This expansion pack is coming out slightly over a month after Spore came out. This means that it's either terrible quality or it has been in development for a while. If the former is true, Will Wright is releasing a terrible product just to make money. If the latter is true, Will Wright took content out of Spore just so he could sell the expansion pack a month later to make some money. Either way, Will Wright is an asshole. And he just lost my business.
If this turns out to just be a rumor I take back this comment.

Hamsfork

I'll wait till the inveitable combo discount packs. They always do that with the sims down the road. With the content easier to make, i assume the packs will be coming as often if not more than the sims expansions.

The flora editor better damn well still be free in a patch like they promised too.

Murrytmds

@Ryuujin1024: The original The Sims has 7 expansions over the course of 2 years.

The Sims 2 has 8 expansions and 10 stuff packs over the course of 3 years.

Guess Spore and Sims 3 will be trying to milk people for even MORE money...

DMC-Man

Maxis you where a good company now you just really do milk everything that little bit too far, probably thanks to the evil powers that be. has anybody actually ever counted the amount of add-ons the sims has?

Ryuujin1024

@Sanjo: If I had a dollar for every time I heard that...

ShaggE

Unless there's a penis in there, I aint buying.

Sanjo

Twenty dollars is a crazy amount for a few more arms, legs, and various other parts that do NOTHING to the mechanics of the game. Some as useless as more parts should be a free download, unless there is ACTUAL gameplay or new mechanics involved. Granted... this is EA.

NeuroMan42

Heh. Creepy parts.

bfwings55

I like Spore, but I'll never buy a Maxis expansion pack. If the Sims taught me anything, it's that the content to price ratio is just plain bad.

ShaggE

An expansion from a game amde by the guy who created Sims?

WHAT A TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST.

Phantasos

I wonder how long it will take for this to pop up on Pirate Bay

*Rolls Eyes*

EtisArap

Is this going to be anything like the "expansion" stuff in my junk mail folder?

Vexorg

here's one person that won't be buying it. they ripped me off with spore, they're not getting me with any expansions unless those expansions promise me a game significantly more like the one I saw in 2005.

sluissa

Seems pretty feasible. However, $20 is quite a bit to shell out just for a few more arms, legs, and various other appendages.

TOWER_JUNKIE

watch and there not be that many. EA will bone us with DRM again as well.

mascot1063

As a long time defender of the Stuff Packs for The Sims, this crosses the line in more than one way.

Slatz_Grobnik

Prior to the release of Spore, I took a survey for EA asking what new types of parts I'd like to see... I figured they'd be added into the final game. Now I know why they weren't

Cause007

While generally terribly opposed to the concept, I hope this gets pirated to hell and back.

I'm sure many other of their consumers along with me will tell Maxis, EA, or Wright (whomever is responsible) to kiss our collective asses. Ya know. The same ones they are trying to screw.

Mact

How about an expansion pack that actually adds some DEPTH to the game.

MafiaAce

HOW TOTALLY UNEXPECTED.

Dyson

And thus pirates all around the world yell out, 'YARRR! Thar be more booty to plunder!'

Lazureus

I really think this is bullshit coming so closely following the release of Spore. I agree with Hamsfork that Will Wright is an asshole. I guess that might be a bit personal, but it really is his business model.

Will Wright's MO: Release a title, then shortly after start releasing over priced expansion packs to the poor people aching for more content. That being the content gamers expected to have in the original release of the game they purchased.

That said, I LOVE Spore. Just way too short.

homernoy

Just convinces me even further that I made the right call by not buying Spore in the first place.

Trym

@Hamsfork: I Doubt its all Will Wright...we're talking EA, remember.

Mechalon

2 months and 15 days after the retail release of Spore in the USA is when this parts pack comes out. I can't believe this content wasn't in the retail game since it's being released so soon. I've never seen a company do an expansion this soon after release. A modder could have added these extra parts if Maxis had made good on a 2006 promise of supporting modding content.

Get out your parrots, prepare your swords, and set sail on the high seas. Spore is on its way to defining itself as the most milked and most pirated franchise of all time. I got duped into buying this watered-down, bug-infested, DRM-loaded, rental of a game. I won't be fooled again. EA needs to die.

BigDragon

@Sanjo: I have a penis, you can buy me.

Spacehog85

I'm speaking as a fan of Spore, having taken a a more "sandbox", casual approach to the game. I find more complicated strategy games frustrating.

That said, the lack of depth in Spore's first four stages is very disappointing, even for me. I loved flying over the landscape in the creature stage, admiring the graphics in the cell stage, etc... but it's novelty. There's not a lot of reason to repeat those stages except to play around with creature design.

The current parts are so amazingly customizable already - size, width, length - that an extra "parts pack" seems COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS, almost like paying $20 to EA for NOTHING AT ALL.

Boo Hiss.

Sustenance

@Lazureus:
YARRR You seamen smell like fish!!!!

Firemane

@Mechalon:

I'm pretty it's Will Wright, just looks at The Sims.

Firemane

@Hamsfork: I doubt that something like this is Will Wright's decision it sounds more like something an exec would come up with.

dobilay

@Mechalon: This expansion pack stuff is Will Wright's doing. When Mass Effect came to PC there was FREE DLC. I own a few other EA games and they don't have this ridiculous expansion pack system that the Sims has. Will Wright is clearly the one behind this and no matter how much you love him and hate EA, you can't put the blame on EA in this case. Also Will Wright coined the term "massively single player" which doesn't help his not-being-an-ass case. SimAnt was fun, though.

Hamsfork

Sounds like they stole a bunch of parts from the retail release and decided to sell them later for more?

How do I know this?

Because the Creature Creator was the exact same scam.

Defoliantonthemoneytree

You have to be KIDDING ME. EA bones everyone with crappy DRM, loads of people bitch, whine, and beat the tar out of the game on Amazon, and their response so far is to release some eyes with bigger eyelashes on them, or maybe spikes! And charge $20.

Wake me up when I can actually use my OWN Sporepedia account with the game me and my girl bought, and then maybe I'll listen for real expansion packs. None of this crap.

P-Flute

@dobilay: My advice to you it this: Do your homework. The business model has been laid out before the worlds eyes with the Sims, over and over and over and over and over.

Crysis is an EA published game, and one of the most publicized PC game of our time. I have seen nothing but more and cheaper on that front. It's Will Wright trying to replicate some of that success from the Sims. Oh, and the Sim's 2, oh, and..............you get the idea. It is not EA

homernoy

@Defoliantonthemoneytree: I think this is all pretty gay and all, but how was the creature creator a scam? It was 20 bucks (retail, not download) to get it 2-3 months in advance of the main game, and you got 10 dollars off the purchase price of the full game.

That Lamer

hmm...20 is kinda stiff, there had best be a lot of bits to justify that

rianfrost

@P-Flute: I'm sure not all of this is Wright's fault. I know there are other powers in the industry. I don't blame Will Wright for the whole DRM fiasco. He is the head of Maxis, though, and there's a disturbing pattern with the Sims games and expansion packs. This is not a pattern with EA, this is specifically a pattern with Maxis. Wright said, "...we decided - quite a while back - that we would rather have the Metacritic and sales of 'Sims 2' than the Metacritic and sales of 'Half-Life.'" [multiplayerblog.mtv.com] To me, this is saying that Wright would rather make money than produce a good game. This expansion pack thing fits right into that.

Hamsfork

Oops, and forgot to add: to make it a better deal, they should add some gameplay elements to the expansion

Shin-san

@Defoliantonthemoneytree: Right well it was $10 (download) and with the discount it was $40. I am not sure what you're getting at. I'm pretty sure they said the creature creator would also ship with the full game so are you saying you were "tricked" in to buying it when it came with spore?

That Lamer

I have fun playing Spore, but they need to fix a few things:

1. I get too many server errors for my liking, to the point where making a Sporecast is next to impossible (okay, there's 26 million creatures, but still...)
2. creature propagation should be faster
3. I'm hoping to find a way to find my own creatures online to add to a sporecast.

Shin-san

@Hamsfork: Get your facts in order. Do you know the job duties of a game designer? Do you know what the difference is between a game designer and a producer?

Packaging and retail aren't anywhere near Will's realm. That's like your chef at a restaurant also deciding how much your food costs, then bringing it out to you with drinks and cleaning up after you when you're gone. It's like the President hanging out on wallstreet and telling people when to buy or sell. Business, especially the gaming business, doesn't work that way.

P-Flute

@That Lamer:

Had the creature creator been 10$ and Spore been 40$, then it would have been a value to the consumer.

I'm not against Halo 3 single player shipping for 30$, and Halo 3 multiplayer shipping for 30$...

That might actually save poeople alot of money instead of simply rob them, or make them pay a ridiculous amout for a GT5 Prologue Demo.

Defoliantonthemoneytree

@That Lamer:

retail should have been 10$ too.

You know EA had the parts already made before the game shipped.

Don't be naive.

Defoliantonthemoneytree

I'll buy it when it actually allows the player to evolve smoothly instead of being jerked around as badly as they did.

raviadso

There better be a metric fuckton of parts in there for twenty bucks. A metric fuckton. Ah what do I care? I'm already bored with the game.

Gouki4u

All future Spore expansions must be purchased through EA's online store program, each time you run the program, you'll have to log in, using a user name no less then 50 characters, a password that must contain at least three words from at least five languages, and require social security number verification every ten hours of play. Pirates of the game will receive ten dollars in the mail for each time they download it before release in stores.

Talleh

@Talleh: Not worth it for $10.

mizeriq

@Hamsfork: 8 years in development. Pirated in the 100's of thousands a weekend before retail. They have to recoup or at least try to meet initial expectations.

PsycheE

@BigDragon: ARR! WE BE TOSSIN' 'EM OVER-BOARD!

th3-1nf1d3l

@BigDragon: Just to make sure we're on the same page here: expansion packs aren't the same thing as DLC to you, right? It might be unprecedented in the PC world, but these types of **** moves are all too common on the 360 and PS3.

imikedaman

Cute and Creepy?....Hmmm...Neither are my cuppa tea but, maybe they'll be quite ranged...D'ya think it's just Creature parts, or parts for the other editors too?

Steffanic

@Defoliantonthemoneytree: Retail requires shipping and printing costs, the cost of downloading is significantly less. I don't think I'm the one being naive.

That Lamer

And here begins.

20 Dollars for ears and noses.

lumpi

Personally, i cannot wait for the Spore
IKEA furniture pack!

Lemonade

Its EA and will wright, its Sims all over again await for the flood of theme'd packs to drain every lil pound / dollar outta the spore sponge, good thing i notice the game was pants 3 hours in, unlucky to the rest of you who all think parts for ur creature is worth $20.

crazy_jim

With the Sims 2 the first expansion was announced even sooner. No real wonder really as The Sims 2 had so very little items for your house it was just sad. I was then glad I received that game as a gift as no way was I falling for that trap.

StormdragonBlue

@DMC-Man: wow, I don't think I ever realized just how bad EA was with expansions. I knew they were pretty bad when it came to more add-on crap to a game, but those numbers are outrageous!

I'm glad I only ever bought the original Sims all those years ago. I still haven't bought Spore yet either, mostly because I don't have the money, but if EA plans on making 8 or 9 expansions which do nothing other than add extra crap, count me out.

cdncarlie

totally AIN'T GETTING IT.

where's the ALLIES' AND HOME NATIONAL GUARD expansion pack?

salaminizer

whaaaaaat?they think people will pay money for just body parts to the creatures.i think they need to make that ina more exciting exspansion......noooot just parts!!!!

lancey1999

Considering I regret paying money for Spore, I wouldn't even take the time ti pirate this since I can't bring myself to play the stupid game anymore (and I didn't even finish the Space stage crap). Gameplay is just waaaaaay too thin and extra body parts ain't doing dick to fix that.

Rajolae

Another thing i'd like to see in Spore. Call ins for creature placement on new worlds. Not only do those creatures take forever to selectively collect, but they also take up an awful lot of cargo space. Is it so much to ask that I just contact my home planet and tell them that I need a batch of Level 1 Herbivores on Planet X?

Dennen

I liked spore quite a bit, the idea is great.

But I don't really give a rats ass about an expansion unless it further expands upon the space age. Give me special built facilities. Allow me to pay ridiculous amounts of cash to build secondary ships that will patrol around a single system, defending it from outward invasion.

Better yet, make that defense system capable of being automated, and I will be happy.

And for christs sake, whats the point of Sporebucks, if the real currency is this giant pile of cocaine that they call spice. You get to about 10 planets total and it just becomes a big freakin hassle. All this so called advancement, and they never thought of trading vessels? Merchant Ships? Planetary defenses?

At this point, it's almost better to get to the space stage, stop playing spore and go play Hegemonia.

My last word: I don't care about a Spore Expansion unless it has merchant automated trading that converts spice directly to cash, preferably ships it to one location for me to pick up if it doesn't automatically add to the spore bucks pool. I want to be able to build my OWN allied ships, as I can't stand that the AI's are so weak, yet I get negative marks with them because they suck so horridly. I want to be able to build System Defenses that are more than capable of taking out any pirate or species incursions. I would also like a kind of tech tree that I go about upgrading them with. More achievements and unlocked things are fine, if they wish to do it that way.

Lastly, I would like for there to be more to do in space... I want to be able to make a Ringworld. I want to be able to build a dyson sphere and the galactic view eventually begins to look like one giant bubble of artificial sporedness. I just want more to do, and I want the tedious things to be more automated so that I can have more fun.

Dennen

Jesus, please EA don't go all Sims with us on Spore, I'm begging ya

excel_excel

*sigh* This is just a greedy cash-grab by EA.

Noses and eyes? Please.

Give us some improved gameplay for the most-hyped game of the past five years!

amygdala

Didn't Will Wright say that they would "absolutely not make Spore like Sims, releasing mini expansion pack after pack." ?

Sounds like they're going back on that.

Nevest356

If you don't care, don't buy it. What should be or w/e isn't. If you like the game you own now, be happy. If not, get rid of it and stop talking about it.

Geez, I have owned the game since day one and have only had enough time to get to the civ stage. I really want to play it more but school + work + life = no time for gaming.

Ken

Well the Creature Creator was only $10, so this expansion better well have twice as many parts as that.

MPSai

@P-Flute: I can only think of the phrase Figure head... Or someone famous to blame, we should blame everyone for everything so the one(s) guilty are punished.

Saigin

@Ryuujin1024: Its EA, Maxis was good until EA assimilated them into the Borg...I mean EA collective.

Ashkihyena

Here it comes, the whoring out of the Spore franchise.

Ashkihyena

Spore isn't that great anyways, to shallow to play more than 6 hours.

Majpain007

Judging by the fact that Sims 2 Stuff packs are $20.00 and only come with around 30 - 35 new items, this will probably have very few new parts.

Doomstink

@imikedaman: Yes, we're on the same page. However, this parts pack appears to be sold as a stand-alone boxed disc. I'm a PC gamer primarily, and one that does not like micro-transactions, paid DLC, or monthly fees. I may be out of touch by not accepting those things, but I have plenty of money to throw around when I find a product and expansion plan that I can support instead of one that wants to nickle and dime me to death mere weeks after a full retail release. These things may be acceptable on the 360 and PS3, but they're not to me as a PC gamer. Then again, I don't play as many games as I used to...

BigDragon

@Nevest356: He also said back in 2006 that people could mod in new parts via Maya. There were plans to endorse and support user-created content. I think that was right before Spore stopped being a platform and Maxis game in favor of becoming yet another watered down, casual-casual gamer-friendly, pc-illiterate user-targeted, grind fest, EA money cow of a game.

I wonder if this is the last game Maxis will ever make. I noticed they banned people from typing in Westwood Studios on the Spore forums.

BigDragon

@Lemonade: Yeah! Just wait for the:

- Lands End Tribal Fashions pack (dress your creature up in turtle necks, shorts, hats, and more!)

- AT&T Mobile Communication pack (new iPhone graspers, cell phone tower parts for vehicles, txt message center, billboards, and more!)

- Dell Technology pack (add plasma TV's to your buildings, give your creatures Alienware computers, attach disc drives to your creatures, and more!)

- Doctors Foster and Smith Pets pack (new noses, heat lamps, non-functional fangs, a sand texture, fish bowls, and more!)

Maybe I should have paid more attention to The Sims 1 and 2 instead of immediately dropping the franchise for expansion pack fatigue back in the day. I wish I never would have bought Spore.

BigDragon

What a shame, this hardly seems like an expansion to the game.

I was personally hoping to see something that´d allow players to get into the oceans; because, seriously, that bigass fish thing is a lame way to keep me out of the water.

Flardladl

@Flardladl: That's cause its not an expansion. Like with TS2, its more of a stuff packs that only adds parts the way the TS2 ones only added items.

Ashkihyena

The PC market doesn't seem to be jumping into the DLC market so the common theme now is to make half a game and then have the other half in the works when releasing the "full game". It's a way to make more money just like DLC for consoles. We pay full price for half a game and then have to pony up more money to get the rest of the game.

doodleschmidt

@BigDragon:

save your money and buy more anal lube. You sir, are butthurt

SPitFyRe666

i hope its atleast another full page of every type of part there is. and new vehicle parts too, im kinda getting tired of my Imperial Battle Cruiser.

SPitFyRe666

This isn't an expansion pack. This is a "stuff pack."

Dafrety