? /NOT from personal experience 9 Responses | Other threads
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stupid fun club
How Fighting Robots Helped Wright Quit EA
Will Wright may be leaving Maxis and Electronic Arts, but that doesn't mean he's leaving gaming. In fact some of his biggest ideas are for future games, he told us today.
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clips
The Mystery of the Stupid Fun Club
Maybe the website for Will Wright's entertainment think tank is just a website. But given that it has three games of sorts hidden on it, I'd like to think there's more to it than that. More »
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Comment by Gam3r: As I typed in the other thread about this, The name is from the club he was in when he made... 3 Responses | Other threads
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the sims
Will Wright Leaves EA, Does Something Stupid
The designer behind The Sims and Spore has left Electronic Arts, the publisher announced today, starting a new "think tank" known as Stupid Fun Club, a venture that has EA's backing.
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Comment by ErasmusCatoblepas: couldnt think of a better name than SFC? 11 Responses | Other threads
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gdc09
Lunch With Luminaries: Wright, Perry, Fargo,Young and Spector Chat
A small group of journalists and developers were invited to sit in an informal lunch discussion with some of the biggest names in the gaming industry today. More »
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Comment by Foxsnipe: These guys seem to be the wrong ones to ask about OnLive. It's just a streaming service. Take an MMO,... 2 Responses | Other threads
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Dude Huge
Rolling Stone's "Agents Of Change" List Full Of Game Developers
Rolling Stone magazine have taken a little side-trip away from rock n' roll, and done a more Time magazine-like list of the "100 People Who Are Changing America". Four (well, five) are developers. More »
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Comment by BubbleF**kingBuddy: At #44, it's Harmonix founders Alex Rigopulos & Eran Egozy, who were picked as much for inventing Guitar Hero &... 8 Responses | Other threads
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news
Four New Spore Titles Unveiled for DS, Wii, PC
EA has officially announced several new titles, two for the DS and one for the Wii, and an expansion to the Spore lineup that will launch this year.
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By AJ GlasserComment by missusagi: EA is really pulling at straws it seems. If, you know, they were being more cost effective, they'd stop making... 4 Responses | Other threads
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wii
Molyneux, Wright, Garriott Talk About The Year in Gaming
The BBC lined up a panel of gaming dignitaries to mull over the best of 2008 and expectations for 2009, they tapped into gaming culture with the help of Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, and... Fatal1ty? More »
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Comment by Gyaruson: That picture of FATAL1TY is amazing!! Props to whoever put that up! 7 Responses | Other threads
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god games
Playing With Ants, the Original God Game
The latest issue of the Escapist deals with god games, most of which are quite grand in scale. John Carr, however, looks at the micro god game — in this case, SimAnt, Will Wright's first foray into games decidedly small in scale — and declares its inspiration (childhood games of playing god with hapless insect) the 'original god game.' SimAnt is certainly one of the weirder little titles in Wright's repertoire, but certainly an important title when looking at later games: More »
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Comment by Mister Jack is Stalking Konata: Oh man, I used to play the SHIT out of Simant. The only reason I stopped was because PCs reached... 5 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Science Says ... Spore Flunks
An article in Science magazine discussing why Spore flunks various kinds of science after close scrutiny by a variety of scientists reminds me of history buffs that get hysterical when a movie is historically inaccurate. While a couple of them had a few nice things to say, Spore in general got poor marks in organismic and evolutionary biology, squeaked by with barely sufficient grades in cultural anthropology, physics, and astrobiology, and was reasonably highly rated in sociology and galaxy structuring. But they're not just trying to grouse, really: More »
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Comment by XForce: "When you stick a limb on your creature, wouldn't it be nice to have an optional pop-up window that explains... 7 Responses | Other threads
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will wright
LittleBigPlanet Finally Convinces Will Wright To Buy A PS3
SCE President Kaz Hirai recently addressed the importance of games on the PS3. This must have been great news to Spore creator Will Wright. I recently spoke to Wright at an event held in Midtown Manhattan. Of the handful of questions I asked, I wanted to know what he thought of LittleBigPlanet, since he's interested in user-created content and all. His answer was a bit surprising.
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By Jim ReillyComment by jp182: i gotta agree. the old adage of "there's really nothing interesting" is getting old. Even my friends with... 26 Responses | Other threads
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will wright
What Will Wright Thinks About Spore's DRM
Will Wright attended the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards ceremony at the Hearst Tower in New York City last night where he saw Spore pick up an award for Setting Benchmarks in Design, Creativity and Engineering. I caught up with him afterward for a bit to find out his take on the whole DRM situation. EA's John Riccitiello said a few days prior that he isn't a fan of DRM, but something had to be done to stop those pirates. I asked Wright how involved he was in the decision process to include DRM for Spore or if it was mostly EA's doing. More »
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By Jim ReillyComment by Quilt: What Valve and Blizzard have going on with Steam and Battle.net seems like a pretty good answer to me. ... 8 Responses | Other threads
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campaign 08
Will Wright Backs McCain; Zelnick? Duh, Obama.
Back in February 1Up took a broad look at who the gaming industry, on the whole, was giving to in U.S. political campaigns. Develop Magazine revisited the subject this weekend, going through Federal Election Commission records to find the donation history of games industry heavy hitters and see who's backing whom in the U.S. presidential smackdown. Interestingly, Will Wright's given $3,000 to John McCain, after crapping out with a $2,350 bet on Rudy Giuliani in the primaries. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by ninjaconor: Knew there had to be some dirt to be found on will Wright somewhere... 25 Responses | Other threads
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corporate gloating
Spore Spawns A Million Sales, 25 Million Creations
After just two weeks and change on the market, EA and Maxis' Spore has sold through over a million copies. The company announced today that Will Wright and team's sim-everything game is, officially, "a hit." That million-plus figure counts sales of the Windows, Mac and Nintendo DS versions of Spore, but not the mobile and iPhone versions. More »
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Comment by poisonedsodapop: So I guess it'll look happy on the surface even though there's a ton turmoil underneath. Is the game worth... 3 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Amazon Deletes All Spore Customer Reviews, Blames Site Glitch
Despite receiving generally favorable reviews from game critics everywhere, the Amazon shopping populace didn't take so kindly to EA's PC release of Spore. Slapped with a one-star rating out of five, the majority of complaints weren't directed at the game's quality — though some did take issue with the core gameplay mechanics, venting how underwhelming the game felt after years of hype. No, it was Electronic Arts' implementation of digital rights management via Sony's SecuROM copy protection scheme that angered the masses.
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Comment by BallPtPenTheif: I still don't understand how the consumer is "getting punished". 13 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Spore Review: Evolutionary Creationism
In the beginning Will Wright created the idea, but not the name. Now the game was formless and empty, darkness was over the deep concepts, and Wright was hovering over his small group of developers. And Wright said, "Let there be five stages in the game," and there were. And Wright said "Let the waters teem with living creatures, let birds fly above the planets, and let gamers produce them all." Wright saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was real-time strategy, and there was procedural animation and perhaps even firmament, though I'm not quite sure what that word means. It was the sixth year.
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Comment by Krooeenya: Spore is really an intelligent design simulator more than an evolution simulator. PZ Myers, an eminent biologist, recently reviewed the game... 8 Responses | Other threads
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spore
AntiSpore Answerable To A Higher Power - Rick Astley
Well, maybe we won't have to change the filters on our office Bullshit-o-meter after all. As we kinda-sorta-maybe suspected, the cleverly named Anti-Spore website Antispore.com was not all that it seemed.
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Comment by Maldron: Sent it in, but also here, the admin claims that the post was not necessarily their own. [antispore.com] Says her site was... 4 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Frankenreview: Spore
Game industry legend Will Wright is no stranger to creating life, but Spore marks his first attempt to create it from the ground up. One of the most highly anticipated PC games of the past decade, Spore's ambitions don't stop at expanding what a life simulation can be. The game also seeks to expand the PC gamer audience beyond the hardcore, perhaps acting as a stepping stone for the ever-growing numbers of casual PC players. With a scope this large and ambitions this great, you just know the game critics are paying extra-close attention. Let's see what they saw when the put Spore under their critical microscope. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by DugDawg: I imagine I'll eventually pick this up, but I'm just not excited about playing games on the computer anymore. I built... 6 Responses | Other threads
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will wright
Will Wright's Favorite Games
Will Wright is such a deep thinker that he doesn't have favorite games, he has favorite franchises. MSNBC recently spoke with the man behind Spore and all things Sims to get his fave five for gaming. More » -
science
The Astrobiologist and the Game Designer
Reader Denis F. sent us a heads up about an interesting chat between Will Wright and Jill Tarter, noted astrobiologist and director of SETI whose research helped inspire Spore. As you can probably guess, the discussion is pretty abstract at times and goes from gaming to the value of science to where we'll be in 10,000 years. It's pretty interesting, and there's a transcript of the interview: More »
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Comment by Treesus: A very enjoyable interview - I love these kind of debates. However, I feel a bit put out by Maggie Greene's... 5 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Will Wright Thinks Augmented Reality Could Be Way Forward For Mobile Gaming
Will Wright gave an interview with Pocket Gamer during his trip to London. Although he was understandably not keen to talk specifics about his post-Spore plans he did profess a love for mobile gaming via his DS but didn't think that making mobile games (especially on mobile phones) more immersive was a good idea. More »
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Comment by Fryfat2: Uh oh, another new idea. Hardcore gamers are going to be upset. 2 Responses | Other threads
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spore
First Spore Reviews Are In (There Are Pros, There Are Cons)
While the online press wait patiently at the starting line, hobbled by a reviews embargo, there's no stopping magazines from getting their Spore reviews out amongst the public. And the first three are in! Two are from German mags - PC Games and Gamestar - while one's from the British edition of PC Gamer. PC Gamer, they're on-board, giving the game 91%. But the Germans, well, the Germans think it's nicht so gut. Gamestar give it 79/100, while PC Games gave it 73/100, saying that while stuff like the creature creator is great, the early stages of the game lack depth and that there's an "uneasy mix of simulation and strategy". Those Germans...tough crowd! More »
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Comment by oldtaku: Ugh. I really want this to be a lot of fun, but I wouldn't trust PC Gamer at all. They're... 7 Responses | Other threads
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will wright
Will Wright Says E3 Is "The Walking Dead"
Whoah, little late on the post-E3 navel-gazing aren't we, Will? That's OK. Spore's probably been keeping you very busy. Anyway, Wright's message is a little different from the usual "love it/hate it" thing. He's just sad that it's dead and doesn't know it. More »
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Comment by orcus116: Why can't they just return it to its former state? 4 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Spore Penis Monsters Impress Will Wright
So how does a legendary game designer react when his creation is used to manufacturer forms of life that resemble sexual organs and even dual-bodied creatures forever locked in the act of mating? Outrage? Horror? Not Will Wright. Color him impressed. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by excel_excel: My god....I can see it now...a penis shaped planet, lined with penis shaped buildings while penis shaped aliens drive their... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Comment by ST19AG_WGreymon: I'd get it if I had the money. I'll just be picking up the regular edition. more » | Other threads
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spore
Spore Goes Gold For A Sept 7th Release
Ladies and gentlemen, fire up the Creature Creator and prepare your finest penis-armed tripeds — Spore has left the building. More »
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Comment by VGame Music Enthusiast SensAzn: WOHOO! What's it been now? Two years since we first saw it? Five? Time flies huh. Bring it on! more » | Other threads
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spore
Will Wright Talks Spore Movies, TV Shows
We already know that EA is planning on releasing Spore and Spore-related titles on just about everything on the market that can play video games, including the iPhone and cell phones, but according to creator Will Wright, they're also keen on breaking out of the game space into less interactive mediums. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by freespeech2: It could be kinda like pokemon where they have some kids or adults that have to create these creatures for... more » | Other threads
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will wright
Should Talent Get Their Names On Boxes?
Steven Spielberg's name sells movies, it probably sells games too. That explains why his name appeared so prominently on the cover of Boom Blox, but what about less mainstream A-listers? More »
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Comment by metaslugx: Totilo has NO clue how many people are needed to make a film. more » | Other threads
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spore
"Militant Atheists" are moaning about Spore
Will Wright has suffered through the tortuous development of Spore, dodged jabs from religious fundamentalists who were annoyed by evolution taking place in front of innocent children and watched open-mouthed as the Creature Creator unleashed horrifying many-penised mutants on an unsuspecting internet. More »
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Comment by Foggynotion: God made me an atheist. Who are you to question his wisdom. 1 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Wright: Users Invest Emotionally With Spore Creatures
The debate about how to create emotional investment in games is an ongoing one, but legendary Spore designer Will Wright believes that letting users create their own content and characters is the key to creating that connection with players. More »
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Comment by Emmanuel Goldstein: yes, but what exactly do you expect me to do with 600 slightly different variations of cows? Now, Scorpion Cows, those... more » | Other threads
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comic-con 08
Liveblogging Will Wright Discussing His Inner Otaku At Comic-Con
Spore creator Will Wright is addressing the massive Comic-Con crowd at ballroom 6CDEF right now, talking about his own nerdy obsessions, a topic attendees are quite familiar with. Wright is talking about his otaku bent, the Stanley Kubrick directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film, which features aliens, evolution and space travel quite prominently, is clearly a perfect lead in to talk about the upcoming Spore.
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Comment by Mikolai: In the next presentation, I want him to yell "OBJECTION!!!" while pointing his finger at a random person in the... more » | Other threads
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comic-con 08
Spore E-Card Creator Goes Live, Makes You An E-Card God
Planetwide Media has launched the MashON Spore E-Card Creator, an online app that uses Spore monsters, backgrounds and props, in conjunction with the fun of word bubbles, to create custom virtual cards. With the right submarine placement, you too can create your own Spore penis monster and e-mail it to your parents. More »
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Comment by GhostKamikaze: Hey, does anyone else see something amiss in the picture up there? See that little green guy's antennae? They end... more » | Other threads
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E308
The EA E3 2008 Press Conference In Pictures
Well that was eventful, wasn't it? While my internet connection wasn't exactly there, I was side by side with Crecente throughout the entire EA press conference live blog, immortalizing the event in pictures. From Will Wright's Spore presnetation to the golfer with nicer legs than Tiger Woods, aging basketball players to id's Rage, if they showed it, I desperately took pictures of it, oftentimes cursing at my camera, the presenters, and Crecente under my breath. Here it is, all at once, all for you. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Jellocakes: iD have always been admirers of Jobs from NeXT to Apple I'd say for certain that it is running natively... more » | Other threads
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spore
Will Wright Demos Spore in S.F. Today
If you can get to the Apple Store in downtown San Francisco (1 Stockton Street) by 7 pm PDT today, you can catch a one-hour demo of Spore — this would be the full bore Spore due out in September — led by the creator himself, Will Wright. More » -
spore
Spore Creature Creator Release Delayed a Day
Reader Ben B. preordered Spore Creature Creator through the EA Store and just got word it's been rescheduled for release on Wednesday, June 18. Tuesday was the original drop date. He provided a copy of the email and it looked legit to me, so, spread the word.
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By Owen GoodComment by moonbastic: Somebody needs to call EA Store to task for their lame service. I can't believe that - contrary to their site's... more » | Other threads
will wright
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