Games have come a long way since the quaint, bygone days of Tetris and Asteroids. These days some attempt to challenge our thinking, others to make us laugh or cry.

Even with such a broad range of games, people often narrow the field to one possible future. For example: All games will become completely open-ended. Games will never tell stories effectively. And so on.

In reality though, unique genres have emerged in which all of these (and more) possibilities are being explored. The old FPS and RPG genres just don’t cut it anymore. Video games cover more ground than people realize, and these new game categories will eventually encompass games as distinct from one another as sculptures are from oil paintings.

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With Valve’s online game distribution system getting more popular and EA having joined up with them back in 2005, it is about time that some of EA’s titles made it onto Steam! Games like Spore, Warhammer Online, and Mass Effect are now available for download via Steam. More titles like Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, and Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 will be added next month. It’s beginning to look like Steam will soon become the envy of all other forms of downloadable PC games in the future with EA finally backing them up in this department. However, for those of you outside of the United States prepare to be disappointed as the only fully confirmed availability for this service is if you live in North America and there is no indication of whether this service will become available outside of the U.S. just yet.

Spore has recently received the honor of the 20th best invention in 2008, according to Time Magazine. This is kind of a big deal for a video game. I mean, out of all the things invented this year, Time chose to honor a video game within its pages (as well as a Retail DNA Test, Hulu, and the LHC). Is this a step into accepting games as art? Perhaps. But imagine the impact this has on the casual market. With such a presence in a magazine revered as nothing less than uber-respected, sales should shoot through the roof. Many roofs, in fact. I hope someone has roof insurance and knows a good shingle salesman.

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In the lead-up to the much anticipated release of Spore, I wondered to myself why the only gameplay demos we saw were of the cell and creature stage. I should have seen it coming.

Sure, the early part’s fun, with very simple and user-friendly kill-or-be-killed mechanics. But why didn’t I see clips from the much-lauded Space stage?

When you finally reach it, Space seems great—it’s very bright and very shiny; there’s plenty more to do, see and explore in comparison to the previous chapters. But that comparison should hint to the fact that there’s just not much of a game here.

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It’s sort of a long-standing satisfaction when you see David beat out a Goliath with a single and decisive blow. The whole concept is somewhat of a recurrent theme throughout literature and even plays to our psyches today. That’s part of my thrill in seeing EA relax their DRM rules on Spore after a voluminous outcry by buyers and bystanders alike. It’s one of the few times where the tiny Davids win out against the Goliath corporations.

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You know you’re damned to a life of nerd-dom when you’re a kid and like watching Bill Nye the Science Guy way more than Full House or Saved by the Bell. (I can still hear that theme song, which is still cool, BTW.) Being a nerd, I’m also a gamer; and, ipso facto, I’m in love with Spore… wait. I lied. I’m not. It’s because DRM is the worst thing that ever happened to the digital era.

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Anyone who considers themselves a gamer knows about Spore (console gamers, you have no excuse).
Ever since that 30-minute gameplay video that we watched and shared with our friends so feverishly, we have all been waiting patiently over the last 2 years for the mind-blowing game to come out. We’ve all watched the video enough times to know that this game is procedural (if you don’t know, watch the video).

For those who don’t already know, a cracked version of Spore has been released on the internet with only days left before the launch. Apparently, an Australian vendor sold some copies a little earlier than the actual launch date. The result? As of this moment, the number of downloads exceeds 120,000. This does not include the number of individuals who have already pirated their copy.

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While at NVISION on Tuesday afternoon, I was able to watch a few of the Maxis/EA team members demo the Creature Creator with an “inside perspective” as to the infinite possibilities within the game. Wow, that’s all I have to say, Wow. These are some of the best game designers I’ve ever been near. The mere fact that you can create anything you want within the Creature Creator, the Vehicle Creator, Building Creator; it blows my mind. And as the game progresses, the possibilities only get better.

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