Joystiq hands-on with Spore

At our appointed time, a group of a half-dozen or so journalists were ushered into the demo room. Will Wright was seated at one terminal and, after a really short introduction, we were off. I initially fumbled around the interface, overwhelmed with the simplest of decisions: where to start. Spore is almost five distinct simulations – cell, creature, tribal, civilization and space – and each one offers unique objectives and a unique game type. After some equivocation, I settled on “space” and, after selecting my spacecraft (an 8-bit Mario, if you’re curious) from an already jam-packed Sporepedia page (and this is just Maxis designers!), I was off exploring a seemingly infinite outer space.

An 8-bit Mario Ship?  AWESOME!