Spore probably delayed.

[tazelbain]

Maxis is cutifying everything, making things more cartoony.

Richard Dawkins would disembowel Wright at this point, I'm thinking. He's all against cutifying and dumbing-down science to give it 'mass appeal'. I'm with him. Though I kinda had a feeling from early on that the more hardcorish science aspects would be weeded out by launch :(

Just showing the journey of life from amoebas to civilization in a fun, easy to understand format is a win against those who would have us return to the Dark Ages.

[Samwise]

Maxis is cutifying everything, making things more cartoony.

Richard Dawkins would disembowel Wright at this point, I'm thinking. He's all against cutifying and dumbing-down science to give it 'mass appeal'. I'm with him. Though I kinda had a feeling from early on that the more hardcorish science aspects would be weeded out by launch :(

Just showing the journey of life from amoebas to civilization in a fun, easy to understand format is a win against those who would have us return to the Dark Ages.

Using logic and reason isn't enough. You have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you.

[UnSub]

Maxis is cutifying everything, making things more cartoony.

Richard Dawkins would disembowel Wright at this point, I'm thinking. He's all against cutifying and dumbing-down science to give it 'mass appeal'. I'm with him. Though I kinda had a feeling from early on that the more hardcorish science aspects would be weeded out by launch :(

Just showing the journey of life from amoebas to civilization in a fun, easy to understand format is a win against those who would have us return to the Dark Ages.

Using logic and reason isn't enough. You have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you.

Logic and reason get pantsed by uberdickery every time they meet. People might not like uberdickery as a result, but it's a lot more entertaining.

[TripleDES]

Using logic and reason isn't enough. You have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you.

Using logic and reason against people that can't or don't want to understand it, makes you already come across like a dick.

[Merusk]

So it's a safe bet neither TripleDES or UnSub saw that particular 2-parter South Park episode then, yah?

- Ed:  Oh, also DES, found the full pic of the avatar.   

[Samwise]

So it's a safe bet neither TripleDES or UnSub saw that particular 2-parter South Park episode then, yah?

Bunch of savages in this town.

[UnSub]

I haven't watched South Park in years. My animated viewing is limited to the Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy and Drawn Together (occasionally).

Please explain the joke to me, becuz I iz laccking n pop culcha smatz.

[squirrel]

Dunno I'm still excited for spore, but my heart now belongs to Little Big Planet...we shall see...

[Samwise]

Please explain the joke to me, becuz I iz laccking n pop culcha smatz.

The joke is much less funny out of context, but here's the Wikipedia article for that episode.

Meanwhile, it is learned that Richard Dawkins was the founder of worldwide atheism. Mrs. Garrison, whom he eventually married maintained that "Logic and reason aren't enough: You also have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you." As a result, atheism split into three factions. The three groups differ on what they perceive to be the answer to the "Great Question," each believing the other groups' answer to the Question is "illogical" and thus unacceptable (the AAA also objects to humans for illogically cutting down trees to make tables, instead of just eating off of their "tummies" and ironically reveres Dawkins).

Also, my previous post was a Clerks reference, but you should really just watch that movie if you haven't.

[TripleDES]

So it's a safe bet neither TripleDES or UnSub saw that particular 2-parter South Park episode then, yah?

No

- Ed:  Oh, also DES, found the full pic of the avatar.   

There's a full picture? Stole the avatar from someone else.

[Sky]

Dunno I'm still excited for spore, but my heart now belongs to Little Big Planet...we shall see...

Totally different game and genre.

[schild]

Dunno I'm still excited for spore, but my heart now belongs to Little Big Planet...we shall see...

Totally different game and genre.

The end result is the same. You build something and share it with other people. The end result of LBG planet however, is a game and something you play instead of being a zoo and something you look at.

It's very easy to compare them. Very Easy.

Different platform. Sure. Different genre, ehhhhhhhhhhh, I don't know about that.

[Sky]

It's not at all in the same genre as Spore (puzzle vs rts/civ).

[Nonentity]

It's not at all in the same genre as Spore (platformer + puzzle vs rts/civ).

Fixed.

Either way, other people have always been way more interested in Spore then me. I'm kind of interested in it, but LBP seems awesome.

Little burlap bag people are awesome.

[schild]

Spore isn't going to be Civ level detailed. More like small ecosystems.

Where'd this puzzle shit come from?

[Nonentity]

Spore isn't going to be Civ level detailed. More like small ecosystems.

Where'd this puzzle shit come from?

I dunno... I've seen a lot of people tack the label on, in regards that people are going to make physics based puzzles using large weird pieces of terrain and whatnot.

I think I can agree, in that respect.

[schild]

Puzzle.

Not really buying that.

Both of them are simulations of an environment, one of them just results in fun gameplay and the other results in the same nebulous half-promised result of one of Will Wright's wet dreams.

Mind you, I'll probably play the shit out of SPORE, but it's all but guaranteed that the game will provide no fun for me whatsoever.

[Sky]

Yes, the e3 trailer for LBW showed puzzle stuff. I had some stuff about being a platformer (almost 2d with pre-rendered background), too, but I didn't want to get into the whole console/pc thing.

WW has said he's shooting for a Civ phase, but that it will be more like Civ-lite with some RTS-like gameplay. Small ecosystems, of course. But within each planet there is a civ-like thing going on with multiple civilizations researching tech and building cities, etc (the simcity part of the game has been merged with the civ part of the game).

[schild]

Yea and like with every WW project, take what he's shooting for, ratchet it down to reality, and you'll get the final product. An ant farm with animals that vaguely resemble what you intended. And the ability to zoom out and look at other people's planets.

[Sky]

And the ability to zoom out and look at other people's planets.

And then mess with them. Drop in the killer crocs or drop a nuke on the capitol or ratchet up the temperature. Therein lies a lot of the fun imo, just flying around the galaxy screwing around with other planets.

Of course it's not going to be everything he said at the earliest showings (which were more heavily science-based). But it's certainly looking to be way more than you're setting it up for. Not sure why you've got the hate-on for it.

[schild]

And the ability to zoom out and look at other people's planets.

And then mess with them. Drop in the killer crocs or drop a nuke on the capitol or ratchet up the temperature. Therein lies a lot of the fun imo, just flying around the galaxy screwing around with other planets.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Also, I don't have a hate-on for it. I'm just don't trust superstars anymore. And WW is a superstar - who has been jerking our shit with this game for years now.

[Yegolev]

I think I can guess which of you two have played The Sims.

[schild]

I think I can guess which of you two have played The Sims.

I bet you can guess which of us has thumbs also...

This guyyyyyy!

[Yoru]

And the ability to zoom out and look at other people's planets.

And then mess with them. Drop in the killer crocs or drop a nuke on the capitol or ratchet up the temperature. Therein lies a lot of the fun imo, just flying around the galaxy screwing around with other planets.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Also, I don't have a hate-on for it. I'm just don't trust superstars anymore. And WW is a superstar - who has been jerking our shit with this game for years now.

It's been in every gameplay demo from the original GDC05 talk to the latest TED07 talk. It's safe to say that fucking around with planets is the end-game, both terraforming and creating ecosystems.

If they cut the planet-destroying ray, it will be very


As a summary, what's changed the most is the cellular level, which went from a 2D version of the Creature level to being a very simple, cutesy "eat the dot" game. The Creature level has, most noticeably, had a bunch of gamey stuff that they'd previously talked about exposed in the UI. They haven't shown the village and Civ levels much, so those are likely to have changed as well. The space level is very similar to the original demos, primarily different in the UI.

[Samwise]

As a summary, what's changed the most is the cellular level, which went from a 2D version of the Creature level to being a very simple, cutesy "eat the dot" game.

He said in the GDC05 demo that the big inspiration for the cellular game was Pacman.  So it's not really that big of a change.   

[Margalis]

This thread title just keeps on giving.

They were probably concerned about the cell level because it played like a simpler version of the next level and wanted to differentiate them more.

[Yoru]

As a summary, what's changed the most is the cellular level, which went from a 2D version of the Creature level to being a very simple, cutesy "eat the dot" game.

He said in the GDC05 demo that the big inspiration for the cellular game was Pacman.  So it's not really that big of a change.   

True, although they seem to have taken away the editor and egg mechanic. Probably because they were making that stage too similar to the creature level.

Edit: Damnit, beat to the punch

[Morat20]

This thread title just keeps on giving.

They were probably concerned about the cell level because it played like a simpler version of the next level and wanted to differentiate them more.

It looks like the water phase was removed entirely, although I bet something pops back up in an expansion.

[WindupAtheist]

The hell with everything but the endgame.  Having an entire little virtual galaxy full of planets and civilizations and shit sitting on my desk to play with gives me a stiffy.