Pocket Gamer's Stuart Dredge mulls over the mobile possibilities for apps like Spore's Creature Creator: "There was bad news this morning for gamers eagerly awaiting the release of EA's super-ambitious Spore. No, the game itself hasn't slipped again, but the Spore Creature Creator application, which was due to launch today, is now coming out tomorrow.
What's that? It's an app that EA is releasing in advance of Spore itself, which will allow people to design all manner of beasties ready to use in the main game later this year. It's a cool and interesting thing to do.
But it got me thinking, why aren't mobile phones being used more for this kind of thing? Pre-release type applications that prepare you for a console or PC game's release, I mean. You could be building monsters, creating an RPG party, tuning a car, scouting footballers, or designing a tennis kit even more retina-shredding than the lime-green effort Rafa Nadal wore at Queens last week."
Bored at work? Why not make a creature with a penis-shaped head? EA has released a new web-based version of their Spore Creature Creator.
Eurogamer writes: "SHODAN may have been scary, but she's got nothing on Lucy. The fun-size pocket robot orangutan may now be consigned to Cyberlife Research vault, but the artificial intelligence comprising her virtual brain - which her creators hoped would see her through real-life kindergarten - is of a level of sophistication that makes Looking Glass' amalgam of clever scripting, voice-acting, and cut-scenes look utterly prehistoric. And while she certainly wasn't blessed with SHODAN's looks, either - in all honesty, she looks like a cross between Estelle Getty and Chucky the Lakeshore Strangler - there's little doubt Lucy's probably the better dinner party guest."
GameSpot writes: "EA and Maxis' Spore generated a good deal of buzz from the moment it was announced at the 2005 Game Developers Conference. On the commercial-gaming side, the game represented the latest effort from celebrity game designer Will Wright, one that was backed by the substantial resources of publishing powerhouse Electronic Arts."
