The Secret of Spore

The reason Will Wright's little baby is becoming so popular is simple.

You remember all those Pop Cap Games and Yahoo Games that you got for free (or from some cheap DVD)?

Those games were mindless and hopelessly addictive. They are known in office jargon as "time-wasters". The wonders in mind-hanging one can work with a little knowledge of Flash or Java is the stuff of productivity decline notoriety.

Spore is five of these "time-wasters" all rolled into one package game. So, you're essentially paying $40-$60 for five $1.99 games. The only game with any real complexity is the last one, and yet thousands continue to bite the hook, playing the repetitive little bits over and over like an iPod on permanent shuffle. Its kinda like watching someone play Luxor five different ways.

Brilliant. Will Wright is a money-making genius.

Oh, and for other Spore secrets:

Console Cheats

Press Ctrl+Shift+C to open the console screen. Type code into the console, then hit enter. Press escape or the red X to close console.

Code	Effect
capturePlanetGIF	Captures a spinning GIF of the planet you are on and dumps to AnimatedAvatars directory.
setConsequenceTrait (trait)	cell carnivore, cell_herbivore, cell_omnivore, creature_aggressive, creature_social, creature_mixed, tribe_aggressive, tribe_social, tribe_mixed, civ_
stylefilter -none	change view back to normal
help (command)	Explains action and usage of a command.
styleFilter -oilPaint	Gives the game an oil painting effect
addDNA	increase how much DNA you have to spend.
moreMoney	Increases your money in Civilization or Space stages.
help	Lists all cheats and debug commands.
freedom	No complexity limit in creator
levels -unlock	On the Spore main menu, allows you to unlock every stage for new games, even if you haven't completed their prerequisite stages.
universeSimulatorPirateRaidPlunderFrequency #	Rate that pirates will steal spice from your systems
universeSimulatorPirateRaidAllyFrequency #	Rate that pirtates will raid ally your systems
universeSimulatorPirateRaidFrequency #	Rate that pirtates will raid your systems
killallhints	Removes all hints from the game.
refillMotives	Replenishes depleted health and other motives.
SetTime (h, m)	Sets time of day at the Avatar's position, and optionally a speed multiplier.
freeCam	Toggles free camera mode.
unlockSuperWeapons	Unlocks all superweapons for your Civilization type.
spaceCreate	Unlocks and recharges all creation tools in Space Mode.
styleFilter -filmNoir	View game in black & white