EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: maxis
There’s no denying the importance and influence of development studio Maxis on the videogame industry as a whole. Founded by industry legend Will Wright, the studio produced some of the world’s most memorable and well-known games including SimCity, The Sims, Spore and more recently, Darkspore.
Since the departure of Will Wright, however, the innovative future of Maxis has been a little shaky, but rumours doing the rounds point to the company working on a “triple-A simulation style game.”
Set your imagination free and answer this Question of the Day:
What should the next game from Maxis be?
2008’s Spore was a game with great promise, and ultimately (in my opinion) did not deliver on all of it. It was broken into four separate parts when one flowing game would have been much better. What was great about the game though was the Creature Creator. It allowed a nearly unlimited amount of organic creatures to be created and then move and act realistically. It is the promise of Spore combined with an action RPG that sets the mood for Darkspore.
Continue reading El33tonline’s review of Darkspore.
EA has announced that its Maxis Studio is hard at work on Darkspore, a new online sci-fi action RPG for the PC that promises to introduce “innovative character customisation, gameplay mechanics and online play to the genre.”
Darkspore will see players battling against the mutated forces of Darkspore across alien worlds to save the galaxy. The game will feature a four player co-operative and full single player campaign as well as intense multiplayer battles.
On the back of the news that Wolfenstein developer Raven Software has been hit with a round of layoffs, it’s also been revealed that The Sims and Spore developer, and internal studio at EA, Maxis, has also been forced to reduce its staff in order to respond to “business conditions,” says a statement from EA.
The exact number of staff affected by the cut is unknown, but internet rumblings post the figure in the dozens, as opposed to lesser measurements. The full statement from EA regarding the Maxis layoffs reads:
Will Wright, one of the most notable thinkers working in the field of game development today, and creator of SimCity, The Sims and Spore (amongst others) has left the company he co-founded, Maxis, and the company’s publisher, EA, to work full time at an ‘entertainment think tank’ called The Stupid Fun Club.
The Stupid Fun Club, which Wright has been financing for the last ten years and operating out of a warehouse in Berkley, California, has thus far focussed its energy on the areas of robotics and human interaction with robots.
Now Wright, working with EA which now co-owns the venture, will begin work on exploring new possibilities in the lucrative area of cross-media, developing new intellectual property (IP) for games, TV, toys and movies.
EA will have the right of first refusal on all IP developed at the think tank, at which time Wright and co. will be free to shop their ideas to other publishers and companies.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Lucy Bradshaw, a colleague of Wright’s for twelve years, said; “It really is a partnership, where Will is going to be investing his time in Stupid Fun Club incubating new IP… [while] Maxis will continue to develop its own IP, and clearly we’re very focused on Spore.
“It’s exciting - I’d like to see where he’s going to branch out to. There are areas of IP that really don’t fit within EA’s portfolio that he does want to pursue.
CEO at EA, John Riccitiello, also weighed in on the matter, saying; “We believe in Will’s vision for Stupid Fun Club and we’re looking forward to partnering with Will and his team long into the future.”
Will Wright, in his usual prophetic way, said in a statement; “The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change. Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos, and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms.”
Source: Gamasutra
Maxis (an EA studio) released the Spore Creature Creator on the 17th of June. Spore fans from around the world immediately dug in, creating over 250 000 Spore creatures in just one day and more than one million creatures in one week.
The Spore Creature Creator is an introduction to Spore for the PC and Mac. It allows players to create unique creatures and bring them to life with animations as well as share them online. It is easy to create your creature with the drag-and-drop interface, you can stretch parts and paint your creation with colours and patterns before animating your creature.
Players can take the unique creatures they create on a test drive as well as snap pictures and movies of them which can be shared with friends or by loading them to the Sporepedia at www.spore.com. You can even upload your creations to the Spore YouTube Channel at youtube.com/spore.
EA contacted El33tonline in early June and asked us to participate in a Spore Sneak Preview. We were selected to have early access to Spore through a Creature Creator pre-release, allowing us to be part of the first group of people to populate the Spore universe.
75 creative innovators from around the world were chosen to participate and design their own creatures, 50 of whom were celebrities including Elijah Wood and Richard Branson. The Sporelebrities are participating in a competition that will see viewers voting for their favourite character with the winner walking away with $15 000 for the charity of their choice.
While El33tonline didn’t quite make the Sporelebrity list, you can head over to Sporevote.com to check out our creature. You will find the details under Lisa Konigkramer on the More Spore section. The website will be up until the 15th of September so make sure you check out Quizzy before then and vote for him if you like.
We had lots of fun putting the Spore Creature Creator through its paces, thanks to EA for the opportunity to participate. All it takes is a little imagination.
Over one million creatures have been created and shared using the Spore Creature Creator in one week.
The millionth creature was created by FlamingChidori and the two-legged green creature was called Sapiusgeenus.
If you are interested in creating your very own creature, head over to www.spore.com to download the Spore Creature Creator or view creations in the Sporepedia. You can also download a free trial version which includes 25% of the creature-making parts from Spore and allows players to shape, paint and play with the creatures they create.
“Maxis is excited, humbled and inspired by the explosion of creativity that we’ve seen with the Spore Creature Creator online,” said Lucy Bradshaw, executive producer of Spore at Maxis.
“I’m amazed at the creations I see getting uploaded to the Sporepedia, whether it’s a realistic looking bird or animal, a 10-eyed alien, or something completely bizarre and unexpected like a creature that looks like a motorcycle, it’s clear that people have an innate desire to be creative, and we’re thrilled to help them express themselves.”
Spore will be available for the PC, Mac, Nintendo DS on the 5th of September across Europe and on the 7th of September across the US and Asia.
For more information on the Spore Creature Creator head over to our previous coverage or read about how over 250 000 creatures were created in a day.
EA has announced a limited Galactic Edition of Spore.
The Galactic Edition will include a ‘Making of Spore’ DVD, ‘The Art of Spore’ book, a Spore poster as well as a 100 page Galactic Handbook and ‘How to Build a Better Being,’ a DVD documentary from the National Geographic Channel.
“The Spore Galactic Edition is the ultimate backstage pass for the Spore universe,” said Patrick Buechner, vice president of marketing, Maxis.
“The Spore Galactic Edition is an incredible collection of art, video and behind-the-scenes access to the development team for fans, along with some of the coolest, most collectable packaging in years.”
The Galactic Edition of Spore will retail for £44.99 in the UK while the regular edition will set you back £39.99.
Spore will available for the PC, Mac and Nintendo DS in Europe on the 5th of September and across North America and Asia on the 7th of September.
If you can’t wait until then to try your hand at creating creatures, you can download the Creature Creator from www.spore.com. Head over to our previous coverage for more information on the Spore Creature Creator.
Maxis (an EA Studio) has announced that over 250 000 creatures have been created and shared since yesterday’s launch of the Spore Creature Creator. This amounts to Spore fans sharing more than two creatures every second since the launch.
The Spore Creature Creator is a stand-alone product for the PC and Mac. It allows players to create unique creatures and bring them to life with animations as well as share them online. It is easy to create your creature with the drag-and-drop interface, you can stretch parts and paint your creation with colours and patterns before animating your creature.
The trial version is guaranteed to keep you busy, featuring 25% of the creature-making parts from Spore and allowing players to shape, paint and play with the creatures they create. You will also be able to import creatures you make in the Spore Creature Creator into the full Spore game.
The Spore Creature Creator is now available for the PC and Mac. Spore fans can get a free trial version of the Spore Creature Creator or check out the Sporepedia now from www.spore.com. The full version can be purchased from EA Store for ₤4.99 in the UK and $10 in the US.
Spore will be available for the PC, Mac and Nintendo DS in Europe on the 5th of September and across North America and Asia on the 7th of September.
“The response to the Spore Creature Creator has been overwhelming,” said Lucy Bradshaw, executive producer of Spore at Maxis. “The creativity and passion that the community is putting into their creatures is spectacular. The development team has spent the last 24 hours checking out the amazing creations racing in from all corners of the globe – with peak volume hitting more than 1,000 creatures being shared a minute.”
For more information on the Spore Creature Creator head over to our previous coverage or check out the Spore Creature Creator trailer.
Chances are that if you take even the slightest interest in the gaming industry you would have heard about Spore. If you are wondering exactly what the Spore Creature Creator is, check out our previous coverage and the trailer below to give you an idea how easy it is to create creatures and bring them to life.
The Spore Creature Creator is now available for the PC and Mac. Spore fans can get a free trial version of the Spore Creature Creator now from www.spore.com. The full version can be purchased from EA Store for ₤4.99 in the UK and $10 in the US.
Spore will be available for the PC, Mac and Nintendo DS in Europe on the 5th of September and across North America and Asia on the 7th of September.
Maxis (an EA studio) released the Spore Creature Creator this week. The Spore Creature Creator is an introduction to Spore which will available for the PC, Mac and Nintendo DS in Europe on the 5th of September and across North America and Asia on the 7th of September.
The Spore Creature Creator is a stand-alone product for the PC and Mac. It allows players to create unique creatures and bring them to life with animations as well as share them online. It is easy to create your creature with the drag-and-drop interface, you can stretch parts and paint your creation with colours and patterns before animating your creature.
Spore fans can get a free trial version of the Spore Creature Creator now from www.spore.com. The full version can be purchased from EA Store for ₤4.99 in the UK and $10 in the US.
The trial version is guaranteed to keep you busy, featuring 25% of the creature-making parts from Spore and allowing players to shape, paint and play with the creatures they create. You will also be able to import creatures you make in the Spore Creature Creator into the full Spore game.
Players will be able to take the unique creatures they create on a test drive as well as snap pictures and movies of them which can be shared with friends or by loading them to the Sporepedia at www.spore.com. You can even upload your creations to the Spore YouTube Channel at youtube.com/spore.
“Today is the day we begin to see Spore come to life,” said executive producer and general manager of Maxis, Lucy Bradshaw. “We’re excited to see what players will do with the powerful and intuitive creativity tools we’ve put into the Spore Creature Creator. Our team will be excitedly keeping an eye on the Sporepedia to check out creations made by players from around the world.”
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