Electronic Arts (EA) will offer a special version of Spore, the forthcoming game from Maxis designed by Sim City and The Sims creator Will Wright. Called Spore Galactic Edition, it will include items not found in the regular version of the game and will be priced at $79.99.
The special box set will include Mac and PC versions of the game — currently in the last stages of development at Maxis and expected for release on September 7, 2008 — along with a “Making of Spore” DVD, “How to Build a Better Being” DVD from the National Geographic Channel, “The Art of Spore” hardback mini-book, a fold-out Spore poster, and a 100-page Galactic Handbook.
Spore takes Will Wright’s well-trod concept of virtual life a step further by letting you create a life form that you evolve through swimming in a mud puddle all the way up to a spacefaring civilizations.
In order to build awareness for the game, EA has already released Spore Creature Creator, a software toy for Mac and Windows that lets users create their own alien creatures using the same tools they’ll find in the full release of the game, then share them online through the Spore Web site. Since its release a little more than a week ago, Spore Creature Creator users have shared more than 1 million creature designs. The software is available in both a limited free version and a $9.99 paid version with a complete tool set.
EA is also readying a version of Spore for the iPhone, expected for release at the same time as its Mac and PC counterparts.