Spore available to 'pre-load' online.

Friday 29th August 2008 - 17:00


EA launches new online initiative ahead of retail release next week, 160 GB PS3 is limited edition and Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball Wii screens



Counting down the minutes to Spore's launch next week? Now you can get one step closer to the next-big bang in gaming from the creator of The Sims by pre-loading the game direct from EA.

Starting today, gamers who pre-order the PC version of Spore from the EA Store http://eastore.ea.com can pre-load the game now and be among the first to start playing on the day of release.

Once pre-ordered, gamers will see Spore in the EA Download Manager. They will then be able to download 99 percent of the game to a computer with the remaining part of the game to be downloaded upon the date of the game's release.

EA thinks will only take 30-60 minutes for the install to complete before you can begin conquering galaxies in Spore before anyone else! Spore ships on September 5 in Europe and Asia and on September 7 in North America.

Meanwhile Sony has confirmed that the new high capacity PS3 is merely a limited edition - introduced to see how well the market responds to the enhanced technology.

"The 160GB is a limited edition that we're doing to see how it goes in all the territories," SCEE president David Reeves told industry bible MCV. "If you look at the reaction on MCV's website, people are responding to the news by saying 'I want a 500GB PS3', but other people are saying 'I haven't filled up any of my hard drive'." It sounds like these new high capacity PS3s could shoot up in value as collector's items if Sony decides not to proceed with 160GB models - we wonder if many will be bought by speculators?

From ever expanding hard drives to Pirates and Ninjas. We've got some brand new screens from Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball forthcoming on Wii from Gamecock. The game allows for up to eight players and offers a total of seven teams, including pirates, ninjas, robots and zombies plus three unannounced ball slingers. Each team utilises its own unique techniques and strategies to try and ultimately defeat the enemies. Unique to Wii version, the game will offer all-new story and challenge modes, along with several customised control schemes. A release is scheduled for November.