[Spore Info Dump]

Firstly, a great interview with Will Wright on Spore and gaming in general.

Some great articles and videos of Spore devs talking about the programming mechanics behind the scenes:

IGDA presentation on the game's procedural music and animation systems and Chris Hecker's Siggraph presentation on Spore's procedural animation system.

There are lots of videos/articles demoing Spore's gameplay, but not as many that get into the meat of how the game was built. They're good reading/watching if you're into programming or game design.

Spore Gameplay Summaries: Cell Phase, Creature Phase, Tribe Phase, Civilization Phase, and Space Phase.
Basic, short video run-thrus of what each stage of the game is about. Each phase has different gameplay elements and different editing tools you can use to create personalized alien worlds. =)

And lastly, two great Spore blogs, which feature tutorials and other resources for aspiring creators: Spore Monkey and SporeTips!

[Hardcore Gone Haywire]

Holy gawd... one of the strongest bosses in FFXI, Pandemonium Warden, held a hardcore raiding guild at bay for over 18 hours:

A linkshell (guild) called Beyond the Limitation recently faced off against Pandemonium Warden over an 18 hour period, but the NM was still going strong. The NM shapeshifts into multiple forms, making it even more of a challenge to defeat; Beyond the Limitations fought Pandemonium Warden through twenty of his possible forms, some of which took hours to kill. Pet Food Alpha, a Final Fantasy XI community site, quotes a member of Beyond the Limitation stating: "People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people's lives.

Yeah... that's a little too 'hardcore' for me. I'd almost think the encounter has to be bugged -- no sane dev would think a boss that takes days of nonstop combat to defeat is in any way a legitimate design.

[Multiple Personalities in the Gaming Community]

The Escapist does a great write-up wondering why 'the Troll' is such a popular online persona for many gamers:

It's difficult to play popular shooters like Halo or Team Fortress 2 on public servers without encountering racial or homophobic slurs. On websites that cater to gamers, visitors routinely spam comment threads and message boards with unhinged, bigoted troll posts. Our self-contradictions become more obvious as gaming matures and absorbs more people into the fold. The ubiquity of intolerant language and belligerent behavior raises troubling questions about what truly lies behind the mask of online identity.

[The Relationship Dynamic in 'Braid']

A fascinating discussion on the time-bending game Braid, and how it deals with the old Princess/Rescuer plot device. What message is the story trying to convey? It's not exactly clear, but very thought-provoking nonetheless.

(Spoiler warnings in effect for those who haven't played it yet.)

[Not My Rant, But a Good One]

A great three-part rant on the history and social relevance of Sci-Fi: "A Galaxy Far Far Away My Ass!"

A must-watch for SciFi geeks everywhere. =)