Spore Being Polished for Autumn Release

And it seems the game will be arriving in Europe first.

Will Wright, creator of The Sims, SimCity and many other popular games, has been working on his next project for a long time. Spore was originally due nearly two years ago, but 2006 came and went without a release. Now the team is nearing the end of the creation process, and publisher EA has announced a worldwide release date for later this year.

In an announcement on Tuesday, EA confirmed that it will release Spore for PC, Mac, DS and mobiles during the weekend of 7 September.

The game will actually be available in Europe on 5 September already, according to GamesIndustry.biz, who spoke with Patrick Buechner of Wright's Maxis studio at EA.

The early release date is part of EA's commitment to the region, which Buechner describes as being a "priority" for Spore. It also happens to be a Friday, which is when games are usually released in the UK.

Development isn't done yet, but there's not long to go now. Wright said in announcement that the game is in the "final stages of testing and polish".

Speaking with Newsweek, Wright said that there were many obstacles during development, both technical and in design.

"Initially it felt like five different games kind of stuck together," he told Newsweek.

"We basically did pass after pass, bringing these things into alignment, kind of like aligning the Intercontinental railway, digging into the rails with a sledgehammer, slowly getting closer and closer and closer until pretty soon it's a seamless fit across the rail."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo