IGN Finally Updates Spore Coverage

The good folks at IGN have finally dished out an update on the development of Spore after the game disappeared off the map around the beginning of this year. The update takes the form of an interview by Dan Adams of IGN with Patrick Buechner, VP of Marketing at Maxis. There is also a shiny new video available. The article can be found here if you would like to read it.

For those who know nothing about Spore, it is the latest pet project of game designer/visionary Will Wright. You may or may not know him as the father of such PC gaming jackpots as Sim City and the Sims. Spore, following in the footsteps of Wright's other sandbox success stories, will allow the player to design and develop, through evolution, an organism to thrive or parish in a virtual universe. The promised scope of the game is impressive. If development stays on course, Spore will allow gamers to evolve a species of organism all the way from being a single cell in the primordial soup to being an intelligent intergalactic superpower.

If the concept behind Spore blows your mind, you are not alone. Since its impressive outing at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference, Spore has been a buzzword for the next big thing in PC gaming. That was, however, until the pipeline of information on the game was crimped shut several months ago.

Thankfully, information appears to be flowing again and all appears well on the Western front. From the interview and video on IGN, it appears as if little has changed since the games grand unveiling. The current video shows that at least a primitive interface very reminiscent of the Sims 2 is in place. Further, Buechner asserts that the core game play is all fully developed and functioning properly. The only real cause for alarm is Buechner's confirmation that Spore will not be hitting shelves this year. Confirming the worst fears of eager fans, the game will not be released before April of 2008. Though it is certainly for the best that the game not be released before it is brought to a shiny polish (anything less would surely disappoint in the face of overwhelming expectations), the long delay does make one wonder if everything is as far along as Buechner indicates.

For those of you expecting even more information to come out at this years E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo, America's largest video game tradeshow), do not hold your breath. Spore has decided to take its business elsewhere this year and will focus all its energy on a positive showing at Europe's big gaming show instead. This seems to be a positive move for Spore as, having taken home the top PC gaming prize at last years E3, the only direction Spore could go at the Expo would be down, likely in a storm of uncomforatble questions about why the game hasn't been finished yet.

Hopefully the playable demo which will be made available to the press at the European Games Convention in Leipzig (August 23-26) will confirm that development is in fact going swimmingly. If not, dear Mr. Buechner will surely have some explaining to do.