Spore some sugar on me
 

Since I'm not sure what this is going to be released to I started it here.

Has anyone heard about this game? I just recently saw a video about it and I must say it looks really promising. The fact alot of things are calculated and done on the fly is pretty impressive.

The video I mean would be this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...559198&q=spore

The site for it is here: http://spore.ea.com/

I think that little flash intro pretty much sums up what the game is. I love that I can create any kind of life I want. That the life evolves and progresses based on the choices I make. Then how the whole world and the personalities and ways the life acts is all made up on the spot based on what I have done.

I already have lots of ideas I would love to try out in this game. The life I would create. It would also be interesting to see how my lifeforms interact with other players creations.

Like, a big cat with 5 legs and tentacles. :D that feeds on mutated dogs even. And when I can get into space I would make a dog planet. Then make my new cat overlords blow the planet into dust. <3

Spore is set to be released for the Windows PC platform.

Wright's Spore is the only game thus far to approach procedural generation (basically "on-the-fly" content generation) on a large scale level. It's very, very exciting and I, personally, can't wait for this game to be released.

There's been many games that have employed a similar "unique-to-every-player" technique, like Diablo, but no such games have been truly that. They've simply been driven on a linear basis with triggers to initiate the variance between each time the game is played through; one could easily duplicate a series of the quests they take on in Diablo. If I'm understanding how Spore's worlds are generated correctly, I suspect it would be very difficult to do the exact same things everytime you start a new game.

Suffice it to say, it's a rather interesting looking game.

I want to know more information before I commit myself into buying Spore, but from the stuff I heard about so far, it looks like it's going to be a hit. Besides, it's from Will Wright. I love the SimCity and Sims series.

What is best thing about Spore? I think it's the fact that you can visit other worlds and see creatures that other people made. It's like a multiplayer game but in singleplayer.

Here's the full version of that video, it's about an hour long and includes extra commentary and such at the start: http://meyermike.com/sporevid/GDC-Spore.avi
It's about 360 megs.

But yes, this game looks just bizzare. I really don't know what to make of it, but I do want to try it out to see what it's like. The concept is pretty unique, and the features sound very fun (especially the previously mentioned "massively singleplayer online" mode). I really hope it's executed well, because it's a game type that can really have some pretty interesting gameplay.

Oh, and it should be mentioned that these videos are from the Game Developers Conference 2005, so they're rather old.

I think I just read in EGM or on IGN that they may port it to...a handheld. The DS, I think. When 900 years old you reach, think as well, you will not, hmm?

Basically, a next-generation E.V.O., it looks like it'll be amusing to play for a couple of hours, but, like pretty much all of his games it seems like I'll get bored fairly quick.

Still, it looks interesting. I like how the planet looks when zoomed out into space. The "clay" look is awesome.

If the execution is as good as the concept, I'll be all over this game. Will Wright has a pretty good track record of knowing what he's doing. Nevertheless, I'm going to wait for some user reviews before taking a look at it.

I wonder what they'll do to filter online users from the inevitible penis monsters and KKK men? There's a quote I heard attributed to Richard Garriott: "If you give players the ability to create their own content, the very first thing they'll do is spell 'fuck'." People are both vulgar and uncreative, so some sort of peer review is going to be necessary before they just let you psot your creations willy nilly.

I don't know if those kind of people are the kind you would want to visit, you know? Just like I don't let just anyone visit me in Animal Crossing: Wild World, I guess, just friends that I know won't immediately start chopping down all my trees.

Anyway this looks really exciting. Conceptually, it reminds me strongly of Sim Life (which, all things considered, makes perfect sense really).

Similarly to that game, the graphics don't exactly wow me. But I think it'll be a lot of fun hopefully, and it's definitely one of those games that made me upgrade my PC, along with Oblivion and Supreme Commander.

I don't know about converting this to the DS. I suppose the interface would work (point and click, right?), but it doesn't seem to me like the DS can really handle the game's point. Just seems like a ridiculous rumour to me, to be honest... But who knows!

4chan's /v/ voiced the same, uh, "concern".

4chan Never fails to amuse.

Regarding offensive races, I don't doubt that there will be some sort of mechanism for moderating what races are in and what are out. They would be silly to just let ANYTHING in to everyone's games.

I'm very excited about Spore, mostly for the awesome technologies it introduces. Almost everything in that game is procedural; procedural textures, procedural animation, everything. Holy shit, basically. It just blows my mind that it can figure out from the skeletal structure how something should walk. And they said archeology would never be useful ;)

One question, though: Does anyone know if there will be a Mac version? All of Wright's previous games under Maxis, and The Sims, have been released for Mac, so, here's hoping Mr. Wright doesn't forsake us Mac users.

Yeah, I kind of missed the point about this game (but it IS very similar to Sim Life), but now that I watched this video, I am completely sold. This is looking brilliant.

Didn't the video say that the worlds that are downloaded to you and the things you can buy are based on the worlds you create? So unless you're creating penis like buildings you're not going to get penis worlds. >.>

Yes the game does look interesting, a bit boring though >_>

A lot of the development philosophy that man expounds on is what Nintendo have basically been practicing for years.

This game sounds like a dream for those who enjoy sandbox experiences. My main concern, however, is what sort of PC you're going to need to run all this stuff. In the video he keeps mentioning that all the content is being generated progressively (actually I forget the word he uses) which means your CPU is probably going to be doing more work than it's had to do in a game since the invention of the graphics card. And I'm guessing you're going to need a lot of free space available on your hard drive for all the downloaded content.

Echolyn, your text is near-nigh impossible to read. >_>

I've seen the extra long video, and it looks pretty spiffy. However, I'm having second thoughts about getting it now, since there is an RTS element at one point in the game. I for one totally SUCK in RTS games, and I'm afraid it'd be too frustating for me to continue playing it when I get it. Even simple RTSs are too tough for me : /

I guess I'll just stick to Sims and SimCity.

oh cmon, a part that will take you 30 min to clear ruins it all for you? the entire game is made so everyone can play it and it's not even a rts, it's scaled down to getting simple buildings and maybe sending some things to shoot something.

I know a bunch of people were wondering about the whole "penis architecture" aspect of the downloadable content, so it's nice that there will be filters in place based on player's choice and creature compatibility.

Apparently creature downloads are about 10K, and they hope to reduce that to 2 or 3K when all is said and done, so you won't be burning a whole lot of bandwidth just to play a single player game.

My concern right now is the kind of bugs that might spring up as a function of putting all these different gameplay types into one package. Whatever the case, I think this is a game I'll have to preorder.

This game concept butt-raped my mind. It was awesome.

I'm definitely getting this. I'm usually a fan of more structured games, but this actually does customization WELL for a change. Highly interested.

Granted, all the heavy lifting is being done by the program itself, so you only need a small range of variables to tell the game what your critters look like. Still, if the actual data is going to be that small, they might be reining in attempts to lovingly craft penis-shaped buildings by setting a practical limit to how much "sculpting" you can do.

I rather hope that they are going to allow all kinds of sculpting. In the best case they are downplaying the filesize by using 'ideal' situations they've cooked up. This is one time that I hope the developers are trying to mislead us.

Either way, this and Supreme Commander are the only things I hope to see in action at E3.

Looks like there's a new video of spore out and about on the net. Suposedly an unedited video of what will be shown at E3. So I guess we can expect new information on Spore at E3 soon.

Link to video > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHaulHxmO4A

I want to try and make a planet of Hypnotoads!!!!

Been eagerly awaiting this game since i saw the video of it some time ago.

I am going to do my best to make a race of Spathi.

What I'm wondering about the most at this point is what choices there are in your species' personality etc. Like, if you play a cowardly creature and run from anything that is remotely dangerous in the early stages of the game, will this make your future creatures have similar AI? That aspect of the game will be something I want to know about.

I'm tempted to start a betting pool on how long it will take someone to completely populate a planet with accurate reproductions of the Transformers.

Well, there's two articles on Spore at E3 over at Gamespot.

Here http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...150118&q=Spore

and here http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...150117&q=Spore

Alot of it sounds very interesting. Though I am kind of saddened by the fact that you may have to unlock things to get full use of the creature editor. So you may not be able to create the creature you want right off the bat. =/ But it does sound like you get alot of options. Like stretching the base torso to change the body structure, or lengthening/widening bones on appendages to change thier size. The size of the mouth determines what they eat and what they sound like. The type of appendages they use determine how they move and so on.

The fact there's an editor for everything in the game has me pretty excited. I'm going to enjoy being able to modify everything from my creatures to the plants, the buildings they use to the planets they live on and so on.

I'm a little worried, as well. The game sounds too big. According to those articles a single galaxy has atleast half a million stars and each star has a handfull of planets. You can even use black holes to move to other parts of the universe. Wouldn't this mean there's multiple galaxies? One galaxy is big enough, but a universe of them? I guess there wont be any shortages of room for planets built by other players. >>

Oh, and I really like the sound of planets comunicating with yours and even invading your planet if you decide to anger/attack another species. :P

There's some videos of it on those links I think. But I have not watched them yet.

I love everything about this game.

However, I'm very excited about the newly announced "collectable card" aspect of the Sporeclapedia (or whatever Wright called it). I like having all the creatures I've created or encountered filed into an easily viewable system with photos (and individual stats). He seemed to hint that we could do things we these cards, too, but I'll be happy just looking at them.

Hey, you can't fault Wright for aiming high. As much hype is surrounding this game, and the fact that the game seems poised to deliver on said hype, Spore is likely to sell pretty well. Even 10 million users are going to fill up a single galaxy pretty fast, I think.

I am looking forward to creating a race of 1950s-style robots and then waging interstellar war with the tentacle monsters of Zoktar 5.

Procedural mating, haha.

LOL. I cannot wait for this game. Everything seems so open to the point you can create everything almost down to however you see fit, but not to the point of micromanagement. A race of Cows to rule the universe!

Been delayed again. Drat. latest release date is 05/01/08 according to ebgames

A year and a half later you bump this to tell us the game that's probably second only to Duke Nukem Forever in delays has been....delayed again? You don't say.

Thanks, I never would have guessed on my own!

Q&A: Will Wright, creator of the Sims | Technology | Guardian Unlimited

The article seems pretty fishy, but that would be nice, although I'm still getting it for the PC.

Spore Includes Youtube Integration |

For those who don't know, there's an easy one-button upload ability to send your gameplay or creature creation to the internets. Also haha delayed again:

Creature Creator comes out June 17th

The following is a cut and paste from my journal:

Get the demo here.

This is the demo with 25% content. Here's my first created creature. I call it Crocostimpy. It's a crocodile with a weird tail.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...rocostimpy.jpg

You can upload vids straight to Youtube:

YouTube Video

Update: I just noticed you can make animated GIFs too:

http://i28.tinypic.com/1zmi0df.gif

I don't have the tools to make Gaomon yet. I'll wait for the full editor.

Awesome, thanks for the link Freelance Wolf. I'll have to download it and check it out.

You're welcome. I'm gonna try to make something really bizarre now. Even with 25% content, it still gives enough to make some crazy stuff. The editor's really easy to use. It shouldn't be that to make a Gaomon now.

Update:

Here's my second creature, called the Trirex:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...ore/Trirex.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/6oh4qu.gif http://i30.tinypic.com/23rn8yh.gif

I'd put it in my sig if it wasn't over the max filesize.

Now THAT is something interesting. Wright is a brilliant man. Letting people stick up animated GIFs of their own creation as forum avatars and such is pretty much all the free advertising you could ever ask for. I'm enough of a whore I'll probably buy the full creature editor, as long as it counts towards the full purchase.

So, what comes next? A contest to see who can render the best tentacle monster?

I wasn't all that interested in the game up until now, but seeing some of the creatures you've made, I'm sort of intrigued. And the prospect Monkey King brought up of making all the Transformers is very interesting as well. Downloading the demo now.

Ah thanks. It's cool that people like what I'm creating. I dub my third one the Streamer. It's a sea-based creature even though it takes place on land. I had to adjust the body shape a bit 'cause when it moved, the back part was sticking up like a mountain.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...e/Streamer.jpg

I'm hoping some other GFFers would start showing off their creations.

Here's the monstrosity I created with limited demo parts. His name is Carl.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...7dd21d_sml.jpg

I may actually pick this game up now.

My wife made this one, Lobsterpotamus, which is much more awesome.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...7dd21e_sml.jpg

Haha those are pretty cool, especially the one on the bottom. Here's Insecto. It's an upright ant which can shoot out venom from its abdomen.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...re/Insecto.jpg

Oh, and my Spore Profile is viewable.

Additional Spam:
Ah must bring you an update. As of now, Sporepedia has been taken offline until the 17th, the official due date. That means you cannot submit your creations online, although you can still use it offline and save it until the 17th.

oh god this thing is fantastic

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/Lovely%20Gomes.pnghttp://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/Burger%20Styles.pnghttp://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/Melon%20Fantastic.png

This game makes me want to upgrade from my 486. One day, the Intel PENTIUM with MMX will be mine.

My journal has my abortion monsters proudly displayed. SO FUN. Community idea: anonymous SAUS-style creature battle.

Oh, and it seems EA have locked server access until the creator's officially released. Not that that's any kind of hindrance.

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/2681/floppy1sb4.png http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/4...xaspawnzd0.png

THROW UP THE HORNS, MANG

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/CRE_-067efdca_sml.png

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/Gustavo Tripoli.png http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/Nude Love.png http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/Ftaghn.png

Awesome I've been waiting for this, not only for me but for my sis too since I'm tired of watching her always play the Sims.
Downloading it now I'll try to post my creation up later. Thanks wolf

Finally got around to making a creature, and he's quite possibly the best thing ever. EVER.

Well not really...but whatever.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o...7f363c_sml.jpg

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o...7f363a_sml.jpg

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o...F/Quaztoid.png

Imagine what he'd look like fighting other creatures! :3:

Well I just tried and made a chocobo lol

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2824/chocobocu0.png http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7...8165653ns2.gif http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/9...8165701zg1.gif http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/6...8165440hu9.gif http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/3...8165646to8.gif http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3...8165657hf1.gif

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/7...469csmlym3.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3...469dsmlsm5.jpg

I made it with the demo so there wasn't any beak, so I had to use other one and made it look like one lol

Haha great creatures you guys, especially the Chocobo ^___^
I made two more critters, Slith:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...pore/Slith.jpg

and Scyther:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...re/Scyther.jpg

I need more parts to make a better Scyther, haha.

Is anyone else getting the retail version of this on Tuesday?

Also I might actually post on Kotaku when this title comes out if/when those sad sacks are proven so very wrong.

Of course I am.

Some people don't want it since it comes free in the actual game, but after playing with the demo version I couldn't possibly wait until September. It's that awesome. Even with the 25% content in the demo, people have already made over 10,000 creatures. Imagine how many you can make with 100% content.

I can't wait to make Spore Spheals, canines, dragons and ferrets. I dare someone to make Silverbolt (Beast Wars).

Is anyone else able to import creatures? I'm getting an error saying the creature has unloadable parts

I tried importing a creature today and followed the instructions but it doesn't seem to be working. I saved the image to my desktop and then I clicked and dragged it onto the Spore icon. The game loads but the imported creature doesn't show up.

By the way, I checked the official website some more and came across a way cool feature. You can add your friends to a buddy list and their creations will take higher priority when the game needs to DL creatures/buildings/etc into your world. Sweet!

Well there's no official FAQ for that as far as I know, but the best I could do is starting a new creature and dragging the image over. Regular PNG files didn't come up with anything, so at least the other creatures gave the error.

EDIT: They simply are ones made with the full version, that's why they aren't working.

Are you supposed to load the game and THEN drag the image over? I don't see a way of starting it in a window or whatever. I didn't get any error messages when I dragged image over to the Spore icon. The creature just doesn't appear in the game.

Yeah, you have to open the game first, then alt-tab out and drag the png onto Spore's taskbar button and hold it until Spore regains focus.

You can run it in windowed but admittedly the options menu is not very obvious:

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/whereisit.png

Wow, thanks for the help! Man, importing creatures is pretty troublesome. Why can't you just drop the PNGs in a folder or something?

You can! Drop them in the My Documents\My Spore Creations\Creatures folder with all your own creations, and they'll appear in the Sporepedia next time you open Spore.

This only works if the png's filename is consistent with the creature's name, for some reason. Matt's Quaztoid.png worked perfectly but Krel's floppy1sb4.png doesn't work unless you remove the 1sb4.

You may be taken up on that challenge. :)

As far as getting the full thing, I'm usually against nickel and diming from EA, but this is from the Maxis department (not really EA since they had their own thing going on before being bought), so I dunno why i'm still for getting the creator for $10. :p

I guess it just feel that it's worth the time, considering my whole family is actually interested in playing this game, and from a technical standpoint, it's very creative.

for some reason my first creation didn't get saved even though it said "Creations 1" in the load menu. I did take one picture of it before though.


So I made a quick character afterwards but for some reason even if it isn't complex I kinda liked it ^^

YouTube Video

And one more thing, it seems like someone is already testing the boundaries of mature content for the game
Gametrailers.com - Spore XXX Character - NEW! by GhostRipper

I am forced to admit that this is kinda funny, although there's no way that's not going to get deleted on sight by the Spore mods. Ditto for the penismen I saw elsewhere.

Also, I was not encouraging you to build transformers. I doubt it would look right anyway, without any metal body parts. Trying to make something that moves around on wheels might be an interesting exercise, though.

I'm truly blown away by the fact that the game can actually generate a dance for your critter. The creator is worth $10 all by itself, hands down.

I made something very simple for the start - A few simple details.. but nothing out of the ordinary.

I call him Buckie =)



Oh, and another one... called Muffin - awww...so cute =((



And say "Hello" to the biggest one =O!

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7...2a5fsmlix9.jpg

Aw man, slayer25k, your creatures are pretty darn cute, especially the last one. I'd like to see that in my game please. Send the PNG :3 I'll be sure to add you to my buddy list when the games come out.

Shenlon, check out my last Journal entry for a video of a nasty monster.

I made King Ghidorah today, and his poses are so slick! He is the only critter I made that topped the complexity scale.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...e/Ghidorah.jpg

haha talk about a one eyed monster.
Hopefully we'll see more creative ones other than seeing immature 11 year old children make ass monsters and call them assy or butt mongler

Thought I'd add this little gem I just found on youtube:

YouTube Video

some people are just fucking weird.

Thank you! :oo

Take a look here :tpg:

http://www.spore.com/view/profile/slayer25k

:3

By the way, I got the Spore CC today!!! If you guys haven't gotten it already, get it at Wal-Mart. I got mine for $8.77, less than regular price :3

I'm showcasing the very first critter I created with the full editor. It's a werewolf of course. How do you like it?

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...e/werewolf.jpg

Please, please, PLEASE broaden your interests. Please. I beg of you. Go a week without talking about werewolves, or ferrets. Please. Prove me wrong about you.

The last time I talked about werewolves was on Jan 5th, 2008, and I can't even remember when was the last time I talked about ferrets. That message in Welcome Welcome doesn't count as I pretty much never even go to that section, so your theory's wrong :P

I was going to make a shark critter (i love sharks), but the shape looked more werewolf-ish so that's what the end result was.

No animals. Please. One week. Give it a shot. Think of it like trying to kick a coke habit. Seriously. You're starting to make me think you might be an otherkin or something. Or a PETA supporter. Something crazy like that.

Hang on, you have to pay for the full Spore Creator thing? I thought it was being called a 'demo' because it was limited to just the creature creator, I didn't realise it was a cut down creature creator. EA will try to milk money out of any situation won't they.

the demo was before, but they recently relased a retail version of the creator, for the full one you have to pay... the demo is still floating around though, with not as many features of course.

You don't know the half of it, actually downloading it from EA directly gets you a bunch of antipiracy software bundled in and as a consequence it doesn't fucking work half the time.

Mine actually was retail and it gave me a WSOCK32.DLL error.

Oh, and on the pirated demo, too.

I'm really not interested in Spore at all, but this Zelda creatures video was pretty awesome

Gametrailers.com - Spore:Zelda Creatures by blueomega

Yeah, the demo is rather buggy. I had to disable sound effects because it was just blasting white noise at me. Not exactly encouraging me to pay money for this.

And shit, anti-piracy software too? Now I'm going to have to go digging to rip all that junk out.

It's quite entertaining to mess around with this.
I've only tried it once but I made sure my first creation was a pure "mess around" which means I just put anything on anywhere.


http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9070/huchijofx5.png
arms and three legs in the back with big enough eyes that scream out "feel sorry for me"

Ten dollars.

Free at worst. How is free too expensive?

Well I worked over the weekend and yes, this product does now actually exist. Going to pick up all my crap from work in about an hour. I'll add more creatures to the link in my signature here from my "Sporepedia."

WOO!

How the heck do you make a human? I can't, for the life of me, make a head and a neck...

^
You really can't. Good luck trying to do so.

My friend played the crack and I think it's pretty awesome, the graphics themselves are pretty nice and the sound effects and area songs are great too. I'm not much of an rts guy but it looked incredibly addiciting, not to mention the complete ability to customize anything.

OBJECTION

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1...4635199up2.png

Oh yeah I forgot that this is a strategy game. Quick guys, real time billions of years: GO. I think you're incredibly mistaken on almost every front here.

@Zip

OBJECTION!

How can they be human if the tribe consists only of bearded old men that lay eggs for reproduction? :tpg:


Though, whoever did that, major props to them. That is pretty amazing

I know someone posted in the Creature Creator thread at SA a few links on making "people," but with the options given, I don't understand why anyone would want to.

I'm currently in the creature phase, with uber stats (but not the appearance I want). Is it terribly important to keep uber stats in the tribal phase, or will the use of tools overshadow the biological weaponry?

Having sing level 2 proved to be so very useful...also learning that having units in my pack helps impress other creatures. Currently trying to take my 6th system in my cool spaceship. Also in before Star Trek crafts.

Probably not. My tribe has been fending off attacks using throwing spears, so I'm guessing it doesn't matter so much.

Tribal is just about you figuring out how to build a nation. Warfare or impression. I tried the musical route and just left 3 or 4 guys at home to defend from critters. I called the others back to nab clubs if another tribe was attacking. There is no "right" way to do anything in this game, fortunately.

Woot, took down an epic creature after a long battle (in Creature mode)

Stupid critter tired me out. Spat at him maybe 300-400 times, since when I disengaged him when he was at 200/1000 hp, he sat down and healed himself to 500 :(

For no reason at all, I'm showing off my creature which I called the Gechmir:

http://upload.jetsam.org/images/Spor...1_23-26-44.gif

Well I finally made it to the center of the galaxy. I've got a system right next to it, so I'm gonna take out the Grox from the outside in. ;)

They have like 2000 systems. Good luck to you.

(Psst, terraform gets rid of them permanently!)

I've heard that due to the shrinking of your travel range near the galactic core, some of the Grox stars are unreachable. You apparently do get an achievement if you take them out, though, so good luck!

For those of you who got the game legit, how is the DRM treating you? I honest was going to buy this game, but people started going ape shit over DRM. DRM has been labeled "draconian" as to restricting on what you can do with the game. Does it hinder any other programs? What happens if I have other priated games? What's the big deal about DRM?

And apparently, Spore has become the most pirated game in history.

I didn't know about the DRM and SecuROM until after I had installed it, actually. Lots of allegations have been made about SecuROM, and I'm not sure how true they are.. but I would have just skipped out and not given it any more thought if I had known.

That said, I haven't noticed anything unusual so far on my MacBook, and I'm not even certain if and how SecuROM works on Mac OS X. I'll probably get to uninstalling Spore eventually and hope for the best.

Basically, they're making a mountain out of a molehill. It hasn't affected any of my other programs, and my pirated games still work fine.

The "big deal" is about how you can only install three times on different computers, and it counts hardware upgrades to a computer as a different computer. After that, you're supposed to be able to call EA Customer Support and get your installs renewed, but people claim this is difficult even if you are a legit user (I imagine they're being stricter in the beginning since most of the piracy is going on now, and it raises the question of how you already used up all your installs). I don't really care since I only upgrade my hardware every few years, though I see how this could be a concern if you upgrade a lot more often.

So then people claim that in a couple years (bullshit) EA will shut down the installation servers or that when EA eventually goes out of business, your copy will be worthless. By the time either of those happens Spore will be so old that no one cares anymore and EA will probably unlock the installations.

The fact of the matter is that BioShock, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Command & Conquer 3, World in Conflict, Neverwinter Nights 2, Hellgate: London, Tomb Raider Anniversary, and Mass Effect all came with the same version of SecuROM. Hell, Mass Effect has the exact same three-installs system, and I don't remember hearing anyone complain about it then. I mean, I'm sure some people did, but it wasn't a tenth of the shitstorm that's going on now and thus I didn't hear about it.

Because Mass Effect isn't a tenth of what Spore is.

As far as what happens after you get to the center:

A very good point. The anti-DRM crowd is taking the moral high ground here, but they should be rioting en masse every time this happens, not suddenly when the game they want has it. There certainly is an issue here, but the majority of complaints come across merely as flimsy excuses to steal a game they know they should be buying.

Well, I guess now that you've gone and won Spore, Lukage, you can

Look, regardless of how onerous or not-onerous the DRM may arguably be, it's still objectively a piece of software designed explicitly to remove usability. What DRM is supposed to do (prevent the game being pirated), it explicitly fails at. The pirates never encounter the DRM. Surely they realize this. The whole thing is an embarassing shell game designed to reassure shareholders that "something is being done" by hassling legitimate users with crap that the thieves never have to deal with.

You can argue all you like that the DRM isn't as bad as all that, gee whiz but from a practical standpoint it has no reason to be there at all. It's just EA leaving shit on our porches. And while a flaming shitsack doesn't really hurt anybody, you'll find that most people don't much care for it and will move to a neighborhood without so much shit in it if they have the option.

Worse, the only reaction from EA will be to bundle their next big-name title with Secret Double Encrypted Ultra DRM, which will TOTALLY stop piracy this time, for sure! Gosh!

(For the sake of the argument I'll just note that I have no intention of buying OR pirating Spore, since all reliable reports seem to indicate that I got 95% of the game when I bought the Creature Creator)

No problems here.
But then again I don't go dumbshit over DRM. I bought the game, if the DRM fucks around I'll just call EA and bitch.
I haven't noticed any installed "spyware" from SecuROM either. Torrents seem to work too (although I mainly just download Nartuo eps., lolz)

I figure if you're not a full-on dick licking fucktard pirate with terabytes of illegal content you've got nothing to worry about anyway.

Are you seriously trotting out the "if you're not a criminal you have nothing to worry about" argument?

Seriously?

Here, look, I'm slapping you.

If only you weren't so slappable. Then you wouldn't have to worry about my policy of constant slaps.