Mac Patch 1.02 for Spore is now here

The mac version of the second patch for Spore is here, all you need to do is log into your spore game and it will prompt you and ask whether you want to install, if this does not work you can download it using EA’s Download Manager (EADM), which you can download here.

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.

Graphics/Aesthetics

• Fix for game entry screen turning black when banning a creature in a Saved game.
• Fixed issue with flora card in Sporepedia.
• Space phase: Fixed graphic issue with water levels not updating properly with terraform tools so that visible water and atmosphere levels will now correspond in the Atmosphere monitor.
• Fixed problems introduced via atmospheric and drought terraforming tools.
• Improved gaits for multi-legged creatures.
•  Improved gaits for creatures with 2 limbs, but without any feet.

Audio

• Space phase: Fixed missing VOX in some animations in Comm Screen.
• Fixed audio issue with switching mode to 5.1 breaking music and VOX.
• Fixed audio syncing issue when minimizing and/or maximizing Spore before opening video.
• Fixed crash with city music player when Save and Load dialogs are present.
• Fix for audio lag and missing models due background loading slow-down on certain single-processor machine configurations. This fix improved overall stability on this machine configuration.

Tuning

• Space phase: Tuned relationship status to update in communication window after completing a mission.
• Tribe phase: Tuned Normal difficulty mode to make social game easier.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed the ESC key to consistently skip the Spore introduction movie.
• Creators: YouTube video uploads are set to private. Go to YouTube.com and log in. Then go to Account >> My Videos to set them to Public if you want to share your videos with the world.
• Creators: Fixed limb joints not being selectable behind other limbs.
• Tribe phase: Fixed crash while harvesting fruit and fish.
• Space phase: Fixed timing bug using Planet Buster during Grox invasion.
• Space phase: Fixed destroyed turrets mission.
• Space phase: Fixed crash when zooming out to full galactic view from the center of the galaxy.
• Fixed for game entry screen staying zoomed in after deleting a game and entering/exiting Sporepedia.
• Space phase: Fixed City Hall updating bug. City Hall will now update to correct version if player has chosen a new City Hall during the transition from Civilization phase to Space phase.
• Space phase: Fixed Vehicles updating bug. Vehicles chosen in the Colony planner will now update without requiring the player to leave and re-enter a planet’s atmosphere.
• Fixed crash when transitioning from Tribe phase to Civilization phase
• Discontinued the Bad Baby Achievement.

Spore #20 Invention of 2008

Times magizine has listed the top 100 inventions of 2008, ranking spore as the 20th most influential invention this year.

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.

Whatever it is, the video game has gone down in history as a game which did what no other game has ever done, playing god. It may not be up to scratch for what hardcore gamers want, but no matter whether you liked the game or not, it is one which achieved what no other game has ever gone for.