Spore for Xbox 360?

By Ellie Gibson Published 26 May, 2005

MS CEO seems to think so.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has hinted that Spore, the latest project from Sims creator Will Wright, will be getting an outing on the Xbox 360.

In an interview with Joystiq.com, Ballmer discussed the importance of showcasing innovation when it comes to seeing off the 360's rivals. "We've got to be there telling the story and showing those things which are more interesting," he said, "Whether it's a Spore or a Kameo, which is a different kind of game for the console world."

Spore, which will be published by Electronic Arts, has so far only been officially announced for the PC. Described as "Sim Everything" (which Wright initially considered titling the game), it sees the player guiding a single-celled organism through the evolutionary process with an end goal of total intergalactic domination.

Speaking in an interview with Wired.com, Wright explained: "One of my goals for this whole thing has been to give somebody an awe-inspiring global view of reality, almost like a drug-induced epiphany with a computer.

"Can we transfer that experience into an interactive computer game? Can a computer game bring you to theological discussions, or philosophy, but at the same time remain eminently whimsical and playful and approachable?

"That's an interesting balance to strike. I like the idea of an extremely whimsical toy that has deep philosophical implications," he added.

You can read the full interview here. Screenshots are available here, and you can find out more about the game here. [Hear hear. -Ed]

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Captain Fetid #1 7 years ago

    Imagine the online possibilities...

  • Fozzie_bear #2 7 years ago

    Blimey. Looks good. Read a bit about this in Edge. Sounds ludicrously ambitious. From what i was reading i was expecting the graphics to be rather abstract by necessity. Looks good though. Surely they can't cram in even half of what they're attempting though? Good luck to them though.

    Where does this leave EA bashing re originality? If the blockbusters fund stuff like this then who can complain?

  • Fozzie_bear #3 7 years ago

    But do you think that'll stop 'em when the new FIFA etc are released?

    Nope.

  • therev #4 7 years ago

    Oooh, just before coming to Eurogamer I was reading a preview and getting grumpy because my PC probably won't be up to running this.

    So a very welcome news item.

  • Navi #5 7 years ago

    Soooooo looking forward to this. I've not been tempted by the X360, but if this is good on it, I think it might just get a look in.

  • Darkedge #6 7 years ago

    Spore sounds fun but how is will wright going to sell 300 different expansion packs as the game seems to have evrything already. Figuring that one out will delay the release indefinately

  • Dizzy #7 7 years ago

    Spore looks awesome. COuld be GOTY material.. and oooooohhh online on Live. That would rock!

  • phAge #8 7 years ago

    "If the blockbusters fund stuff like this then who can
    complain?"

    Ahahahahahaaaaa......

    /wipes tears from eyes

    The usual people I guess.

  • Graeme_N #9 7 years ago

    [Cross-posted from Spore Screenshots comments]

    This game seems FAR more ambitious than Black & White, and
    when that game failed to deliver everything that it claimed
    (and turned out to not be much fun to play), people were
    quick to attack Peter Molyneux. Will the same thing happen
    to Will Wright?

  • Les #10 7 years ago

    "Whether it's a Spore or a Kameo, which is a different kind of game for the console world."

    That doesn't even come close to hinting Spore will be on 360.

  • ScoutTech #11 7 years ago

    Expansion packs?..... Spores go Dating, Spores at the Beach, Spores on the moon, etc etc, I bet they'll think of something

  • Yossarian #12 7 years ago

    SEQUELIT...

    Oh, not again.

    Why do I even bother? :(

  • Frogger #13 7 years ago

    Peter Molyneux will sue this guy. Molyneux owns the "God game" rights since Populous.

  • Xerx3s #14 7 years ago

    Would it be possible to summon meteors, floods, and Tony's/George's to do cuel and inhumane things to the population of you planet?

    Anyway, this game would be perfect to show of the superior HP that the xbox 2 has over the totally pointless Fp calculating hp's that the ps3 has.

    However, if this is gonna be one of those unoriginal games from €A again, then it will most certainly fail, again.

  • Les #15 7 years ago

    Yeah, just like the Sims did!

  • Tweakmonkey #16 7 years ago

    Anyway, this game would be perfect to show of the superior HP that the xbox 2 has over the totally pointless Fp calculating hp's that the ps3 has

    lol - blinkered fan boy?

  • OldWormsFan #17 7 years ago

    What is the aim of this game excatly?

  • Les #18 7 years ago

    There is no aim. That's the brilliance.

  • Les #19 7 years ago

    Hit Points? ;-)
    Edited by Les at 26/05/05 @ 13:54

  • Les #20 7 years ago

    "We’ve got to be there telling the story and showing those things which are more interesting. Whether it’s a Spore or Kameo, which is a different kind of a game for the console world.

    I think there will be other things that matter, and we gotta be willing to put our money where our mouth is both in terms of our own development and the promotion that we do with third parties. Not only are we very willing to do that, in a sense we have an incentive to do that. We have an incentive for people to understand that our platforms—because we have two of them, the Xbox and PC. Our platforms are the platforms where people are doing the most innovative games, some of the things you mentioned are clearly as PC centered as anything."

    Does this say "Spore is coming to Xbox 360" to you?

  • OldWormsFan #21 7 years ago

    'There is no aim. That's the brilliance. '


    Wahoo! Another boring sims!

  • TheAlbaniac #22 7 years ago

    Judging from the GDC demo Will Wright showed off, most of Spore is already working pretty well. It was always difficult to make out whether Molyneux' claims were based on reality, but from what Wright has shown he actually already implemented his claims.

    The GDC demo and talk, for those interested, is a full hour long and can be found here: http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/gdctv/

    It's well worth the watch, and not just because it shows Spore.

  • Feanor #23 7 years ago

    "Though you'd think this kind of game would benefit from the PS3's
    extra power."

    Which MS claims it doesn't have, of course. Personally, I'm not going to believe any claim that the PS3 is this or that much more powerful than the Xbox 360 (or vice versa) until 2007, when a decent amout of games have been released for both systems.

    And as Spore is coming out first for mainly single processor PCs, I think both new consoles will have more than enough computing power run Spore.

  • Negotiator #24 7 years ago

    It makes me laugh that sony can convince everyone that the PS3 is more powerful than the 360 by just saying it. Then Microsoft give a detailed analysis of why the 360 is in fact the more powerful machine for gaming and no one takes any notice. It says it all that Sony have not responded because they know its true. Microsoft laid out the facts in black and white told it how it is and still the Sony fanboys dismiss it. I don't care which console is the more powerful, but people should read the facts.

  • Les #25 7 years ago

    What "detailed analysis" ? You're not referring to the Dave J link are you?
    Edited by Les at 26/05/05 @ 16:56

  • glaeken #26 7 years ago

    There is no truth in the Xbox360 power vs. PS3 Power. The PS3 really does not even exist yet so its power is all paper based as in what some engineer decided to write down on paper about its theoretical power. It is very interesting as someone else pointed out that some have taken this as proof of technological superiority of the PS3.
    Of course the Xbox360 also really does not exist yet in its final form though it is probably closer to being actually hardware than the PS3 due to its earlier release date.

  • Les #27 7 years ago

    And still a lot of its demos had frame rate problems... Well, they've got 5 months to sort that out.
    Edited by Les at 26/05/05 @ 17:02

  • glaeken #28 7 years ago

    Well that is because as I said the XBox360 does not even really exist yet. In fact probably the most important bit, the GPU, was almost certainly not involved in the running of any of those demo's.

    Really these power arguments amount to arguing about who would win a fight between a Unicorn and a Griffin.

  • Scimarad #29 7 years ago

    I've said it before and I'll say it again; Potentially the best game in years...

    "Really these power arguments amount to arguing about who
    would win a fight between a Unicorn and a Griffin. "

    Well, duh! A Unicorn could OWN a Griffin:-)
    Edited by Scimarad at 26/05/05 @ 18:14

  • Les #30 7 years ago

    A Griffin, definitely! ; -)

    But to be serious: I was not comparing 360 with PS3. Both consoles don't really exist right now but given that the 360 will launch first, you would expect their dev kits to be closer to the final spec, as you yourself said. If that's the case, I would start to get a bit worried if I were M$ if my demos were not running that smoothly.

  • Feanor #31 7 years ago

    "If that's the case, I would start to get a bit worried if I were M$ if
    my demos were not running that smoothly."

    Microsoft insisted that the stuttering demos were caused by the game running on dev kits 1/3 of the power of the final 360. Now how true is that? I don't know for sure, but the 2001 E3 demo of Halo had very similar problems and Halo turned out fine graphics-wise. Full Auto looked pretty smooth, and the developer guaranteed on live television that the final version will never drop below 60 fps.

    Time will tell.
    Edited by Feanor at 26/05/05 @ 18:30

  • Les #32 7 years ago

    "Time will tell."

    And time only.

  • glaeken #33 7 years ago

    Yeah I have to admit it surprises me that they don't have finished Xbox360's available yet. We are only talking about a few months before it is due t be released if they make that November date. You would think they would have finished models and prototypes available a long time before they actually started selling them. Maybe this is normal in the world of consoles but it just seems to be cutting it very fine to me.

    Oh and Griffin wins. Half Lion half eagle if I remmeber correctly and that ownz a horse with a horn any day in my book ;)

    Dam hope I have not offended any Unicorn fans boys on that one.
    Edited by glaeken at 26/05/05 @ 22:40

  • Scimarad #34 7 years ago

    "Oh and Griffin wins. Half Lion
    half eagle if I remmeber correctly and that ownz a horse
    with a horn any day in my book ;) "

    Ahhh, but it's very, very magical horse with a horn on the end.