Spore Release Date and Hands-On Demo!

Tucked away behind beautiful booth babes, flashy lights, big-rig computers, and jamming speaker systems I found the mobile gaming booth on the vendor floor of Quakecon. Here they had several mobile phones set up running various games such as Orcs&Elves, and I think even Wolfenstein RPG. What caught my eye, though, were the Spore: Origins logos posted alongside logos for these other in-development games. I inquired with the representatives at the booth, and they gave me some interesting info that the Spore: Origins game for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be released on September 7th, 2008.

Here’s a quick video of the statement:

They went on to say that there were actually several iPod Touches with the Spore: Origins game installed and ready for demo! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one to start playing, and I must say I’m really excited for the final product to reach the AppStore. I only played 3 levels, but the idea pretty straightforward at first: eat or be eaten. You first start off as highest in the food chain, chasing smaller organisms and getting stronger and more evolved with each one you eat. As you progress, however, organisms that will eat YOU come into play and you must avoid them while using the accelerometers to steer your creature into eating the smaller organisms. One really neat attention to detail I noticed was the fact that, in the lower levels, the background of the primordial ooze showed fuzzy images of larger organisms swimming around, giving a sense of realization of how small your start off as.

The customization aspect of it is pretty interesting. Aside from choosing what colors, designs, and even textures your creature can have on its body, it looks like players will be able to add their own personal photos as an option for the creature’s look. While browsing through the customization options, I found an icon of a polaroid picture of palm trees, which led me to this assumption. As the levels progress, more customization options are unlocked. You’ll be able to change the bone structure of your creature, what types of defenses and probes it has (like horns or thicker, tougher skin), etc, etc.

At the end of this post is a video of me giving a hands-on video demo of Spore: Origins. It’s only of level one, and I can upload the others if there’s a large demand for the rest. Keep in mind, however, the video of the demo is very blurry (I can’t control the focus on my Flip video camera), so here’s your warning. Yes, it is also very loud seeing as how I’m on the show floor at Quakecon…and the booth where they featured Spore: Origins was dimly lit.

Id Software Has iPhone Game in the Works

From iPhone Alley, John Carmack of Id Software stated that the game developing company has a game specifically designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the works. I’m very excited to see what they come up with, and I’m already speculating Id will be announcing the game at this year’s Quakecon in Dallas, Texas. Last year Carmack announced Id’s newest game Rage, which is why I have a hunch that a similar announcement may happen this year. As I will be attending this event, I’ll keep you guys posted on what happens. Be sure to monitor my Twitter feed in between July 31st through August 3rd for developments at Quakecon, and if you are going to be in Dallas during that time and want to find out how to attend, follow this link to get started. Did I mention that it’s 100% free to attend?