The most anticipated PC game of the year, Spore, is going to finally hit the market early September as everybody knows already. However, most of us would simply like to fast forward time to September in order to just play the game and create hundreds of creatures. But, even though Spore will allow us to play God, we have no other powers - fast forwarding time is definitely out of question.

Spore developers have decided to ease our pain and, at the same time, tease us a bit: the Spore Creature Creator, the same one that will be used by the full game, will be released this June, for free. Unfortunately, the free version of the Creature Creator will only feature 25% of the creature making parts. Fortunately, the 100% full version will also be made available via retail stores, but a price hasn't been announced yet. Also, The SimCity Box (a compilation of SimCity games) will be released in June and will also feature the Creature Creator (although it is unclear at the moment whether we'll receive the 25% only version or the full one).

Speaking to IGN, Patrick Buechner, vice president of marketing at Maxis, confirmed another great thing: all the creatures we'll create in June will be available to use when Spore launches in September. Also, everybody will be free to upload and download Spore creatures using the official website, spore.com.

"The Creature Creator functions identically to the creator you'll find in Spore. You'll be able to create an unlimited number of creatures. Mold them, apply body parts, [and] paint them. Once you've made a creature, you can bring it into a test area where you can walk it around and try a variety of animations. While you're in test mode, you'll also be able to take movies and screenshots on a few different backdrops," Patrick Buechner told IGN.

Except for the fact that we will actually be able to feel a bit of the Spore experience, this release will also reduce the leaning curb of the game - something we weren't really expecting to get. We've got to thank EA and Maxis for that. A great surprise!