The popular explosion of Will Wright's The Sims was both a surprise and a non-surprise. It's beyond clear that Wright makes great, smart, interesting games. What The Sims demonstrated beyond anyone's wildest imaginations was that Wright makes great, smart, interesting games that sell like gangbusters. The Sims passed up Myst, essentially a free game, as the all-time best selling PC game many years ago.

Pick a frumpy looking--but colorful--pear shaped body.

Now it's time for Spore to sow its seeds, and there are few companies better than Electronic Arts to explore (exploit?) the vast riches of the great Spore sequel adventure. Along with the add-on pack Spore Galactic Adventures (due on PC, June 23) and Spore Hero Arena (due on Nintendo DS this fall), comes Spore Hero, the Wii-exclusive game that explores a mysterious pair of meteors that crash down on a Spore planet, split into two, setting up a dichotomy between evil and good.

Designed exclusively for Nintendo's Wii, Spore Hero's controls have been made even easier. The original game's integral procedure animations were brought over from PC version in total and were mapped to the Wii controller enabling gamers the ability to crack eggs, pull off combat moves moves, and collect items. In many situations, like creating, you'll just point at an object to select it; there is no dragging and clicking required.

For those characters with actual hands, they can bash each other spores in.

While many aspects were simplified for the Wii version Spore Hero still contains a majority of the original game's core elements. Instead of spawning your own race and then taking over galaxies in a sort of Darwinian race to evolve first and strongest in Spore, players must create their own hero, but also help other creatures evolve to fight by your side in Spore Hero. And yes, by hero, we mean a Spore character that's destined to save the world.

Building and creating is the key. Choosing from a library of 250 pre-made parts, gamers will evolve their character and others through mini-games and challenges. Spore's Creature Creator enables Wii-wielding gamers to assemble their characters using a new interface quickly and easily. Along the way, your evolving character will fulfill mission objectives, fight in battles, and discover how the evil version of your Spore self is trying to destroy the lovely new planet upon which you've landed.

Look for Spore Hero to ship this fall on Nintendo Wii.