Posts Tagged ‘maxis’
Chris Hecker beings work on SpyParty
It’s no secret that EA/Maxis’ Spore was a hit with some of the game’s success being attributed to Maxi developer Chris Hecker.
Unfortunately, Maxis recently let Hecker in an effort to downsize the company but that hasn’t stopped him from quickly moving onto a new project which he calls SpyParty. In this game, there will be 2 players, the Spy and the Sniper. The Spy’s job is to move around the party undetected while completely various objectives while the Sniper’s job is to find the Spy and take him out.
Unfortunately, there is no word on when this game will his store shelves, if ever, but we are definitely anticipating any further information regarding SpyParty.
via bigdownload
Spore Hero Arena debut trailer
EA announces Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena
No, EA isn’t teaming up with Activision to merge Spore with Guitar Hero but they are releasing a special edition of the game for the Wii and Nintendo DS entitled Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena.
According to Kotaku both games will focus on the Creature mode of the original Spore where players will create their own creature and take them on all sorts of adventures, battling other creatures and traveling the galaxy:
“When Maxis first considered bringing Spore to console players, the Nintendo platforms jumped out as a perfect fit. Whether it is the stylus-driven action of the Nintendo DS or playful controllers of the Wii, the massive Nintendo audience is the ideal home for Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena,” said Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis. “Nintendo fans will love the humor, ability to create their own Hero, fun game play and immersive storylines we’re creating for these two games.”
Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena are due out for the Wii and Nintendo DS sometime this fall.
Spore: Galactic Adventures details emerge
Remember Spore? The game that everyone thought was going to change the way we looked at the gaming industry in general? Yeah, well EA has finally taken the time to reveal some details regarding the game’s Galactic Adventures expansion that was first announced back in January.
In Galactic Adventure players will take the rank of Space Captain as they adventure the galaxy (ironic huh?) unlocking and collecting 30 new “game-changing items and accessories”.
And what’s a game without some sort of achievements, right? Players will be given a Creature Card, that showcases their ranking and accomplishments.
Yep, that’s all we have to go by for now, no release date or pricing.
Read (Examiner)
EA: No DRM for Sims 3
Electronic Arts received some heavy criticism for using digital rights management software for Spore. The SecuROM software made it so that the game could only be authenticated up to a total of three times, which was later raised to five.
In response to all of the negative feedback, EA has decided to stick to the old fashioned key code authentication system for the Sims 3.
“To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed,” said executive producer Rod Humble. “We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorisation server access in the distant future.”
The Sims 3 will be out June 2, 2009 in North America, and June 5, 2009 in Europe and Australia. It will be available for the PC, Mac OS X, iPhone, and other mobile devices.
Read (Eurogamer)
Spore API Released
To further spread the joys of Spore, developer EA Maxis has released the data and documentation that will allow users to create web applications that make use of user-created content from the game.
The API has already seen quite a few projects being created, including a fun aquarium using creatures from the game, embeddable Flash programs that display statistics and more.
To make the release of the API that much more awesome, Maxis is running a contest where it will award three application designers with various prizes.
Sims 3 launch date announced
Finally, we can report a Sims game that isn’t an add-on, expansion or anything else. It seems EA has finally pryed their hands off of The Sims 2 and onto getting The Sims 3 in stores.
The game was recently announced to be shipping on June 9th. This is a bummer for hardcore fans of the series who were hoping for an end of Feburary release date as originally thought.
Read (ThatVideoGameBlog)
Obama, Palin in Spore
Seeing as how today is election day in the US, Maxis and EA jointly announced that Barack Obama and Sarah Palin will make appearances in Spore.
The presidential candidates (and their ever-lovable sidekicks) will appear in Spore as spaceships. Players can get the politician-shaped spaceships in their game by subscribing to the Election 08 Sporecast.
"Who knows, you just might see Obama firing ‘YesYouCannons’ around the galaxy, or witness firsthand John McCain being ‘mavericky,’" reads a note from EA.
Maxis Hopes to Fix Spore Account Problems
In more Spore news, developer Maxis has responded to an outcry from legitimate owners of the game who can create only one online account for the simulator. The developer plans to implement a new system that will allow multiple screen names per account.
This will, in essence, allow each account to have a limited number of sub-accounts, with each account having almost all the facilities of the main account, including proper credit for creatures in Sporepedia.
However, as a Maxis spokesperson points out, this will create a problem with achievements.
"If I’m logged and play for 99 hours, and then I log off and my sister logs in and plays for 1 hour, she’ll get the honor of the 100 hours achievement, and I won’t," wrote a representative on the game’s official forum. "We know that this is not the ideal solution and will work on improvements to this feature in the future."
No timeline was given for the screen name implementation.
Users Protest Spore DRM Through In-game Creatures, Amazon Product Page
EA seems to be drawing a lot of flak on the install limit posed on Spore customers as part of their anti-piracy measures. Users have taken up arms, criticizing the company through its own game, creating DRM-themed, anti-EA creatures found in the Sporepedia.
These creatures make reference to the game’s use of SecuROM technology, which limits the user to install the game on no more than three computers. EA has also been criticized on Spore’s Amazon product page, which was flooded with hundreds of negative reviews of the game, all citing the title’s DRM.
However, the company appears to be downplaying the customer uproar, stating that fewer than 25 percent of users will ever install the game on more than one machine, with less than 1 percent installing on more than three computers.
Spore Prototypes Released
In what is surely an industry first, Maxis has released a number of early prototype games for those interested in the development phase of Spore, the recently released life simulator.
The prototypes range from star formation to simple OpenGL-based creature games.
“One of the ways in which we explore possible design directions is by building simple, playable prototypes that we can play around with to get a sense for a particular system,” reads a statement on the developer’s website. “Usually these prototypes are never seen by the public, but we thought some of the more intrepid players out there might enjoy playing around with a few of our early Spore prototypes.”
Interested users can head over to this page, which also provides a short description for each prototype.