14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has filed three new trademarks with the United States Trademark and Patent Office linked to a new property called Darkspore. The filling is linked to home console videogames, handheld titles and MMOs but also applies to movies, action figures, playing cards and other audio visual creations. The documents, uncovered by Superannuation, do not detail the exact nature of what Electronic Arts plans to launch but a financial report released earlier in 2010 already showed that a new Spore videogame could be coming before March 2011, when the current fiscal year ends for the publisher.
Spore was originally launched in September 2008, created by the Maxis development team and Will Wright, the man behind such hit series as The Sims and Sim City. The concept behind was control of life since its first stages to galactic travel, going through an individual, a tribal and a civilization stage, with gameplay changing significantly between them.
Reviewers praised the title for its scope and ambition but some of the mechanics offered were less than satisfying, especially in the galactic stage. Spore received a Galactic Adventures expansion pack and has spinoffs for the Nintendo DS and for the Wii. After three weeks on sale, Spore had 2 million copies sold worldwide.
The name Darkspore implies something more mature than the original Spore, which was all bright colors and happy sounds even when fighting was going on between creatures. It might also imply that the game will be more of a single creature focused experience, showing off its abilities, which is somehow different from those around it.
Considering the huge number of creatures players have made using the original Spore and uploaded to the Electronic Arts-powered Sporepedia, Darkspore could also tend towards a more social experience, something akin to a MMO without the perpetual conflict associated with such games.