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Will Wright Now EA Consultant, Still Helping with Spore Franchise

Nathan Grayson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:05:20 -0500

An employee by any other name… is still pretty much an employee. As it turns out, Will Wright isn’t just giving EA first right to develop anything that emerges from his brand new think tank; he’s also continuing to watch over his most recent brainchild, Spore.

“I don’t think it was widely reported, but alongside this whole [Stupid Fun Club] thing, I also entered into a consulting agreement with EA,” he said. “I’m spending a certain amount of time every month actually working with the Spore team on future versions of Spore and expansions. So I will [still] be involved with EA on developing the Spore franchise as well.”

In addition, the god-game god elaborated on how he’d like to see Spore evolve next. His greatest hope? To give his fans everything they’re looking for in his game about everything ever.

“We're finding out cool areas the fans want to bring the game in, what direction they want the tools to go, what experiences they're enjoying in the game the most, which levels they enjoy the most. So I think now we're at a maximum learning where the fans are going to be steering the franchise as much as we will – they have their hands on the steering wheel too.”

We’re wishing for more varied activities outside the Space phase, the ability to actually interact with other players online, and more wishes. How about you?

Will Wright Leaves Electronic Arts, Gives up Intelligent Design for “Stupid Fun”

Nathan Grayson — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:39:32 -0500

After 12 years of ~~printing money~~ working in faithful service to EA, Sims and Spore’s resident genius has decided to call it quits. But just because Wright managed to create a virtual representation of all biological existence doesn’t mean he’s done making most other game designers look silly just yet – far from it.

Wright’s next endeavor, called Stupid Fun Club, is a think tank that has actually been bubbling around for a few years now. However, back when it was merely a side project, the most unfittingly named club ever seemed content to just manufacture cutting-edge robots – whereas now, it’ll develop new intellectual properties across multiple media formats like film, TV, the Internet, and of course, videogames.

Make no mistake, though: EA may have let Wright off the leash, but – much to the chagrin of some, we’re sure – Stupid Fun Club is still very much in the mega-publisher’s lap. As a result, EA owns just as much Stupid Fun Club stock as Wright himself and has the first right to develop anything the thinkin’-est tank in the business comes up with.

The rub of it all? Mr. Wright hasn’t exactly given EA his walking papers, but he’ll certainly have more wiggling room, at least in the conceptual phase, from now on. As for his first task as an un-tethered man, we’re hoping he’ll invent a few new words to replace “stupid” on the intelligence hierarchy, since he’s apparently laid claim to it. Really, it’s not even fair. If Will friggin’ Wright calls himself stupid, what’s everyone else?

Spore

Will Smith — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:10:44 -0600

Spore lets you take an extremely high-concept journey from a single-cell life form swimming through the seas to a continent-spanning superpower to the overlord of a galactic empire. Over the course of about five hours, you shepherd your critter through four introductory stages; then you leave for space.

That’s right, the first four stages of the game—cell, creature, tribe, and civilization—essentially train neophyte gamers to play common game genres: primarily MMO, RTS, and turn-based strategy. You then apply these skills when your fledgling species emerges from its gravity well for the first time. Despite lacking the depth we’d expect from a stand-alone game, the training stages are quite entertaining. You make very simplistic choices: Are you a carnivore or an herbivore? Do you fight or befriend other tribes? Will you be an economic, religious, or military superpower?

Once you leave your planet, the game begins in earnest. You travel between the stars, expanding your empire by conquering, colonizing, or buying planets from alien races. As you become stronger, you encounter increasingly powerful aliens, culminating in an epic battle at the center of the galaxy. The space game is packed full of gameplay, with an essentially infinite galaxy to conquer.

Spore is a technological triumph. By procedurally generating art for everything in the game, all the relevant data about your species fits into a few small PNG files, which are uploaded to the Spore servers. While you play, you download other players’ species in the background, where they populate your planets and galaxy, which gives an already massive game infinite replay value.

We were disappointed by the game’s lack of an auto-save feature; a few crashes cost us hours of progress. And as your empire grows massive, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage. Despite these flaws, Spore is a game that everyone should play.

Spore’s Will Wright Working on New Mega-Game, Doesn’t Want You to Know about It

Nathan Grayson — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:42:54 -0600

So Spore didn’t change the way we looked at games forever, but that doesn’t mean the next link in Will Wright’s evolutionary chain will pop out of the primordial ooze half-baked. Especially not if Wright’s right, and his next project spends the next three years getting dolled-up for its big day.

"I'm working on a big new project that I'm very excited about, but I don't want to talk about it yet because if it takes three years to come out I don't want people saying 'Wow, he's been talking about that for a loooong time,'" Wright told Joystiq at Spike TV’s Videogame Award show.

So then, for those soured by Spore, what will it take to earn back your goodwill? A new SimCity? Something totally un-Sim-like? A game that isn’t hyped to the point that -- even if it were quantifiably better than sex -- it’d be considered a disappointment?

Will Wright Comments on Spore DRM, Blames Corporate Overlords

Paul Lilly — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:53:31 -0500

Much has been made in the media over Spore's DRM scheme, which now limits gamers to five activations (recently pushed up from three activations amid an intense internet backlash). By and large, Electronic Arts has caught most of the criticism for saddling Spore with a modified version of SecuROM, arguably the most hated form of DRM in the gaming community. But should some of the ire be directed at Will Wright as well?

"It was something I probably should have tuned into more," Wright told Jim Reilly from Kotaku.com. "It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now we're allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate, which makes it more in line with iTunes. I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players it's not an issue, it's a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and installing it 20 times or they want to play it 10 years later."

Take from that what you will. While it sounds like Wright has been drinking some of John Riccitiello's Kool-Aid, who recently downplayed DRM with claims that it's only an issue for 0.2 percent of gamers, at least Wright acknowledges the other side of the coin, which is that gamers tend to be enthusiasts who frequently change around their system.

Does EA deserve all the blame one this? Hit the jump and let us know what you think.

Image Credit: Flickr Jeff Croft

E3 2008: A Ton of New Screenshots From Left4Dead and Spore!

Norman Chan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:59:40 -0500

Just for you, because you're awesome: new screenshots from two of our most highly-anticipated PC games of the year. Spore and Left4Dead look much more polished and graphically improved since we've last seen them. In the case of Left4Dead, all the character models have been revamped as well. The L4D screens don't actually show the new character design. For a peek at those, you'll have to hit up our liveblog of the EA press conferenc e.

Hit the next page for the Spore screens!

Make sure to check out our E3 2008 EA press conference liveblog for more game details and images.

Follow our E3 2008 coverage here!

E3 2008: EA Press Conference; Sims 3 Announced, id Partners with EA to Publish Rage, and More!

Norman Chan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:23:19 -0500

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We just arrived at the EA press conference at the Orpheum theater. Lots of news being released, including the announcement of Sims 3, coming out in 2009. Click through for our liveblog!

3:13 PM

Sims 3 announced. Every object in the game will be customizable and editable. Persistance in the entier Sims world. Anaolgy is that the old Sims games kept you trapped inside the house, new one will open the doors.

3:18 PM

Dead Space: Demo of the game. No HUD. Third person horror action. Large hulking beast on four legs comes rushing in. Issac's weaon has a 3d-heads up display. The beast is emiting fire as the hero shoots off parts of its limbs. Circle strafing around it as the beast rushes. A freeze type blash temporarily stunns it. The fight is going on for over 2 minutes now. Still plenty of body parts to shoot off. Finally finishes it off.

Takes an elevator up. 3-laser beam tracking gun armed. Long organic arm comes out of the wall. Grabs Issac's leg. He shoots with his pistol as he's being dragged. Gets up. The arm comes back and grabs his face. Pulls him into the wall. Awesome!

Avail Oct 21st on PC, 360, and PS3.

3:24 PM

Patrick Soderlund. EA European Studios

Mirror's Edge: Being demoed on the PS3. Developed at DICE. Starts gameplay. On rooftop. No HUD again. Looks like the same demo we saw at GDC. Faith, the lead character, running across a rooftop. Watching through her eyes. Pipes glow bright red to give you direction (runner's vision). Balancing on pipes to walk between skyscrapers. Faith makes a long jump and latches onto another pipe on the side of a wall.

Runs inside a building. Indoor puzzle. Have to reach a vent shaft high above. Makes several jumps and grabs to reach. Drops down the vent. Faces four cops, who fire at her. Faith runs up a stairwell and out on the rooftop. News helicopter hovering outside, covering the chase.

Faith slows down time using "reaction time." Leaps acros more rooftops. Slides into the feet of an enemy, knocking them down. Grabs another one by the gun, and disarms. You can complete the entire game without firing a single bullet (tied to achievement). Sees another runner jumping across rooftops. Goal is to deliver a package to this runner, Celeste.

Guards catch up with Faith again. No way off that roof -- it's too high up. Faith jumps and grabs the helicopter, sees her reflection in skyscraper windows.

New gameplay trailer. New environments. Sliding on water underground in sewers. Knocking guards out with their shotguns. Lots of industrial buildings and warehouses. She doesn't fire a single shot the entire time.

3:34 PM

Will Wright goes up on stage! He's wearing a "Save SETI" t-shirt.

Spore is the intersection of Science and Creativity. Venn diagram explanation.

Spre Creature Creator -- 1 million new creatures uploaded in a week. Blew away expectations. They have 1,756,000 creatures on Sporedatabase right now. 18 days. More creatures in Spore than known number of species on Earth.

Spore fans = 38% God!

Very surprised by what fans could do. robots and humans. not intended, but fans did it anyway. creepy things. They even made vehicles.

Even celebrities haved used it. Richard Branson, Melissa Joan Hart, etc.

Partnerships with SETI and National Geogrphic announced.

New gameplay trailer: takes you from microbe to galaxy. Basically says you're God. You guide these creatures through their entire evolution and cultural development.

3:45 PM

Peter Moore is up. EA Sports. Starts with NBA LIVE 09 demo. Game now features "Dynamic DNA"

Updates player stats every day of the season, after every game. New Instant Replay and DNA Scouting Report features seen in the pause menu. New connected experiences for the online gamer.

Now announcing new Wii sports games. "All Play" branding. More accessible for new gamers.

Demo with Tiger Woods. 28 total players. Peter Moore plays with "All Play" turned on, turns off higher difficulty settings so you don't have to worrk about wind, etc. Gets a really close shot. Makes a joke about at least not accidentally pausing the game. Scores a birdie.

Playing with advanced mode on, Natalie Gulbis scores a bogey. Crowd cheers anyway.

Five All Play games coming out this summer and fall.

4:02 PM

John Pleasant, EA Redwood Shores

Lots of marketing speak, talking about the direction of the company. Giving users what they want, when they want it. etc etc.

Introducing some colleagues who're driving this consumer experience.

EA Online Group: Nanea Reeves. Talking about EA online technologies. Spore, Battlefield Heroes. Just rolled out Nucleus. EA's persona/gamer profile for their games. Reputation, stats, scores. Stored in the cloud. Buddy lists. Works on mobile phones. Tied to micro-transactions. Battlefield Heroes and Sims. Live in 30 countries.

Integrated into 25 EA titles by the end of 2009.

Sean Fanning (Napster guy) gtalking about Rupture.

Social Achievements. You can challenge friends to complete certain achievements, or create new achievements (ie. achieve certain score over one weekend). open API for developers. Games can export game data to variety of formats.

More details at www.rupture.com/developers

Travis Boatman, EA Mobile

iPhone games. App store is exciting for them. Touch screen allowed them to innovate with Tetris. Touch mode to slow down the game.

Also taking advantage of the accelerometer. Ie. in Spore Microbe action game. Makes the game easy to play. Adding accelerometer support to Scrabble game.

Wifi support for Scrabble. Multiplayer scrabble with friends.

3D engines used for Tiger Woods PGA 09 and Spore for iPhone. Gameplay trailers shown.

4:11 PM

Greg Zeschuk, Bioware

Dragon Age Origins, Spiritual successor to Balder's Gate

Your personal origin story is how the world sees you, and the lense through how you see the world.

Trailer shown: Looks like LOTR high fantasy. Golden and silver armor. Animals with tatoos. humans facing off against orc army in the rain. Hounds are unleashed. Massive armies charge. Fireballs and flaming arrhows launch in the air. One of the most epic battles I've seen rendered in real-time. Huge horned monster grabs a human and screams in his face.

4:14 PM

Game Newell, Valve

Left4Dead. First person co-op horror survival game.

AI Director. Big chunk of AI code. Game plays different every time. Directo creates the drama in real-time. Monitors player experience (health, aiming) and changes the pace of the game.

Demo: Gas Station level. Two different groups. Group 1: Beaten up, playing poorly. Film grain to create cinematic feel.

Second group: Smoth going, playing well, lots of health and ammo. Outcome: Much more challenging encounter. Many more zombies. Huge explosion. Entire gas station is blown up. Bigger payoff as reward.

Tf2 taught them a lot about L4D development.

Completely new survivor designs. Looks more realisitc. Still one girl, three guys. African american wearing a white shirt and tie, with blood. Old vetern guy with white hair. Biker guy is now gone.

Gameplay trailer: Game looks much better than when we saw it last . Lots of rain and advanced lighting effects. Exploding zombies. Chatter between survivors. They shoot down a boss infected. Very cinematic.

4:21 PM

John Carmack, id Software

id Software now teamed up with EA through EA Partners. Probably the same deal as Valve. Marketing muscle, but remaining independent.

New Rage Trailer: Buggy driving into a fortress. Dusty terrain. Inhabitants wearing goggles and covering their faces. Semi-steampunk like. Mutants wielding bones swipe at you. Messed up faces. Looks like the big giant guy from the Goonies. More variety of colors than last year. Not just brown anymore. Impressive, but short. More Rage info at Quakecon.

And that's it! Check back for updated info and photos.