Cloud-based gaming service Gaikai has finally entered public beta testing, CEO David Perry has revealed on his blog. Five games can now be played direct from your browser, including the previously un-demoed PC edition of Dead Space 2.

Requiring no plugins beyond Flash and Java, Gaikai renders games remotely on distributed servers then streams the game back to your computer as streaming video. While input is somewhat lagged and visual quality is understandably lower than it'd be on a top-notch PC--look right for snaps from my own experiences--games are quite playable and will run on relatively low-spec hardware. Read more »

Maxis is poised to reveal a new action role-playing title based on the Spore franchise during a panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. According to Eurogamer, the abrupt declaration is courtesy of a Comic-Con session listing which outlines plans to reveal the title during a special event. The listing for the July 24 event reads:

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Spore and Sims creator Will Wright left Electronic Arts for start-up Stupid Fun Club in April, and now a new interview has shed some light on what his team may be up to.

"We are expanding what we call the 'play industry,'" Wright told VentureBeat. "Games are limited in some ways. Play can be applied to so many different kinds of experiences." Read more »

Yet another Electronic Arts franchise is headed to the big screen, as the video game publisher has signed a deal with Twentieth Century Fox for a film based off critter customizing series Spore.

Variety reports that the movie is set to be an animated affair helmed by Ice Age and Robots director Chris Wedge. Blue Sky, which animated those two films, will produce alongside EA. Read more »

It seems that today is not a good day to be a game developer for a successful studio, as publisher Electronic Arts has now confirmed a series of layoffs at Spore developer EA Maxis.

"Often in the video game industry, the size of a studio fluctuates in response to business conditions," EA told Shacknews in a prepared statement. "In this case, EA has taken action to reduce the workforce at Maxis as we focus the business and focus Maxis." Read more »

Beloved game creator and Maxis co-founder Will Wright (The Sims, SimCity, Spore) today revealed that he is leaving Electronic Arts and Maxis to pursue one of his old side projects.

Dubbed Stupid Fun Club, the company is described as "an entertainment think tank developing new Intellectual Properties to be deployed across multiple fronts including video games, movies, television, the internet, and toys." Read more »

Spore developer EA Maxis has released the data and documentation that will allow users to create web applications utilizing user-created Spore content.

The release of the Spore API has already seen the creation of several applications, including an aquarium using Spore creatures, a tournament bracket that pits creations against eachother, and a several embeddable Flash programs that display statistics from the impressive database. Read more »

Electronic Arts today confirmed that the first full expansion to EA Maxis' Spore will be titled Galactic Adventures.

Though no details were offered on the space-centered game, a rough release window of spring 2009 was noted. Retailers had already listed the expansion for a March release. Read more »

We always knew the best part of Spore would be the bizarre creatures and objects, but I'm not sure even Maxis expected the kind of stuff that's being added to the Sporepedia lately--least of all the EA protest creatures.

Case in point, several Spore users have managed to craft objects that resemble 8-bit art (seen below), and have amassed considerable galleries of work that ranges from Mario to McDonalds over the past few months. Read more »

Now available from FileShack is the Spore PC De-Authorization Tool.

As the controversial DRM behind EA Maxis' popular simulation allows the game to be installed on up to five different computer, this tool removes a machine from the list, freeing up an authorization slot for another install on a different computer. Read more »

It looks like publisher Electronic Arts may finally be jumping on the Steam bandwagon, as the EULA for EA Maxis' Spore has mysteriously appeared on the Steam site.

EA has long refused to offer titles on the Valve-maintained digital distribution platform, and has instead opted to pursue digital distribution through its own online store. Read more »

EA Maxis' Spore was by far the most pirated PC game in 2008, according to a list compiled by Torrent-tracking blog TorrentFreak. The title, surrounded by controversy over its anti-piracy DRM, was illegally downloaded over 1.7 million times.

Electronic Arts took a beating in capturing four of the top five slots, with EA Maxis' The Sims 2 taking the not-so-coveted second place by reaching over 1.1 million downloads. The EA-published Crysis and Command & Conquer 3 came in at fourth and fifth, respectively. Read more »

A new patch for EA Maxis' Spore is now available to download from FileShack. The update resolves a few bugs and adds 24 free exoskeleton limbs for enhanced creature creation, bringing the PC lifeform management game up to v1.03 in the process.

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If word of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin's appearances as playable characters in Mercenaries 2 wasn't enough for you, perhaps Maxis and EA's official Spore renditions of the popular politicians will sate that desire.

Yes, on the eve of the national election, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden are now in Spore as spaceships, along with Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin. Read more »

EA Maxis' sim-evolution game Spore (PC) has been named as Time magazine's 20th best invention of 2008, with the publication referred to it as "the everything game."

Writes Time: Read more »