MTV Multiplayer reports that Will Wright, possibly the most famous game developer of all time, has left EA as of today. Wright, creator of Sim City, The Sims, and more recently Spore, will be focusing instead on his project the ‘Stupid Fun Club’, a company that is owned by himself, EA, and another mystery shareholder. “Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities”, Wright said, adding that the company will “create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms.” Despite leaving the company, EA gets first dibs on Wright’s new gaming projects.

EDGE reports the impossible today: EA taking DRM out of a game. The Sims 3 will reportedly ship with just a serial code and no online activation needed, and no restrictive and unnecessary DRM. The head of the Sims 3 studio, Rod Humble, described DRM as “overly invasive”, and added that serial-based verification is “a good, time-proven solution” to basic piracy.

Obviously, the Sims 3 will be pirated, there’s no doubt about that- but in light of the Spore controversy, people are less likely to be downloading it simply to say “fuck you” to EA this time. In a way, I’m glad that Spore was pirated so much; it seems to have shown EA that DRM just makes things worse for everyone.

It’s Spore. Were you surprised, really? All that DRM nonsense, all those lackluster reviews, all those pirates urging folks to fight the power by pirating this game. Rounding out the list of the year’s most stolen are Assassin’s Creed, The Sims 2, Crysis (still? come on guys), and more. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at number seven? That seems random.

When it comes down to it, though, it’s a damn shame that what a lot of us will remember Spore for is for being downloaded hella much. Then again, there are people who will say that EA deserved every dollar they didn’t get for this game. What’s your guys’ take? Does Spore deserve the decidedly undesirable title of “most pirated game of the year”?

Source: Torrent Freak

Well well well, what we have here is a failure to communicate — or so it seems. You decide. We reported late last night that an EA community staff member on the Command and Conquer forum advised posters of a policy change that would allow them to ban individuals banned from forum access from their line of games as well.

The comment has apparently been contradicted by an unnamed EA rep. I say “apparently” because the word “automatically” is used in the statement given, and in my opinion, it does not completely deny what the community staff member warned gamers. Read more…

A recent post by an EA Community Staff member on the company’s Command and Conquer message board outlines changes to their policy, stating their intent to link a gamer’s forum account to their EA gaming account. Why does this matter? Because EA is planning on banning those who get banned on their forum from their games as well. Read more…

Game auteur Will Wright attended the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards ceremony in New York, and Jim Reilly of Kotaku was there to ask him what he thought about the controversy surrounding his game. Read more…

They say that if you give a man fish they’ll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish they’ll eat for a lifetime. Well, give a Korean a game other than Starcraft and they’ll play it for a day, but if you give them Spore they’ll turn it into Starcraft. That’s what happened here. Some intrepid fellow was so frustrated by Spore’s shallow as heck RTS gameplay that he had to make it look as much like Starcraft as possible to even keep playing it. And he succeeded – look at those Siege Tanks!

Source: Game|Life

A press release received today from EA announces that Spore has sold 1 million copies and the amount of creatures uploaded has hit 25 million. Those are pretty impressive numbers considering the game shipped just three weeks ago on September 7th.

I have yet to play the game and would be interested in hearing the thoughts of our readers. If you have played the full version of the game, please let me know what you think of it in the comment section below.

Full press release available after the jump. Read more…

Hal Halpin, the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization for gamers, has spoken out against EA’s DRM policies for Spore, calling the game’s restrictive DRM a breeding ground for future generations of pirates and a “giant leap backwards” for anti-piracy initiatives. Read more…

Just when you thought all this Spore stuff couldn’t get any worse, it does. Even though the Spore manual says otherwise, you cannot have more than one EA Spore account (for uploading your creations to Sporepedia and the like) for each copy of Spore. Read more…

Editors Note: In the process of reevaluating our review standards, the Ripten editorial team has agreed upon a no syndication policy for any review (past, present, or future) indexed in the Ripten catalog. In light of this, we have replaced the previous syndicated review with the exclusive Ripten review below. Thank you.

From the mind of Will Wright comes the hype juggernaut Spore. We’ve been watching and waiting for this game for long enough to watch actual evolution take place, but was it worth the wait?

First off, I’m not taking any of the crazy DRM issues into account here, as this is a game review and not a review on EA’s licensing practices, so be sure to read the many other articles on the issue on this site here, here, here, and here. I’m going to focus on the game itself. With that little disclaimer aside, let’s discuss the game itself. Read more…

It’s nothing to do with penis monsters. No, today’s scapegoat is evolution. One militant creationist – who describes herself only as a “good Christian woman” – has set up a blog to campaign against Spore. Did we also mention that Will Wright is evil and that she’s killing EA on the stock market? I’m not joking. Read more…

Despite being one of the most anticipated games of this year, some people are not overly happy with the overbearing and unnecessary DRM EA have placed on the game.
Read more…

We may have no idea what real aliens might look like, but some of us have a better idea than others. In a planetarium presentation that touched on Yoda, Alf, E.T. and xenomorphs, Spore creator Will Wright and extraterrestrial expert Frank Drake discussed their backgrounds, both personal and professional, and why Spore is the game that will inspire a generation of space cadets. Read more…

You didn’t think I was actually going to show a penis creature?

You might have thought Will Wright might have pulled a facepalm when people started creating genitalia based creatures. Not so – he thinks they’re ace. Read more…

We all know the story of how many days it took God to make this and that, but what we don’t know is how  long EA kept Big G at bay before the process actually started. Well, the delays attached to Spore are officially a thing of the past, and the product, which at one point seemed destined to be called “Big Willy’s Penis Planet”, has finally gone gold.

Will Wright’s Spore will hit next month on multiple platforms and devices. The Apple iPhone application blazes the way on September 4th, while the Nintendo DS, PC, and Mac versions of the game will split cells on US store shelves a few days later on the 7th.

Full press release available after the jump. Read more…

EA has announced a partnership with Planetwide Media, allowing Spore content creators to share their creations with friends through the use of Spore E-Cards.

The service will be free, however it will require you to register. Once registered, players will be able to log in at MashON.com/SPORE, and bring their “Spore creatures to life”. Card options consist of various backgrounds, clip art, and word bubbles. When your design is complete, you can then email it to friends or share it via one of many social network options.

Spore box art announced … uhhhh what can I say … it’s very colorful, very boxy, and very artsy! Will Wright kicks ass, and I am pretty sure that Spore will too.

Spore will will be available on the PC, MAC, and Nintendo DS. Get your hands on a copy of the game September 7th.

Ripten TV is back and ready to kick you right right in your face-part. I’m here at E3 08 counting down the top 5 crowd pleasing moments of the EA press conference. Read more…

Mr. Will Wright? Can we have a bathroom break now?

N’Gai Croal, videogame and internet writer for Newsweek magazine, has determined that since Youtube, Spore, Little Big Planet, and Wikipedia are almost completely dependent on user generated content, this makes Web (and Game) 2.0 something like the 21st century equivalent of textile mills or coal mines. Sweatshop labor– really? Hyperbolic much? Read more…