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115-487: Spore is a 2008 life simulation real-time strategy god game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X . Designed by Will Wright , it covers many genres including action , real-time strategy , and role-playing games . Spore allows a player to control the development of a species from its beginnings as a microscopic organism, through development as an intelligent and social creature, to interstellar exploration as

230-409: A haploid chromosomal composition that is partially replicated, a condition known as merodiploidy . Prokaryotes lack mitochondria and chloroplasts . Instead, processes such as oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis take place across the prokaryotic cell membrane . However, prokaryotes do possess some internal structures, such as prokaryotic cytoskeletons . It has been suggested that

345-693: A paraphyletic group, just like dinosaurs without birds. Unlike the above assumption of a fundamental split between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the most important difference between biota may be the division between Bacteria and the rest (Archaea and Eukaryota). For instance, DNA replication differs fundamentally between the Bacteria and Archaea (including that in eukaryotic nuclei), and it may not be homologous between these two groups. Moreover, ATP synthase , though common (homologous) in all organisms, differs greatly between bacteria (including eukaryotic organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts ) and

460-1088: A prokaryotic cytoskeleton that is more primitive than that of the eukaryotes. Besides homologues of actin and tubulin ( MreB and FtsZ ), the helically arranged building-block of the flagellum , flagellin , is one of the most significant cytoskeletal proteins of bacteria, as it provides structural backgrounds of chemotaxis , the basic cell physiological response of bacteria. At least some prokaryotes also contain intracellular structures that can be seen as primitive organelles. Membranous organelles (or intracellular membranes) are known in some groups of prokaryotes, such as vacuoles or membrane systems devoted to special metabolic properties, such as photosynthesis or chemolithotrophy . In addition, some species also contain carbohydrate-enclosed microcompartments, which have distinct physiological roles (e.g. carboxysomes or gas vacuoles). Most prokaryotes are between 1 μm and 10 μm, but they can vary in size from 0.2 μm ( Mycoplasma genitalium ) to 750 μm ( Thiomargarita namibiensis ). Prokaryotic cells have various shapes;

575-437: A spacefaring culture. It has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its use of open-ended gameplay and procedural generation . Throughout each stage, players are able to use various creators to produce content for their games. These are then automatically uploaded to the online Sporepedia and are accessible by other players for download. Spore was released after several delays to generally favorable reviews. Praise

690-481: A supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, which introduces the game's final antagonists, the Grox, a unique species of cybernetic aliens with a powerful empire of 2,400 systems surrounding the core. Getting to the center of the galaxy and entering starts a cinematic in which the player is introduced to Steve. After the cinematic dialogue with Steve ends the player is shot out of the black hole, and gets rewarded with

805-422: A superweapon , which requires a large number of cities and Sporebucks, but gives the player a significant advantage over rival nations. Aside from enemy nations, Epic creatures may threaten individual cities. The Space Stage provides new goals and paths as the player's species begins to spread through the galaxy. The game adopts the principle of mediocrity , as there are numerous forms of life scattered throughout

920-401: A taxon to be found nearby the then-unknown Asgard group). For example, histones which usually package DNA in eukaryotic nuclei, have also been found in several archaean groups, giving evidence for homology . This idea might clarify the mysterious predecessor of eukaryotic cells ( eucytes ) which engulfed an alphaproteobacterium forming the first eucyte ( LECA , l ast e ukaryotic c ommon

1035-420: A 9.2 out of 10 score, saying, "It [ Spore ] will make you acknowledge just how far we've come, and just how far we have to go, and Spore will change the way you think about the universe we live in." PC Gamer UK awarded the game a 91%, saying " Spore ' s triumph is painfully ironic. By setting out to instill a sense of wonderment at creation and the majesty of the universe, it's shown us that it's actually

1150-1203: A bacterium to bind, take up and recombine donor DNA into its own chromosome, it must first enter a special physiological state called competence . About 40 genes are required in Bacillus subtilis for the development of competence. The length of DNA transferred during B. subtilis transformation can be as much as a third to the whole chromosome. Transformation is a common mode of DNA transfer, and 67 prokaryotic species are thus far known to be naturally competent for transformation. Among archaea, Halobacterium volcanii forms cytoplasmic bridges between cells that appear to be used for transfer of DNA from one cell to another. Another archaeon, Sulfolobus solfataricus , transfers DNA between cells by direct contact. Frols et al. (2008) found that exposure of S. solfataricus to DNA damaging agents induces cellular aggregation, and suggested that cellular aggregation may enhance DNA transfer among cells to provide increased repair of damaged DNA via homologous recombination. While prokaryotes are considered strictly unicellular, most can form stable aggregate communities. When such communities are encased in

1265-406: A building or vehicle. The Creature editor, for example, allows the player to take what looks like a lump of clay with a spine and mould it into a creature. Once the torso is shaped, the player can add parts such as legs, arms, feet, hands, noses, eyes, and mouths. Many of these parts affect the creature's abilities (speed, strength, diet, etc.), while some parts are purely decorative. Once the creature

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1380-481: A certain location. The player may give the tribe tools such as weapons , musical instruments , and healing or food-gathering implements. Food now replaces "DNA points" as the player's currency, and can be spent on structures and additional tribe members, or used to appease other tribes of different species. Tribe members also gain the option to wear clothes, the editing of which replaces the Creature Editor in

1495-450: A feature that is part of an agreement with YouTube granting players the ability to upload a YouTube video of their creatures' activity directly from within the game, and EA's creation of "The Spore YouTube Channel", which will showcase the most popular videos created this way. In addition, some user-created content will be highlighted by Maxis at the official Spore site, and earn badges of recognition. One of Spore's most social features

1610-465: A few pets at once. In contrast to artificial life games, digital pets do not usually reproduce or die, although there are exceptions where pets will run away if ignored or mistreated. Digital pets are usually designed to be cute, and act out a range of emotions and behaviors that tell the player how to influence the pet. "This quality of rich intelligence distinguishes artificial pets from other kinds of A-life, in which individuals have simple rules but

1725-474: A game for more casual players. Spore has more depth than, let’s say, The Sims did. But we looked at the Metacritic scores for Sims 2 , which was around ninety, and something like Half-Life , which was ninety-seven, and we decided — quite a while back — that we would rather have the Metacritic and sales of Sims 2 than the Metacritic and sales of Half-Life ." In its first three weeks on sale,

1840-399: A higher metabolic rate , a higher growth rate, and as a consequence, a shorter generation time than eukaryotes. There is increasing evidence that the roots of the eukaryotes are to be found in (or at least next to) the archaean Asgard group, perhaps Heimdallarchaeota (an idea which is a modern version of the 1984 eocyte hypothesis , eocytes being an old synonym for Thermoproteota ,

1955-442: A lot more interesting to sit here at our computers and explore the contents of each other's brains." In its 4.5 (of 5) -star review, GameSpy wrote " Spore is a technological triumph that introduces a whole new way of tapping into a bottomless well of content." Most of the criticism of Spore came from the lack of depth in the first four phases, summarized by Eurogamer 's 9 of 10 review, which stated, "for all their mighty purpose,

2070-399: A meteor crashing into the ocean of a planet and breaking apart, revealing a single-celled organism . The player guides this simple microbe around in a 3D environment on a single 2D plane, reminiscent of Flow , where it must deal with fluid dynamics and predators, while eating meat chunks or plants. The player may choose whether the creature is a herbivore or a carnivore prior to starting

2185-529: A more active role as one character living alongside other artificial ones, engaging in similar life pursuits as to make money or sustain their character while engaging in social interactions with the other characters, typically seeking to gain beneficial relations with all such characters. Several of these fall into the subgenre of farming simulations, where the player-character runs a farm in a rural setting, growing crops and raising livestock to make money to keep their farm going while working to improve relations with

2300-527: A ncestor) according to endosymbiotic theory . There might have been some additional support by viruses, called viral eukaryogenesis . The non-bacterial group comprising archaea and eukaryota was called Neomura by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002. However, in a cladistic view, Eukaryota are Archaea in the same sense as birds are dinosaurs because they evolved from the Maniraptora dinosaur group. In contrast, archaea without eukaryota appear to be

2415-659: A nucleus. Both eukaryotes and prokaryotes contain large RNA / protein structures called ribosomes , which produce protein , but the ribosomes of prokaryotes are smaller than those of eukaryotes. Mitochondria and chloroplasts , two organelles found in many eukaryotic cells, contain ribosomes similar in size and makeup to those found in prokaryotes. This is one of many pieces of evidence that mitochondria and chloroplasts are descended from free-living bacteria. The endosymbiotic theory holds that early eukaryotic cells took in primitive prokaryotic cells by phagocytosis and adapted themselves to incorporate their structures, leading to

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2530-503: A piece of a totem pole is built, which may increase the population limit of the player's tribe or grant access to new tools and clothes. When all five tribes are allied or conquered, the player may move forward to the Civilization Stage. The events of Tribal Stage have left the player's tribe the dominant species of the planet, but the species itself has now fragmented into many separate nations. The player retains control of

2645-428: A player's creations are eliminated at some point, the species will respawn at its nearest colony or the beginning of the phase. Unlike many other Maxis games, Spore has a primary win condition, which is obtained by reaching a supermassive black hole placed at the center of the galaxy and receiving a "Staff of Life". However, the player may continue to play after any goal has been achieved. The first four phases of

2760-421: A population of creatures over several generations, and try to achieve goals for the population as a whole. These games have been called genetic artificial life games, or biological simulations. Players are able to crossbreed creatures, which have a set of genes or descriptors that define the creature's characteristics. Some games also introduce mutations due to random or environmental factors, which can benefit

2875-454: A religious trait construct special missionary units that convert other cities via religious propaganda. Likewise, economic states communicate solely by trade and have no weapons (except for defensive Turrets). If the player's nation captures a city of a different type, they can choose to have the city retain its original type if they wish, or convert it to match the type it was captured with. Players of all three ideological paths can eventually use

2990-734: A similar class action lawsuit was filed against EA for the inclusion of DRM software in the free demo version of the Creature Creator. The DRM was also one of the major reasons why Spore is still one of the most pirated games to date, where within the first week of the game, over 500,000 people started downloading or downloaded it illegally from sites like The Pirate Bay . EA began selling Spore without SecuROM on December 22, 2008, through Steam . Furthermore, EA Games president Frank Gibeau announced that maximum install limit would be increased from 3 to 5 and that it would be possible to de-authorize and move installations to new machines, citing

3105-690: A similar group of selfish individuals (see inclusive fitness and Hamilton's rule ). Should these instances of prokaryotic sociality prove to be the rule rather than the exception, it would have serious implications for the way we view prokaryotes in general, and the way we deal with them in medicine. Bacterial biofilms may be 100 times more resistant to antibiotics than free-living unicells and may be nearly impossible to remove from surfaces once they have colonized them. Other aspects of bacterial cooperation—such as bacterial conjugation and quorum-sensing-mediated pathogenicity , present additional challenges to researchers and medical professionals seeking to treat

3220-473: A single founder (in the way that animals and plants are founded by single cells), which presents a number of theoretical issues. Most explanations of co-operation and the evolution of multicellularity have focused on high relatedness between members of a group (or colony, or whole organism). If a copy of a gene is present in all members of a group, behaviors that promote cooperation between members may permit those members to have (on average) greater fitness than

3335-412: A single nation with one city. The goal in the civilization phase is to gain control of the entire planet, and it is left to the player to decide whether to conquer it using military force, diplomacy, or religious influence. Two new editors (the building and vehicle editors) are used to create city buildings and vehicles. The player can place three types of buildings (House, Factory, and Entertainment) around

3450-679: A stabilizing polymer matrix ("slime"), they may be called " biofilms ". Cells in biofilms often show distinct patterns of gene expression (phenotypic differentiation) in time and space. Also, as with multicellular eukaryotes, these changes in expression often appear to result from cell-to-cell signaling , a phenomenon known as quorum sensing . Biofilms may be highly heterogeneous and structurally complex and may attach to solid surfaces, or exist at liquid-air interfaces, or potentially even liquid-liquid interfaces. Bacterial biofilms are often made up of microcolonies (approximately dome-shaped masses of bacteria and matrix) separated by "voids" through which

3565-483: A theme, rather than attempting to simulate. Prokaryote A prokaryote ( / p r oʊ ˈ k ær i oʊ t , - ə t / ; less commonly spelled procaryote ) is a single-cell organism whose cell lacks a nucleus and other membrane -bound organelles . The word prokaryote comes from the Ancient Greek πρό ( pró ), meaning 'before', and κάρυον ( káruon ), meaning 'nut' or 'kernel'. In

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3680-560: A victory condition or challenge, and can be classified as software toys . Games such as Nintendogs have been implemented for the Nintendo DS , although there are also simple electronic games that have been implemented on a keychain, such as Tamagotchi . There are also numerous online pet-raising/virtual pet games, such as Neopets . Other pet life simulation games include online show dog raising games, and show horse raising games. Some artificial life games allow players to manage

3795-776: A virtual life", where players are given the power to control the lives of autonomous people or creatures. Artificial life games are related to computer science research in artificial life . But "because they're intended for entertainment rather than research, commercial A-life games implement only a subset of what A-life research investigates." This broad genre includes god games which focus on managing tribal worshipers, as well as artificial pets that focus on one or several animals. It also includes genetic artificial life games, where players manage populations of creatures over several generations. Artificial life games and life simulations find their origins in artificial life research, including Conway's Game of Life from 1970. But one of

3910-404: Is evidence on Mars of fossil or living prokaryotes. However, this possibility remains the subject of considerable debate and skepticism. The division between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is usually considered the most important distinction or difference among organisms. The distinction is that eukaryotic cells have a "true" nucleus containing their DNA , whereas prokaryotic cells do not have

4025-480: Is a capacity limit; building houses will increase the cap, and constructing various buildings adjacent to one another will provide a productivity bonus or deficit. The presence of other nations requires the player to continue expanding their empire using military force, propaganda , or simply buying out cities. Players can choose their method of global domination depending on the types of cities they own. Military states grow solely by attacking other cities. Nations with

4140-509: Is an amazing product, it's just not quite an amazing game." The New York Times review of Spore mostly centered on lack of depth and quality of gameplay in the later phases of the game, stating that "most of the basic core play dynamics in Spore are unfortunately rather thin." While a review in PC Gamer US stated that "it just isn't right to judge Spore in the context of so many of

4255-424: Is broken up into distinct "stages". The outcome of one phase affects the initial conditions and leveling facing the player in the next. Each phase exhibits a distinct style of play, and has been described by the developers as ten times more complicated than its preceding phase. Phases often feature optional missions; when the player completes a mission, they are granted a bonus, such as a new ability or money. If all of

4370-411: Is formed, it can be painted using a large number of textures, overlays, colours, and patterns, which are procedurally applied depending on the topology of the creature. The only required feature is the mouth. All other parts are optional; for example, creatures without legs will slither on the ground like a slug or an inchworm, and creatures without arms will be unable to pick up objects. Although there

4485-588: Is not a formal planet editor, in the Space Stage, players can freely terraform all rocky planets in the galaxy, adding mountains, valleys, lakes, etc. Players can also change these planets' biological ecosystems . There are two new editors seen in the new expansion Spore Galactic Adventures : these include the captain editor (also called the captain outfitter) and the adventure creator, which enables terraforming and placing objects freely on adventure planets. Spore 's user community functionality includes

4600-747: Is the Sporecast , an RSS feed that players can use to subscribe to the creations of any specific Spore player, allowing them to track their creations. There is a toggle which allows the player to restrict what downloadable content will be allowed; choices include: "no user generated content", "official Maxis-approved content", "downloadable friend content", and "all user-created content". Players can elect to ban content in-game, at any time, and Maxis monitors content for anything deemed inappropriate, issuing bans for infractions of content policy. Spore has also released an API (application programming interface) to allow developers to access data about player activity,

4715-418: Is very small — only a couple of kilobytes per item transmitted – due to procedural generation of material . Via the in-game "MySpore Page", players receive statistics of how their creatures are faring in other players' games, which has been referred to as the " alternate realities of the Spore metaverse ." The game also reports how many other players have interacted with the player. For example,

Spore (2008 video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-529: The DNA template of a creature while the game, like a womb , builds the ' phenotypes ' of the animal, which represent a few uploaded and downloaded freely and quickly from the Sporepedia online server. This allows users to asynchronously upload their creations and download other players' content, which enriches the experience of the game as more of its players progress in the game." IGN Australia awarded Spore

4945-464: The software license agreement . An EA spokesperson stated that "we don't disclose specifically which copy protection or digital rights management system we use [...] because EA typically uses one license agreement for all of its downloadable games, and different EA downloadable games may use different copy protection and digital rights management.” A cracked version without the DRM was released two days before

5060-475: The two-empire system arising from the work of Édouard Chatton , prokaryotes were classified within the empire Prokaryota . However in the three-domain system , based upon molecular analysis , prokaryotes are divided into two domains : Bacteria (formerly Eubacteria) and Archaea (formerly Archaebacteria). Organisms with nuclei are placed in a third domain: Eukaryota . Prokaryotes evolved before eukaryotes, and lack nuclei, mitochondria , and most of

5175-399: The " God game " variety, Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life and Spore , and within the arcade/RPG variety, a multitude of entertainment software products including Eco and EVO: Search for Eden . Social simulation games explore social interactions between multiple artificial lives . In some cases, the player may simply be an observer with no direct control but can influence

5290-499: The 'Tribal Outfitter'. Combat can be made more effective with weapons like stone axes, spears, and torches. For socializing, a player can obtain musical instruments: wooden horns, maracas and didgeridoos. Miscellaneous tools can be used for fishing and gathering food and for healing tribe members. All tools, however, require a specialized tool shack, which costs food to build. Tribe members can also gather food, an essential concept. Food can be stolen by wild creatures or by other tribes in

5405-551: The City Hall (which can also be customized) and may build up to 3 types of vehicles (sea, land and air) at each city. These vehicles serve military, economic or religious purposes. The main unit of currency is "Sporebucks", which is used to purchase vehicles and buildings. To earn income, players can capture spice geysers and set up spice derricks at their locations, conduct trade, or build factories. In constructing vehicles and buildings, as with most real-time strategy games, there

5520-473: The Creature Stage are automatically added to the tribe as farm animals. Epic creatures may threaten nests or tribes. Allied tribes will occasionally bring the player gifts of food. Players can steal food from other tribes (though it angers them), and dead tribes may be pillaged for their food. There are five other tribes that appear along with the player's tribe. For every tribe befriended or destroyed,

5635-546: The Staff of Life. Another major goal in the game is to eradicate the Grox, which yields an achievement. Several other stages were mentioned at various points by the developers, including a Molecular Stage, an Aquatic Stage, a City Stage, and a Terraforming Stage. These stages were scrapped. If Galactic Adventures is installed, the player may be given missions which involve travelling to planets, beaming down and completing Maxis-created, planetside 'adventures'. With this expansion,

5750-540: The Year" and "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming". Spore uses a modified version of the controversial digital rights management (DRM) software SecuROM as copy protection , which requires authentication upon installation and when online access is used. This system was announced after the originally planned system met opposition from the public, as it would have required authentication every ten days. Additionally, EA released

5865-472: The abilities of the player's species in subsequent stages of the game. Successful socialization and hunting attempts will give DNA Points, which may be spent on many new body parts. The player will also be rewarded with multiple DNA points for allying with or causing the extinction of a species. Placing new parts in the Creature editor comes at the expense of DNA points; more expensive parts will further upgrade

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5980-608: The archaea/eukaryote nucleus group. The last common antecessor of all life (called LUCA , l ast u niversal c ommon a ncestor) should have possessed an early version of this protein complex. As ATP synthase is obligate membrane bound, this supports the assumption that LUCA was a cellular organism. The RNA world hypothesis might clarify this scenario, as LUCA might have been a ribocyte (also called ribocell) lacking DNA, but with an RNA genome built by ribosomes as primordial self-replicating entities . A Peptide-RNA world (also called RNP world) hypothesis has been proposed based on

6095-478: The associated diseases. Prokaryotes have diversified greatly throughout their long existence. The metabolism of prokaryotes is far more varied than that of eukaryotes, leading to many highly distinct prokaryotic types. For example, in addition to using photosynthesis or organic compounds for energy, as eukaryotes do, prokaryotes may obtain energy from inorganic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide . This enables prokaryotes to thrive in harsh environments as cold as

6210-450: The bacterial phylum Planctomycetota has a membrane around the nucleoid and contains other membrane-bound cellular structures. However, further investigation revealed that Planctomycetota cells are not compartmentalized or nucleated and, like other bacterial membrane systems, are interconnected. Prokaryotic cells are usually much smaller than eukaryotic cells. Therefore, prokaryotes have a larger surface-area-to-volume ratio , giving them

6325-421: The biofilm—has led some to speculate that this may constitute a circulatory system and many researchers have started calling prokaryotic communities multicellular (for example ). Differential cell expression, collective behavior, signaling, programmed cell death , and (in some cases) discrete biological dispersal events all seem to point in this direction. However, these colonies are seldom if ever founded by

6440-495: The bodies of other organisms, including humans. Prokaryotes have high populations in the soil - including the rhizosphere and rhizosheath . Soil prokaryotes are still heavily undercharacterized despite their easy proximity to humans and their tremendous economic importance to agriculture . In 1977, Carl Woese proposed dividing prokaryotes into the Bacteria and Archaea (originally Eubacteria and Archaebacteria) because of

6555-507: The brain of the player's species evolves sufficiently, the species may enter the Tribal Stage. The species' design becomes permanent, and the player sheds control of an individual creature in favor of the entire tribe group, as the game focuses on the birth of division of labor for the species. The player is given a hut, a group of up to 12 fully evolved creatures, as well as two of six possible Consequence Abilities, unlocked depending on

6670-475: The content they produce and their interactions with each other. The Spore API is a collection of RESTful public web services that return data in .XML format. In April 2009, the results of the Spore API Contest was concluded with winners building interactive visualizations, games, mobile applications and content navigation tools. The API also includes a Developers forum for people wishing to use all

6785-493: The creations people have made to create applications. The game is referred to as a "massively single-player online game" and "asynchronous sharing." Simultaneous multiplayer gaming is not a feature of Spore . The content that the player can create is uploaded automatically to a central database, cataloged and rated for quality (based on how many users have downloaded the object or creature in question), and then re-distributed to populate other players' games. The data transmitted

6900-454: The current set of prokaryotic species may have evolved from more complex eukaryotic ancestors through a process of simplification. Others have argued that the three domains of life arose simultaneously, from a set of varied cells that formed a single gene pool. This controversy was summarized in 2005: There is no consensus among biologists concerning the position of the eukaryotes in the overall scheme of cell evolution. Current opinions on

7015-413: The environment of the artificial lives, such as by creating and furnishing a house and creating situations for those characters to interact. These games are part of a subcategory of artificial life game sometimes called a virtual dollhouse. The Sims is the most notable example of this type of game, and was itself influenced by the 1985 game Little Computer People . In other games, the player takes

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7130-530: The evolution and interrelationships of the three domains of life. The division between prokaryotes and eukaryotes reflects the existence of two very different levels of cellular organization; only eukaryotic cells have an enveloped nucleus that contains its chromosomal DNA , and other characteristic membrane-bound organelles including mitochondria. Distinctive types of prokaryotes include extremophiles and methanogens ; these are common in some extreme environments. The distinction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes

7245-430: The evolution of a creature by graphically displaying a timeline which shows how the creature incrementally changed over the eons; it also keeps track of the creature's achievements, both noteworthy and dubious, as a species. The Sporepedia also keeps track of all the creatures, planets, vehicles and other content the player encounters over the course of a game. Players can upload their creations to Spore.com to be viewed by

7360-557: The first commercially viable artificial life games was Little Computer People in 1985, a Commodore 64 game that allowed players to type requests to characters living in a virtual house. The game is cited as a little-known forerunner of virtual-life simulator games to follow. One of the earliest dating sims , Tenshitachi no gogo , was released for the 16-bit NEC PC-9801 computer that same year, though dating sim elements can be found in Sega 's earlier Girl's Garden in 1984. In

7475-574: The first four phases of the game don't always play brilliantly, and they're too fleeting." 1UP.com reasoned in its B+ graded review, "It's not a perfect game, but it's definitely one that any serious gamer should try." GameSpot in its 8.0 of 10 review called Spore "a legitimately great game that will deliver hours of quality entertainment", but criticized the "individual gameplay elements [that] are extremely simple." Jason Ocampo's IGN 8.8 of 10 review stated, "Maxis has made an impressive product that does so many incredible things" but added, "while Spore

7590-411: The form of raids. The diet choice that the player made in prior stages, whether herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore, determines what food the tribe can gather and eat. Animals can be hunted for meat, and fish or seaweed can be speared for food. Fruit is gathered from trees and bushes, and players can also domesticate animals for eggs, which all diet types can eat. Any foreign animals in the player's pack in

7705-484: The formation of the Earth's crust. Eukaryotes only appear in the fossil record later, and may have formed from endosymbiosis of multiple prokaryote ancestors. The oldest known fossil eukaryotes are about 1.7 billion years old. However, some genetic evidence suggests eukaryotes appeared as early as 3 billion years ago. While Earth is the only place in the universe where life is known to exist, some have suggested that there

7820-909: The four basic shapes of bacteria are: The archaeon Haloquadratum has flat square-shaped cells. Bacteria and archaea reproduce through asexual reproduction, usually by binary fission . Genetic exchange and recombination still occur, but this is a form of horizontal gene transfer and is not a replicative process, simply involving the transference of DNA between two cells, as in bacterial conjugation . DNA transfer between prokaryotic cells occurs in bacteria and archaea, although it has been mainly studied in bacteria. In bacteria, gene transfer occurs by three processes. These are (1) bacterial virus ( bacteriophage )-mediated transduction , (2) plasmid -mediated conjugation , and (3) natural transformation . Transduction of bacterial genes by bacteriophage appears to reflect an occasional error during intracellular assembly of virus particles, rather than an adaptation of

7935-403: The galaxy. The player controls a single spaceship, built at the beginning of the Space Stage. The player can travel by clicking on other planets and moons and stars, though each jump costs energy. Later in the game, the player can purchase a wormhole key which enables them to travel through black holes , offering instant transportation to a sister black hole. There are around 500,000 planets in

8050-463: The game Spore was released, in which the player develops an alien species from the microbial tide pool into an interstellar empire. Digital pets are a subgenre of artificial life game where players train, maintain, and watch a simulated animal. The pets can be simulations of real animals, or fantasy pets. Unlike genetic artificial life games that focus on larger populations of organisms, digital pet games usually allow players to interact with one or

8165-409: The game one out of five stars, most citing EA's implementation of DRM for the low ratings. Electronic Arts cited SecuROM as a "standard for the industry" and Apple's iPod song DRM policy as justification for the control method. Former Maxis developer Chris Harris labeled the DRM a "screw up" and a "totally avoidable disaster". The SecuROM software was not mentioned on the box, in the manual, or in

8280-509: The game reports how many times other players have allied with the player's species. The personalities of user-created species are dependent on how the user played them. Players can share creations, chat, and roleplay in the Sporum, the game's internet forum hosted by Maxis. Multiple sections allow forum users to share creations and tips for the game, as well as roleplay. The Sporepedia keeps track of nearly every gameplay experience, including

8395-730: The game sold 2 million copies, according to Electronic Arts. It received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. During the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards , the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Spore with " Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering ", along with receiving nominations for "Computer Game of

8510-423: The game under a policy by which the product key of an individual copy of the game would only be authenticated on up to three computers; however, some users ran afoul of the limitations as the software would consider even a slight change of hardware to constitute a different computer, resulting in all authorizations being used up by those who often upgrade their computer. In response to customer complaints, this limit

8625-483: The game will attempt to re-authorize. If you have not reached the machine limitation, the game will authorize and the machine will be re-authorized using up one of the five available machines." However, the de-authorization tool to do this is not available on the Mac platform. In 2016, a DRM-free version of Spore was released on GOG.com . Life simulation game Life simulation games are about "maintaining and growing

8740-648: The game's galaxy orbiting around 100,000 stars (including Earth and its star, Sol). Players can visit and explore all rocky planets with all their lifeforms and geologic structure. These planets can also be terraformed and colonized . The colonization of new worlds makes the player's civilization more influential and increases its income. Players can make contact with other space-faring civilizations, or "empires", which sport many different personalities and worldviews, ranging from diplomatic and polite species willing to ally, to distrustful, fanatical empires more willing to wage war. Completing missions for an empire improves

8855-501: The game, if the player uses the editors only minimally, will take up to 15 hours to complete, but can take as little as one or two hours. Note that there is no time limit for any stage: the player may stay in a single stage as long as they wish, and progress to the next stage when ready. At the end of each phase, the player's actions cause their creature to be assigned a characteristic, or consequence trait. Each phase has three consequence traits, usually based on how aggressively or peacefully

8970-432: The host bacteria. The transfer of bacterial DNA is under the control of the bacteriophage's genes rather than bacterial genes. Conjugation in the well-studied E. coli system is controlled by plasmid genes, and is an adaptation for distributing copies of a plasmid from one bacterial host to another. Infrequently during this process, a plasmid may integrate into the host bacterial chromosome, and subsequently transfer part of

9085-537: The host bacterial DNA to another bacterium. Plasmid mediated transfer of host bacterial DNA (conjugation) also appears to be an accidental process rather than a bacterial adaptation. Natural bacterial transformation involves the transfer of DNA from one bacterium to another through the intervening medium. Unlike transduction and conjugation, transformation is clearly a bacterial adaptation for DNA transfer, because it depends on numerous bacterial gene products that specifically interact to perform this complex process. For

9200-426: The idea that oligopeptides may have been built together with primordial nucleic acids at the same time, which also supports the concept of a ribocyte as LUCA. The feature of DNA as the material base of the genome might have then been adopted separately in bacteria and in archaea (and later eukaryote nuclei), presumably by help of some viruses (possibly retroviruses as they could reverse transcribe RNA to DNA). As

9315-470: The initial Australian release, making Spore the most torrented game on BitTorrent in 2008. On September 22, 2008, a class action lawsuit was filed against EA, regarding the DRM in Spore, complaining about EA not disclosing the existence of SecuROM, and addressing how SecuROM runs with the nature of a rootkit , including how it remains on the hard drive even after Spore is uninstalled. On October 14, 2008,

9430-446: The life of an individual animal whose role the player assumes (rather than simulating an entire ecosystem controlled by the player). These include Wolf and its sequel Lion , the similar WolfQuest , and the more modest Odell educational series. In addition, a large number of games have loose biological or evolutionary themes but do not attempt to reflect closely the reality of either biology or evolution: these include, within

9545-658: The local townspeople. Such games include the Story of Seasons and the Animal Crossing series, and Stardew Valley . Dating sims are related to this type of game, but generally where the play-character is seeking a romantic relationship with one or more computer-controlled characters, with such titles often aimed at more mature audiences compared to the typical social simulation game. Dating sims may be more driven by visual novel gameplay elements than typical simulation gameplay. Some games take biology or evolution as

9660-424: The major differences in the structure and genetics between the two groups of organisms. Archaea were originally thought to be extremophiles, living only in inhospitable conditions such as extremes of temperature , pH , and radiation but have since been found in all types of habitats . The resulting arrangement of Eukaryota (also called "Eucarya"), Bacteria, and Archaea is called the three-domain system , replacing

9775-406: The medium (e.g., water) may flow easily. The microcolonies may join together above the substratum to form a continuous layer, closing the network of channels separating microcolonies. This structural complexity—combined with observations that oxygen limitation (a ubiquitous challenge for anything growing in size beyond the scale of diffusion) is at least partially eased by movement of medium throughout

9890-514: The mid-1990s, as artificial intelligence programming improved, true AI virtual pets such as Petz and Tamagotchi began to appear. Around the same time, Creatures became "the first full-blown commercial entertainment application of Artificial Life and genetic algorithms". By 2000, The Sims refined the formula seen in Little Computer People and became the most successful artificial life game created to date. In 2007,

10005-571: The mitochondria and chloroplasts. The genome in a prokaryote is held within a DNA/protein complex in the cytosol called the nucleoid , which lacks a nuclear envelope . The complex contains a single, cyclic, double-stranded molecule of stable chromosomal DNA, in contrast to the multiple linear, compact, highly organized chromosomes found in eukaryotic cells. In addition, many important genes of prokaryotes are stored in separate circular DNA structures called plasmids . Like eukaryotes, prokaryotes may partially duplicate genetic material, and can have

10120-401: The need to adapt their policy to accommodate their legitimate customers. EA has stated, "By running the de-authorization tool, a machine 'slot' will be freed up on the online Product Authorization server and can then be re-used by another machine. You can de-authorize at any time, even without uninstalling Spore, and free up that machine authorization. If you re-launch Spore on the same machine,

10235-403: The nucleus, that eukaryotes arose without endosymbiosis, and that eukaryotes arose through a symbiotic event entailing a simultaneous endosymbiotic origin of the flagellum and the nucleus, in addition to many other models, which have been reviewed and summarized elsewhere. The oldest known fossilized prokaryotes were laid down approximately 3.5 billion years ago, only about 1 billion years after

10350-408: The origin and position of eukaryotes span a broad spectrum including the views that eukaryotes arose first in evolution and that prokaryotes descend from them, that eukaryotes arose contemporaneously with eubacteria and archaebacteria and hence represent a primary line of descent of equal age and rank as the prokaryotes, that eukaryotes arose through a symbiotic event entailing an endosymbiotic origin of

10465-873: The other distinct organelles that characterize the eukaryotic cell. It was once thought that prokaryotic cellular components were unenclosed within the cytoplasm except for an outer cell membrane , but bacterial microcompartments , which are thought to be quasi-organelles enclosed in protein shells (such as the encapsulin protein cages ), have been discovered, along with other prokaryotic organelles . While being unicellular, some prokaryotes, such as cyanobacteria , may form colonies held together by biofilms , and large colonies can create multilayered microbial mats . Others, such as myxobacteria , have multicellular stages in their life cycles . Prokaryotes are asexual , reproducing via binary fission without any fusion of gametes , although horizontal gene transfer may take place. Molecular studies have provided insight into

10580-421: The other games we judge", Zero Punctuation was also critical of the game, claiming it did not live up to the legacy of The Sims : "The chief failing of Spore is that it's trying to be five games, each one a shallow and cut down equivalent of another game, with the Civilization Stage even going so far as to be named after the game [ Civilization ] it's bastardizing." Criticism has also emerged surrounding

10695-468: The phase was played. Characteristics determine how the creature will start the next phase and give it abilities that can be used later in the game. Spore is a game that is separated into stages, each stage presenting a different type of experience with different goals to achieve. The five stages are the Cell Stage, the Creature Stage, the Tribal Stage, the Civilization Stage, and the Space Stage. Once

10810-411: The player can also outfit their Captain with weapons and accessories which assist in these adventures. The occupants of allied ships can also take part. User-generated content is a major feature of Spore ; there are eighteen different editors (some unique to a phase). All have the same general UI and controls for positioning, scaling and colouring parts, whether for the creation of a creature, or for

10925-454: The player creature unless food is eaten. In the Creature Stage, the player has a home nest where members of their own species are located. The nest is where the player respawns following death, and acts as a recovery point for lost HP. Other species' nests are spread throughout the continent. While interacting with them, the player can choose to be social or aggressive ; how the player interacts with other creatures will affect their opinion of

11040-413: The player creature's abilities for either method of interaction, as well as secondary abilities such as flight, speed or boosted health. After the player is finished editing, a newly evolved generation of creatures will be present in the home nest as the player's creature hatches. As the player's creature befriends or hunts more creatures, its intelligence and size increases until it can form a tribe. After

11155-420: The player's height, feature prominently in the Creature Stage. The player cannot use social interactions with an Epic creature. There are also Rogue creatures which may be befriended or attacked. Additionally, spaceships may appear in this stage and abduct a creature. Progress in the Creature Stage is determined by the player's decisions on whether to befriend or attack other species. These decisions will affect

11270-420: The player's relationship with them, as does trading and assisting in fending off attacks. When the player has become allied with an empire, they can ask certain favors of the empire. If the player becomes enemies with an empire, they will send a small fleet of ships to attack the player's ship as soon as they enter their territory. One of the main goals in the Space Stage is for the player to push their way toward

11385-416: The player's species. For instance, by mimicking their social behaviors (singing, dancing etc.), NPC creatures will eventually consider the player an ally, but if the player harms members of their species, they will flee or become aggressive upon sighting them. The player can heal in allied nests and add allied creatures to their packs. Epic creatures, which are rare, aggressive creatures more than twenty times

11500-508: The player, and the player is warned not to come again. The biosphere contains a variety of animal species which carnivorous and omnivorous creatures can hunt for food, and fruit-bearing plants intended for herbivores and omnivores. The player creature's Hunger becomes a measured stat as well as its Health in this stage; depletion of the Hunger meter results in Health depletion and eventual death of

11615-460: The population as a whole develops emergent properties ". Players are able to tease, groom, and teach the pet, and so they must be able to learn behaviors from the player. However, these behaviors are typically "preprogrammed and are not truly emergent". Game designers try to sustain the player's attention by mixing common behaviors with more rare ones, so the player is motivated to keep playing until they see them. Otherwise, these games often lack

11730-560: The population as creatures reproduce. These creatures typically have a short life-span, such as the Creatures series where organisms can survive from half an hour to well over seven hours. Players are able to watch forces of natural selection shape their population, but can also interact with the population by breeding certain individuals together, by modifying the environment, or by introducing new creatures from their design. Another group of biological simulation games seek to simulate

11845-399: The primary objective is completed, the player has the option to advance to the next stage, or continue playing the current stage. The Cell Stage (sometimes referred to as the tide pool , cellular, or microbial stage) is the very first stage in the game, and begins with a cinematic explanation of how the player's cell got onto the planet through the scientific concept of panspermia , with

11960-428: The public at the Sporepedia website. As of May 2009, the list of creations has surpassed 100 million items. Spore uses procedural generation extensively in relation to content pre-made by the developers. Wright mentioned in an interview given at E3 2006 that the information necessary to generate an entire creature would be only a couple of kilobytes, and went on to give the following analogy: "think of it as sharing

12075-480: The shift to land. The Creature editor differs in that it gives the player the ability to make major changes to the creature's body shape and length, and place parts in three-dimensional space instead of a top-down view as in the Cell editor. In the Creature Stage, the player creates their own land creature intended to live on a single continent. If the player attempts to swim to another island, an unidentified monster eats

12190-427: The snow surface of Antarctica , studied in cryobiology , or as hot as undersea hydrothermal vents and land-based hot springs . Prokaryotes live in nearly all environments on Earth. Some archaea and bacteria are extremophiles , thriving in harsh conditions, such as high temperatures ( thermophiles ) or high salinity ( halophiles ). Many archaea grow as plankton in the oceans. Symbiotic prokaryotes live in or on

12305-469: The species' behavior in the previous phases. This is only possible if the player played the previous stages; if the player started directly from the Galaxy Screen , they are locked. Gameplay during this stage is styled as an RTS . Rather than controlling one creature, the player now controls an entire tribe and can give them commands such as gathering food, attacking other tribes or simply moving to

12420-404: The stability of the game, with The Daily Telegraph stating: "The launch of Spore , the keenly anticipated computer game from the creators of The Sims , has been blighted by technical problems." In an interview published by MTV , Spore designer Will Wright responded to early criticism that the phases of the game had been dumbed-down by explaining: "We were very focused, if anything, on making

12535-412: The stage. The cell's eating habits in the Cell Stage directly influence its diet in the Creature Stage, and only mouths appropriate to the diet (Herbivore, Carnivore, or Omnivore) established in the Cell Stage will become available in the Creature Stage. Once the creature grows a brain and the player decides to progress to the next stage, the creature editor appears, prompting the user to add legs before

12650-451: The stage. The player can find "meteor bits" (apparently from the aforementioned panspermic meteor) or kill other cells to find parts that upgrade their creature by adding abilities such as electricity, poison or other parts. Once the microbe has found a part, the player can call a mate to enter the editor, in which they can modify the shape, abilities and appearance of the microbe by spending "DNA points" earned by eating meat chunks or plants in

12765-426: The traditional two-empire system . According to the phylogenetic analysis of Hug (2016), the relationships could be the following: A widespread current model of the evolution of the first living organisms is that these were some form of prokaryotes, which may have evolved out of protocells , while the eukaryotes evolved later in the history of life. Some authors have questioned this conclusion, arguing that

12880-426: The user's computer to security risks. Spore allows the player to develop a species from a microscopic organism to its evolution into a complex creature, its emergence as a social, intelligent being, to its mastery of the planet, and then finally to its ascension into space, where it interacts with alien species across the galaxy. Throughout the game, the player's perspective and species change dramatically. The game

12995-520: Was firmly established by the microbiologists Roger Stanier and C. B. van Niel in their 1962 paper The concept of a bacterium (though spelled procaryote and eucaryote there). That paper cites Édouard Chatton 's 1937 book Titres et Travaux Scientifiques for using those terms and recognizing the distinction. One reason for this classification was so that what was then often called blue-green algae (now called cyanobacteria ) would not be classified as plants but grouped with bacteria. Prokaryotes have

13110-409: Was given for the fact that the game allowed players to create customized creatures, vehicles, and buildings. Spore was criticized for its gameplay which was seen as shallow by many reviewers; GameSpot remarked: "Individual gameplay elements are extremely simple." Controversy surrounded Spore due to the inclusion of SecuROM , and its digital rights management software, which can potentially open

13225-432: Was raised to five computers. After the activation limit has been depleted, EA Customer Service will consider further activations on a case-by-case basis. A survey conducted by EA revealed that only 14% have activated on more than 1 PC and less than 1% of users have tried to activate Spore on more than 3 PCs. By September 14, 2008 (ten days after the game's initial Australian release), 2,016 of 2,216 ratings on Amazon gave

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