It's things like this that make me wish games weren't announced until they were in playtesting.  I KNOW that this game will be worth it but there isn't much else out there that gets me excited.  A new Zelda doesn't come along every day and I can't afford to buy a 360 for Obliviion (and wouldn't buy one if I could.  )

Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing on-line battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said.

Lee had planted himself in front of a computer monitor to play on-line games on August 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the toilet and take brief naps on a makeshift bed, they said.

"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said by telephone.

Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games, the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported after interviewing former work colleagues and staff at the Internet cafe.

After he failed to return home, Lee's mother asked his former colleagues to find him. When they reached the cafe, Lee said he would finish the game and then go home, the paper reported.

He died a few minutes later, it said.

South Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world, has a large and highly developed game industry.

Sorry for all the new topics by the community n00b13t, but i thought this was a good one. I sent this e-mail with some of the more "pressing" details of the game to Will Wright, I thought you guys might have some fun with it until (if) he replies. I'll share his response in this thread when (if) he does. I know number 11 is very, very far fetched, but it's worth a shot. Hell, I'd practically give my soul for ten minutes with that thing.

I know you must get a lot of email about Spore, and if you answer these questions, I will share them with the community at gamingsteve.com. I will be completely contented if you even reply to anything in this email, so feel free answer any questions you want in as many or as few words as you want, if you choose to even read it.

1) Will there be infantry in the tribal or city stages of the game, or are you limited to war when you reach civilization?

What do you mean by infantry? We know for a fact that for example you have foot soldiers at the tribal stage. As you advance you get better buildings and vehicles.

2) Once you get to the tribal phase of the game, will you still be able to evolve your species?

In a way yes, I believe that you could pick up one of your own species with your UFO and use the UFO tools to evolve it......or not.

3) A question about the abruptness of evolution... If I start out with a creature that looks like a koala bear, can I make a creature that looks like a whale by the next generation, or is it more of a realistic, gradual process?

The video suggests that you can make major changes however there are a set number of steps so it's gradual to a degree however you can make big changes in a short time. I would have thought though that you can't go from land to water but only the other way.

4) I believe I heard somewhere that as you evolve your creature, the planet will form to it. For example, if I make a land creature, there will be a lot of land on my home world, whereas if I make a water creature, there will be much more water.

This isn't really a question, what are you asking? We know that creatures that are downloaded are picked from a database that matches them to the planet you are on so that you don't get water based creatures purely on a land based planet.

5) Is the Maxis team aiming for a teen rated game? If so, how much are would the team be willing to sacrifice (take out, change from original, etc) to keep it on that course?

6) No offence, but is this going to be a game "designed" for expansion packs?

I think it goes without saying that there will be expansion packs, I believe this has already been addresses in the FAQ.

7) The demo looked all but finished, what aspects of this game are going to take the extra year+ that the current release period calls for?

Not sure if I understand this question, Star Wars Galaxies had a playable demo of it's game 2 years before it's released and even a part of the Space game 3 and a half years before it's released. Although a game may look complete there is a lot of fine tuning before it's in a saleale condition.

Will there be any amphibious creatures or vehicles? Will the UFO be able to move underwater?

The first part is answered in the FAQ, the second part is most likely no based on the answer to the first part.

9) What is the Maxis staff going to do about having inappropriate characters or tons and tons of basically the same characters (as it almost certainly will be with familiar creatures, like pokemon or humans)?

I expect the first part will be moderated but as for the second part based on what Will has said they won't do anything as the chance of having identical creatures are pretty remote but having similar ones there is nothing wrong with.

10) How complex will the civilizations get? Will there be leaders, government, corruption, trends, etc?

11) Please, kind sir, please. Would you release a beta phase of the creature editor to the public? Maybe just to me? I'll surely be unable to concentrate on anything until I am able to experience this incredible stroke of genius.