In a move sure to send millions flocking to book trips to the frozen tundra of Hell to hunt flying pigs, EA has announced free DLC.

That’s right. That EA. Releasing an add-on for a game that you don’t have to pay for. The upcoming Patch 3 for Spore will include a selection of 24 new arms and legs which won’t cost anything.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be bolting myself to the ground for when things start falling up, since apparently everything I thought true is wrong.

As I’m sure most of you have noticed I’m a big fan of Will Wright, but I’ve questioned quite a few things he and Maxis have done lately. Charging for one tiny slice of Spore which you bought again when you purchased the game, talking about making Spore a movie somehow, Spore’s draconian DRM and most recently accepting preorders for The Sims 3 over four months ahead of release.

The question many people have posed to me is if this is his doing or if it’s EA imposing crazy things on a previously very reasonable developer. While three of those four things remain a mystery, he recently spoke to Kotaku about the DRM issue, specifically if he or EA was behind it:

It was something I probably should have tuned into more. It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now we’re allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate which makes it more in line like an iTunes. I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players it’s not an issue, it’s a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and installing it 20 times or they want to play it 10 years later.

And the future of DRM?

I think it’s an interim solution to an interim problem. You have games like Battlefield Heroes coming out where the idea is you give away the game and sell upgrades, which works more in the Asian markets where you need to monetize it over the Internet. I think we’re in this uncomfortable spot in going from what’s primarily a brink and motor shrink-wrapped product to what eventually will become more of an online monetization model.

It’s somewhat reassuring that it wasn’t his idea and that he doesn’t see DRM as a long-term problem solution to a problem, but it does make me wonder what kind of anti-piracy advances Maxis would come up with if the company was still independent.

Is anyone surprised that Spore is getting expansions? Maybe if you’ve never heard of The Sims and its seemingly endless parade of content packs, expansions, sequels and spinoffs it might seem odd…

The first expansion is a parts pack, Creepy and Cute. It’s going to cost $20 so there better be a whole lot of parts and they better be the creepiest and cutest parts I’ve ever seen. If you’re desperate for Spore to be creepier or cuter you can find out Nov. 19.

The other is an expansion to, of all things, the Space phase. Why expand the only phase that’s expansive already? Why not expand, say, the especially thin Creature phase or the tragically short Civilization phase? But at least the additions sound good. Joystiq reports:

According to EA, “players’ space faring creatures will be able to beam down from their spaceships to explore new planets and earn rewards for completing challenging missions” and “a new Adventure Creator will allow players to build and share online their own custom missions.”

Now that actually sounds pretty good. One of the few genres not represented in Spore already was RPG so I’ll take it. But I’d still rather they have added it to Creature.

• WHAT: “Spore“
• PLATFORM: PC, Mac
• RATING: E-10+
• GRADE: A

Spore.

For almost a decade the world has waited for Will Wright’s follow-up to his historically popular The Sims series. The hype has been snowballing since it was first announced back in 2000.

There’s no way it can live up to all that hype, right?

Well the verdict is in: Yes and no, but mostly yes.

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I’ve already received a few emails asking why there’s no Spore review (apparently it’s a little obvious I’ve been looking forward to it).

The short answer is that there is one but I’m not allowed to post it until 6 a.m. Friday, Sept. 5. So check back tomorrow morning for my full indepth analysis and review. Sorry for the delay but rules are rules.

After several years of false starts, Spore has gone gold.

Really, it’s done. Completely 100% done.

As we speak it’s in the process of being printed for its triumphant Sept. 7 release which is actually going to happen and which is also likely to turn me into a hermit.

24 days to go, people. 24 long, long days.

Will, buddy, you’re a genius, you designed some of the greatest games of all time, but man, you’ve just given us the second “What?” item of the day.

According to a Reuters article, this is a quote from Will Wright:

With Spore, we’re looking way outside the game space, such as TV, movies, etc. We’re basically planting the seeds to spread Spore out to a much wider group of people than would ever play a computer game.

Now, I only spent about 45 minutes playing Spore, I haven’t even tried all the sections of the game yet, but I didn’t notice some of the things crucial to a movie like characters or a plot. How do you adapt something that, by design, has user-created characters, sets, societies, stories and even creatures into a static non-interactive TV show? It would be like trying to adapt Tetris.

Though I do like the whole “personalized gaming” idea he presents at the end:

The computer could observe each player and capture a lot of metrics, which could be used to change the game so that it becomes personalised for him — his game becomes a reflection of who he is internally.

Computer gaming would be like having your own Spielberg, and his whole job in life would be to craft a personal entertainment experience just for you.

How’s about just working on that for your next project instead of this whole movie idea? Please?

First Spore caught flak from religious groups for basically being a game about evolution (which is ironic since it’s about guided evolution, which is essentially intelligent design). Now, proving once again that nobody is ever happy, atheists also hate Spore because it includes religion in the civilization stage.

“I didn’t expect to hit hot buttons on the atheist side as much; I expected it on the religious side,” Wright revealed. “But so far I’ve had no critical feedback at all from anybody who is religious feeling that we were misrepresenting religion or it was bad to represent religion in the game. It was really the atheists.”

Really, focus group atheists? You’re angry that religion is included in a simulation of a civilization? Denying that God exists, the Constitution says you can believe that or anything else for that matter, but denying that religion exists is a little different. Like it or not it’s an influential force in societies and should be included in an accurate simulation.

(From Eurogamer)

We’ve certainly heard all about the Cell and Creature phases of Spore, but what about the others? Well I had a chance to sit down with the Civilization phase to get a feel for the fourth of the game’s five stages.

In the full cell-to-space game the Civ phase come after your tribal culture has reached the size and sophistication needed to be considered a city. Of course, as with all phases, you can jump in directly while creating a new game, loading a species created in the Creature Creator rather than evolving one from scratch.

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What could possibly be in a special edition of Spore? Even more creature parts? A coupon to get the first expansion free? There’s not a whole lot to add to a game where you create all the content, is there? Well, Gamestop reveals:

UNIQUE GALACTIC EDITION CONTENT

* ‘Making of Spore’ DVD video
* ‘How to Build a Better Being’ DVD video, by National Geographic Channel
* ‘The Art of Spore’ hardback mini-book
* Fold-out Spore poster
* Premium 100-page Galactic Handbook

I would pay the extra $20 for the 100 page manual alone. Back in the old days Maxis manuals were often better than the games themselves. They were very informative about the game, taught us a lot about the real-life subject the game was based on and above all were pretty hilarious. In fact if a compilation of old Maxis manuals was published I would probably buy it. So I’m thrilled they’re bringing them back.