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.

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…

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…

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…

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.

EA and Maxis announced today that a special edition of Spore, dubbed the “Galactic Edition” will be available alongside the regular edition on September 5th in Europe and September 7th in North America and Asia. Hit the jump to find out what goodies it will contain. Read more…

If you are interested in getting a public demo of Spore by Will Wright, the chief designer himself, and you just so happen to live in the San Fransisco area, head on down to The Apple Store on One Stockton Street, Saturday June 21st between 7PM and 8PM. Full press release to follow. Read more…

Alright Spore gamers, we all did it (present company included), but it needs to stop.

Our community, as well as the Youtube community, has fallen victim to Spore genitalia madness. In just a few short days, Spore has overtaken the DS PictoChat as the choice among gamers for the “penis creation”. Read more…

As you may have noticed, Day Three exploits are going up a little later than usual. Unfortunately, we had a run-in with the Blaznatz chewing up our bandwidth, so we were unable to get a good connection. Damn him and his chainsaw bayonet…

We’ve decided to combine our day three info with day four, which would officially make this Ripten’s GDC 08 Coverage: Day Seven. Read on for all the goodness. Read more…

At the tail end of last year there were many voices asking if 2007 had been the best year in gaming history. Regardless of how you would respond to that question, 2007 without a doubt saw the release of a number of really fantastic titles. What any gamer should be excited to hear is that 2008 is shaping up to be at least as equally fantastic with huge releases imminent on all platforms. Word came down from on high today that there is a new name to be added to the list of things to drool over, and it’s a big one—Spore. Read more…