Spore: A Failure?

[Silv Something]

I guess my main gripe with this game is that everything before the Saucer-stuff is basically just a really boring, poorly desinged build up. Well, the cell-stage and the one in which you control a small pack of animals are sort of entertaining but in a hindsight they lacked the dept too. I think Spore just had it's goals set a bit too high. I don't know how much more time in the drawing board would have helped but I guess it would've not harmed the final product either. I honestly think that if they had just concentrated on the galactic stage the game would've been loads better. Less is more I guess.

That's the thing. It spent too much time on the drawing board; enough time for them to dumb it down A LOT.

 

[Legioona]

That's the thing. It spent too much time on the drawing board; enough time for them to dumb it down A LOT.

That might indeed be the case. Guess as the development prolonged they had to sacrifice a lot of depth to meet with Wrights perversion: an adventure spanning over billions of years set for all audiences. Born to fail it seems.

 

[Silv Something]

All audiences =

 

[Abaddon]

It age range starts too low.

 

[mindseye1220]

They ripped this game apart to make more $ from expansions. Soon there'll probably be an aquatic stage expansion, an expansion to fix space the way we wanted, etc

 

[Silv Something]

Oh, you bet there will be an aquatic creature stage expansion!

 

[Daftpanzer]

I'd rather see a Spore 2. I know Spore itself sold well, but anyone know how well the Cute+Creepy pack or the Galactic Adventures actually sold? Hopefully not very many, so they will give up on making more... I mean, I hope they learn that the base game has to have major replayability before any X-pacs will sell well.

 

[The Almighty dF]

I'd rather see a Spore 2. I know Spore itself sold well, but anyone know how well the Cute+Creepy pack or the Galactic Adventures actually sold? Hopefully not very many, so they will give up on making more... I mean, I hope they learn that the base game has to have major replayability before any X-pacs will sell well.

They sold pretty terribly.
Sims 3's not doing too well either. It sold really well at first, then just sort of... died.

They're both dying for the same reason. EA's draining their customers dry and giving them very little in return.
The worst part? At the same time, they're also buying out companies that -don't- suck. Activision is as well. Makes me worried about the PC industry. What will happen when two of the most poorly managed PC companies, that only manage to stay alive by buying out the competition with money from -before- they began failing, end up controlling everything?

 

[Silv Something]

I would get the Sims 3, but my computer can't run it.

 

[Pwnzerfaust]

Spore was a major disappointment for me.

Here's a brief video I found on youtube a while back that compares the creature phase from the 2005 demo to the 2008 release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OG6tv-5II

It's really sad.

 

[Daftpanzer]

A tragedy. Here's some totally epic pics I took of my first game, when I was enjoying it. I've hardly touched the game since then.

Spoiler :

I never did bother to build a space empire after all that...

 

[Silv Something]

You have got an awesome graphics card there.

 

[Daftpanzer]

I think Spore kinda cheats on that, at least if you take large screenshots, it seems to add in a load of extra effects that you don't see in normal play. This is on a store model PC that still has its GeForce 8400 GS card, which is a budget model as I understand. I keep meaning to upgrade but I'm kinda scared of the new PCI slot types and making sure I have enough power and stuff

 

[Dodge_272]

Spore was a major disappointment for me.

Here's a brief video I found on youtube a while back that compares the creature phase from the 2005 demo to the 2008 release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OG6tv-5II

It's really sad.

There really could be some excellent games on the market if they weren't rushed and dumbed down. IMO games especially for the PC have been declining since around 2000/2001, with a few exceptions of course. There seems to be less and less detail and more shiny things, sad really.

 

[Daftpanzer]

I blame DVD-style cases

Anyone remember when PC games came in big-ass boxes?

Seriously, I agree, IMO the evolution of games from 1990-2000 seems amazing compared to 2000-2010.

 

[GoodGame]

I blame DVD-style cases

Anyone remember when PC games came in big-ass boxes?

Seriously, I agree, IMO the evolution of games from 1990-2000 seems amazing compared to 2000-2010.

Yeah like in the '80s. EA was actually revolutionary then for having games come in old skool record albumns.

 

[GoodGame]

So anyways, perhaps Spore was technologically a success, but a total marketing failure?

 

[Daftpanzer]

Other way around IMO It seemed to get media coverage almost on par with the latest call of duty.

Well technologically it was success, even in cut-down form. Its just the gameplay and content that were lacking. IMO.

 

[GoodGame]

Other way around IMO It seemed to get media coverage almost on par with the latest call of duty.

Well technologically it was success, even in cut-down form. Its just the gameplay and content that were lacking. IMO.

But that contributed to it being a marketing failure. Not all failures are caused by lack of effort/funding, but could also be from plain ******ed marketing strategy. Example: Demoing an awesome product but not shipping it.

 

[rupertlittlebea]

But that contributed to it being a marketing failure. Not all failures are caused by lack of effort/funding, but could also be from plain ******ed marketing strategy. Example: Demoing an awesome product but not shipping it.

Don't be fooled by the marketing

Each and every aspect of Spore is exactly as intended by EA

Right down to the consumer reaction to these decisions.