EA Games and Maxis' Spore Creature Creator became the little $10 USD game that could back in July when it briefly trounced the likes of Age of Conan, World of Warcraft and The Sims 2. It's success was a sign that consumers and gamers alike were itching to get their creative juices flowing over Spore; indeed, EA Games Label President Frank Gibeau boasts to Gamasutra that the Creature Creator allowed a user to become "almost a Pixar artist overnight without training". Well, we're not sure if Neoseeker's code monkey Tekmosis is on the road to greatness yet, but at least he's trying. However, the fun and games are just beginning for the Spore franchise with the full release of the title coming this Sunday.

Spore will initially launch on the PC, Mac, mobile phone iPhone, and Nintendo DS platforms this September 7th. Gibeau reconfirms that Spore will eventually hit other consoles, but he provides reassurance that these will not be mere ports. Spore will be tailored to suit the features and advantages of each of the major home console platforms. Gibeau specifically brought up Nintendo's Wii several times as an example:

We haven't even scratched the surface of other platforms out there like consoles and the Wii and some others. Clearly we're thinking about those, and we believe the Spore concept and IP can move a lot across a lot of platforms over a long period of time.

You're just going to see the opening salvo on the 7th in terms of [initial platforms] but rest assured, they're not going to be [simply] ports to the Wii... later on in its cycle. It's not going to be [just] ported to the Xbox 360. We're going to look at how to bring that idea to life on those platforms in a unique way, because that's the only way it's going to work.

This effort to fully realize Spore on current game platforms is no mistake; EA Games is confident in the potential and flexibility of the new franchise as a "long and enduring" business. That means with luck, Spore will be here to stay as long as the Sims franchise has. Fortunately, Gibeau knows critical and commercial reception are still the key factors which will determine Spore's success, but he's adamant the franchise looks to be "on track" for a solid launch.