Binding: CD-ROM Brand: Electronic Arts EAN: 0014633158649 ESRB Age Rating: Everyone Format: CD-ROM Label: Electronic Arts Manufacturer: Electronic Arts Model: 15864 Publisher: Electronic Arts Release Date: 2008-06-17 Studio: Electronic Arts
Features:
Build using 228 drag-and-drop, flexible parts – is it fashion, function, or fashunction?
Paint with unique patterns, make your creature stand out in a crowd
Play with your creature as it comes to life with dances, poses, and emotions
Share using built-in snapshot and video tools—make your creature a star.
Plays on both PC and Mac
Rating: - Just plain fun for kids and adults
My 10-year-old daughter bought this with her own funds about 6 weeks ago for use on a MacBook. SInce then we've had great fun creating creatures, both images of our pets and fantastic fictional animals. We have had none of the issues reported by other users, perhaps because our computer is new and runs OSX 10.5.
Fun game: one person creates a creature that looks like a specific pet or other known animal, and everyone else guesses who it is. We've done all the dogs in the house, plus the lizard, newts, rabbits and salamanders. We're moving on to neighborhood pets next.
I've decided to buy Spore, and look forward to importing our creatures into that game.
Rating: - Lackluster and problematic
My kids were really excited by the splashy advertising in the lead up to the full Spore. They decided to buy the game. They were really excited about it, for a day, but since then it has languished unused.
Besides that, we faced several installation issues. The game wouldn't run at all because of some interference with EA's download manager. After I uninstalled the download manager, it worked, but only arbitrarily on certain user accounts. Attempts to resolve the issue through customer support were initially supportive, but quickly devolved to the point where it was clear they weren't even reading my messages.
Rating: - Decent game, BUT BEWARE DRM
First and foremost, THIS GAME HAS DRM.
What does this mean for you the consumer ? You are RENTING the game, you don't own the game.
As for gameplay, you can tell that the creators put a lot of time and effort into the creativity aspect of this game. It is quite enjoyable i found for the first few hours, however gameplay dulls after a bit of time(then again what game doesn't).
If i knew this game had DRM, i would not have bought it. Although the game is decent, with DRM it instantly loses it's replay value since you can only install it a few times.
If this game didn't have drm, i would have rated it 3 stars (as i did the fun aspect). Unfortantly this is not the case.
Rating: - You don't need to buy this since Spore contains the Creature Creator
I didn't give it a 1 star because I got it to work on my kid's system but it doesn't work on mine.
For some reason it keeps saying that I'm not online and can't verify the game. This really irks me because it only works on my kid's computer. I followed all the tips on EA's tech site but to no avail. They really need to do something that doesn't punish legit customers. According to several reports, the game is one of the most pirated games of all time--I guess EA got the opposite effect of what they wanted.
On a positive note, the Creature Creator really is a work of art. Please note that you don't need to buy the seperate Creature Creator if you get the full game Spore (which was my mistake). You can build almost any type of creature, vehicle, and building imaginable. The only thing missing that I wasn't able to find was the ability to customize the sound of your creature. On top of that, downloading new custom creatures is done through small 30kb PNG files. Even if Spore becomes a failure, I really hope the Creature Creator technology can be put to good use in all customizable games.
Without the DRM issue, I would give it 4 stars. It's probably worth 5, but I really see no reason to buy the standalone Creature Creator when the full game is out.
Rating: - This game ruined my CD drive
I bought this game through the EA Download Manager, which was the first mistake as I will need to pay a fee to download it again, but that's beside the point. I was one of the many caught in the flurry when the Creature Creator was first issued as a demo. When the buyable version came out I took advantage to get it. I had my doubts about SecuROM, but I did not think this game includes it--be warned, IT DOES.
Ever since I installed the game my CD drive has been acting up. Movies I rented from Netflix started to refuse to play on my computer. Now, any game that requires a CD that is published by EA refuses to detect the CD. I will never buy another product from EA or Maxis in my life again. SecuROM and the DRM has not stopped piracy; it has ruined legitimate buyers' computers for automatically treating them like criminals.
Now I have to jump through a number of hoops that suggest I should backup my entire computer before going down the long road of trying to getting rid of SecuROM off my computer. If you value your computer in not wanting to stop working because companies will automatically treat you like a criminal then I suggest you stay away from this, Spore, or any other game that has SecuROM or any other sort of DRM protection.
I've heard it said by Dave Winer and many many others: if only Dean had reinvested half the money raised into the Internet, then ...
OK, so you're the Dean Campaign Chief Information Officer in August 2003. The money starts to roll in. $20 million over six months, $2-4 million per month.
What would you spend the money on?
What does your monthly budget look like?
What is your application and infrastructure portfolio?
How much will you allocate to maintenance?
You're building from scratch, so what problems do you hope to avoid through wise architecture?
What are your big milestones?
Who are your key vendors?
How do you spend in consonance with the campaign strategy?
How will you use the Internet to bring offline voters into the campaign at the same numbers as radio or television broadcasts?
What is your online strategy for responding to attack ads and opposition pundits in radio, television and print?
Online community takes time to build and is very hard to organize geographically. What will you do to match the state-by-state primary schedule?
What can you do with online services to serve the campaign in caucus states?
You are preparing for Bush to launch in Spring 2004. What are your countermeasures to reach out to moderate Republicans online while the GOP uses its advanced voter email systems to barrage 200 million validated email addresses?
Palmer, who touched down at UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland, said the feat proved that solar power was a viable alternative to carbon-based fuel sources. Though to do what Palmer did, you'd need to drive a tiny three-wheeler tugging along a solar array almost as big as the car itself.
While the car probably needs a major redesign (and perhaps some more solar panel breakthroughs) to even inch close to becoming a regular on highways, it did disclose some promising technology. The car reached 55mph speeds and could travel for 300km on a single charge. Through the 17 months on almost non-stop driving, it only broke down twice.
Though this car's adventure is over, Palmer's not ready to give up eco-driving yet. He's planning a trip with six vehicles around the world in 80 days (ha!) that would draw power from hydro, geothermal and wind energy. [BBC]
NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) - A report on Friday expected to show the biggest monthly U.S. jobs loss in 26 years is set to pile more pressure on the Federal Reserve to slash rates again and add urgency to an automaker bailout as the global economic crisis deepens.
- Just plain fun for kids and adults
- Lackluster and problematic
- You don't need to buy this since Spore contains the Creature Creator