Spore Launch Event Blinds Us with Science (PC)

Spore creator Will Wright loves science and Alf! Getty Images

Wright invited both members of the press and his publisher, EA Games, into the planetarium dome for a speech that covered everything from his love of making models to the hit 80's sitcom, Alf. He also went into detail on some of his loftier goals with the creation of Spore, particularly, getting people interested in the scientific process.

"We typically chop science up into all these different worlds and we build these barriers between them which are then insulated with their own languages," says Wright, "but really, science should be seen as a unitarian endeavor. Science is a way of understanding the world and so I wanted to break down those barriers with Spore. I wanted to present science as this seamless viewpoint that the player experiences with the games."

Related: Stay tuned for our review of the game and interview with exec. producer Lucy Bradshaw on Monday!

To do this, Wright teamed up with astrophysicists from the SETI Institute, known for their research and exploration of the galaxy. Most notably, Frank Drake, who was in the audience that evening and supported Wright's cause. Taking the stage for a speech, Drake opened by stating that the creation of Spore is "more important than most people realize," particularly in capturing the imagination of the masses.

"In our culture, we're not producing enough scientists these days," Drake says. "Young people are interested in other things. When I was young -- when Will was young, we made models. We read science fiction and this got us excited about science and influenced our careers [...] How do you get these people interested in science? You expose them to the most interesting of questions [...] Spore works to do this."

With the reviews starting to trickle in and the North American launch set for this coming Sunday, Spore also looks to work EA's bottom line as it looks to be another massive hit for Wright and his team at Maxis.