Three years after gaming god Will Wright and Electronic Arts announced it, Spore (previously called "SimEverything," a game where you use a one-celled organism to build the entire universe) finally has a release date of September 7, 2008. Wright, the creator of SimCity and The Sims, stepped down from his platinum throne on Mount Olympus to tell Newsweek why it took so long: He had a hard time dumbing down his magical world for human minds. (Below is a gameplay demo that shows how Spore imitates every game from Pac-Man to Civilization, but better.) The game is a big bet for EA and Wright, but given that everyone's liked it for the last two years, looks like it'll still be a winner in the fall. (Yes, Spore is the Obama of video games.)

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