Preview: Spore

Will Wright is one of the gaming industry's brightest and most innovative minds. He's responsible for SimCity and The Sims among many other genre-defining titles.

In a lot of ways, Will is the father of the "life-simulation" game as we know it.

Now, he's taken the idea of life-simulation to an entirely new level. His newest project is called Spore, and it stands to thoroughly reshape the gaming landscape. Spore isn't just a life-simulator, it is a virtual life-generator.

The idea behind the game is that a player will evolve a totally unique species of animal, raising them from mono-cellular goo to universe-conquering superbeings. At every step along the way, users determine nearly every feature of their creations - body type, markings, vocalization. Everything.

And as each unique player builds unique new species, those creatures are uploaded to a centralized server.

Centralized server? Pourquoi?

Get this: every unique species is redistributed to other real-world players around the globe. So each single player will experience a unique array of lifeforms in their universe, but that universe will be populated by millions of creatures created by thousands of other users.

It is, as Will terms it, a massively online single-player game.

My description of Spore might be more confusing than enlightening. But if you've got a half hour to fixate your curiosity, watch the video below. It's one of the most exciting and fascinating game demos I've ever seen.

Even if you don't give a crap about video games, you might be interested in the story itself. Take a few minutes to check it out. You'll be rewarded with Robin Williams at the end.

Ha. Rewarded.