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."

Though the company is invested in many forms of entertainment, including toys and websites, "a few" of its current projects are games. Wright said that the first of the projects "could be commercialized in six months to a year."

"We are very small and will stay small," he said. "We are 12 people right now. I don't ever want it to go above 30. We're looking to partners to help develop games. We want to be more of an early design shop, doing research and development."

Chris WedgeYet 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.

"From every perspective -- visually, thematically and comedically -- the world of 'Spore' provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen," said Wedge.

The film's script will be handled by The Return of King Doug and The Princess and the Frog scribes Greg Erb and Jason Oremland. No word yet on a release date.

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."

EA did not comment on the scale of the firings, though rumors indicated a sizable exodus. The company did restate its commitment to Spore and other Maxis properties.

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."

Stupid Fun Club was initally formed around 2001, to explore Wright's love of robots.

Though Wright is for all intents and purposes leaving Electronic Arts, he will continue to work with the publisher, as Wright and EA now own equal percentages of Stupid Fun Club. Maxis VP Lucy Bradshaw will keep running Maxis, bought by EA in 1997.

In addition, Electronic Arts holds the right to develop any game concepts... 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.

To celebrate the move, Maxis is running a contest that will award three skilled application designers with various prizes.

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.

Expect more information on Galactic Adventures later this month following an upcoming Electronic Arts "2009 Spore lineup" event.

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.

Unfortunately, the Spore Sculpture service prefers your creature to possess typical creature features--like, you know, legs. Otherwise, these would be great templates for useless paperweights.

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.

Launching a de-authorized install of Spore will prompt an attempt at re-authorization.

Windows Vista users are advised to turn off the UAC (User Account Control) in the User Account portion of the Control Panel before running the tool.

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.

Though the EA-published Crysis and Crysis Warhead debuted on Steam earlier this year, the availability of the two games was negotiated by developer Crytek and Valve. Both were originally released under EA Partners label, much like Valve's own The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead.

Should Spore make it onto Steam, it will represent the first internally-developed EA game on the platform. Other PC games from internal EA studios include Mass Effect, The Sims, Warhammer Online, the Command & Conquer series, and Dead Space.

Shacknews has contacted Valve for comment on the matter.

Thanks to reader Chris Evans for the tip.

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.

Ubisoft's PC port of Assassin's Creed grabbed a reluctant third place with over a million downloads. The game was leaked to torrent networks over six weeks ahead of its retail release in April. Ubisoft later sued disc replicator Optical Experts Manufacturing (OEM) for $10 million in damages, believing that an OEM employee was responsible for the leak.

The rest of the list follows:

1. Spore / 1,700,000 / Sept. 2008
2. The Sims 2 / 1,150,000 / Sept. 2004
3. Assassins Creed / 1,070,000 / Nov. 2007
4. Crysis / 940,000 / Nov. 2007
5. Command & Conquer 3 / 860,000 / Mar. 2007
6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare / 830,000 / Nov. 2007
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas / 740,000 / Jun. 2005
8. Fallout 3 / 645,000 / Oct. 2008
9. Far Cry 2 / 585,000 / Oct. 2008
10. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 / 470,000 / Oct. 2008

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.

Bug Fixes
• Fix for esc key not bringing up Options in Galaxy Game Entry
• Fix for creator backgrounds appearing on small sporepedia cards
• Update to help keep achievements on the server in sync with achievements in the game
New Exoskeleton Limbs
• Arm Plated
• Spiker
• Lesser Tubercle ... Read more

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.

Owners of EA Maxis' Spore (PC) can get the politician-shaped spaceships in their game by subscribing to the Election 08 Sporecast.

"Who knows, you just might see Obama firing 'YesYouCannons' around the galaxy, or witness firsthand John McCain being 'mavericky,'" reads a note from publisher and studio owner EA, which was sent to MTV Multiplayer.

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:

It's blasphemy, brilliance or both to take the entire evolution of a species--from a single-celled animalcule in a drop of water to a space-faring, galaxy-exploring sentient being--and turn it into a video game. But that's exactly what Will Wright has done. Wright is the man who created The Sims, a game about everyday life in suburbia, but apparently he found the vast panorama of human experience too confining, because he then spent seven years creating Spore, in which players design their own life-form and then manage every aspect of its progress through the centuries, from savagery to civilization.

For reference, the best invention of 2008 was awarded to 23andMe's retail DNA test, which came to the market care of co-founders Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki. By the way, Wojcicki is the wife of Google technology president Sergey Brin.

Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii Fit is listed among Time's Top 10 Gadgets of 2008, with the publication asking readers to vote for device that deserves "Gadget of the Year."

Following up on the late August release of Mercenaries 2 (PC, PS2, PS3, 360), EA publishing COO John Pleasants has stated that "there will be a Mercenaries 3, and if I can have anything to do with it, there will be a Mercenaries 10."

The Pandemic-developed open-world action game sequel has sold 1.9 million copies since it hit retailers, the company revealed during a conference call yesterday.

With EA riding a wave of planned sequels--Dead Space 2, Army of Two 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 along with Mirror's Edge 2 and 3--Pleasants noted that future Dead Space and Mirror's Edge games "are not likely to be annual sequels."

He also promised a strong future for the Spore franchise, vowing that both expansion packs and new business models are coming for the Maxis-helmed evolution series.

Will Wright himself has finally spoken up on the downright ugly DRM controversy surrounding his latest creation, Spore (PC). Kotaku asked Wright for his thoughts and the designer came off as, in a single word, understanding:

It was something I probably should have tuned into more. It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now we're allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate which makes it more in line like an iTunes. I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players it's not an issue, it's a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and installing it 20 times or they want to play it 10 years later.

When asked where to go from here, The Sims mastermind thinks that the dynamic of game commerce will eventually shift entirely online.

I think it's an interim solution to an interim problem. You have games like Battlefield Heroes coming out where the idea is... Read more

The second patch for the PC version of EA Maxis' Spore is now available on FileShack, addressing several bugs, adding cube-shaped planets and axing the "Bad Baby" achievement all while bringing the evolution simulator up to version 1.02.

The now-removed Bad Baby award was a secret achievement granted when a player's created creature was banned from the Sporepedia, according to the SporeWiki.

The change log for the patch follows:

Features

• Hold down the Control key in Sporepedia to select multiple creations for deleting or banning.
• Hold down the Shift key in Sporepedia to select a range of creations for deleting or banning.
• New planet style: Cubes... Read more

EA Maxis' evolution simulator Spore is getting a bit cuter with the November 18 release of the Spore Creepy & Cute Parts pack. To provide a better idea of the expansion's 60 new parts and 14 new animations, EA provided Kotaku with some screenshots.

A full-fledged expansion pack is due out next spring, and will add the ability for players to hop out of their spaceships and engage in new missions on alien planets with their adorable, scary, suggestive and or downright disturbing creations.

Electronic Arts today announced that a Space stage expansion pack is in development for Spore, with a release expected next spring.

The expansion will allow players to beam down their creatures from their spaceships, exploring new planets and going on missions. A new Adventure Creator will allow for the creation of custom missions, which can be shared online.

The company also confirmed earlier retailer listings, officially announcing the Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack. In stores worldwide November 18, the Creepy & Cute pack will include 100 new components for creating creatures.

These components will be themed in two styles: charming / cartoony and scary / monster-like.

Retail entries for the first Spore expansion pack, reportedly entitled the "Cute & Creepy Parts Pack," appeared on online retailers including GameStop and Amazon, only to be quickly taken down.

Fan site Hooked on Spore, pointing to Google caches of GameStop and Amazon pages, noticed that both retailers listed the product as releasing on November 18, while GameStop pegged the game at a $19.99 price point as well.

Listings by retailers change often and are not a guarantee of release dates or prices, though when multiple retailers offer the same information simultaneously it suggests a central source, likely the game's publisher.

Ever wonder what would happen if StarCraft and Spore were combined? Here you go:

In a rather impressive display of the ingenuity, players of Maxis' PC evolution effort Spore have manged to recreate numerous units from Blizzard's acclaimed PC RTS series StarCraft, resulting in the bodacious screenshots above.

Unfortunately, the original report, as found by StarCraftWire.net, appeared over at Korean website Ruliweb, making it difficult to discern how or even if players can take control of these creations within their own Spore universe.

Update: Spore players can find the creatures on this Sporecast.