In the spirit of continued coverage, it’s my pleasure to announce that Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena have gone gold! What this means is that both games are‚  officially completed and ready to be manufactured. This is great news as the game looks like it could be very interesting and have intriguing gameplay. As a fan of the original Spore game, these two sequels have gotten me fairly excited. The new games focus on defending your homeworld from being invading while battling enemies and solving problems. The plot alone is interesting, and the fact that you can modify your characters in a variety of ways has only served to strengthen my resolve to give the games a shot. Especially with District 9 fresh on my mind. Keep checking Blast for more information as it is released!

EA announced that Spore’s two Nintendo exclusive sequels shall be released on October 6th, 2009. Spore Hero will be released exclusively for Wii, while Spore Hero Arena will be released on the Nintendo DS.

While the two games are separate, they take place within the same universe. Spore Hero will focus on a hero trying to prevent the annihilation of their homeworld. As the journey continues you can battle and solve puzzles to unlock over 250 new creature parts with unique abilities. This allows you to change the way creatures play and fight in the world, and upgrade your hero until you are the strongest around.

Spore Hero Arena focuses on a lone warrior trying to prevent the destruction of planets in his galaxy. As he hops from planet to planet, he can collect new parts and upgrade while unlocking special abilities.

Spore Hero will be available on Wii for $49.99. Spore Hero Arena will be available for $29.99.

Why make new games when a perfectly good original is available for rampant spin-offs?

Electronic Arts and Maxis today announced Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena-two creatures built from the ground up for Wii and DS due out this fall.

As you’d probably expect the major components of both titles are creativity, exploration, and adventure-but you know, in a different way than Spore itself did.

Both Nintendo exclusive games are due out this fall at a to be determined price.‚  What we do know however are key components to each title.

Spore Hero, the Wii-make, is set in a 3-D world (could it not be?), is story driven and allows creators (gamers) to build a character through a modified Creature Creator toolset and embark upon an epic quest filled with battles, puzzles, and humor.‚  The end goal is to, you know, save your planet from total destruction-how clichƒ©.

On the portable side of things, Spore Hero Arena is much like its big brother in that gamers will create a “gladiator” and bolster his abilities, parts, and upgrades as fighters throughout the universe are conquered through arena-type battles. ‚ Best of all, Arena will allow for 4 player local multiplayer and 1 v. 1 via Wi-Fi.

If I can pull myself away from the highly addictive creature creator on PC I may just play one of these.

The next evolution in the Spore franchise is coming.‚  Maxis has announced the next installments of the immensely popular game, which will be appearing on PC, Wii and Nintendo DS, depending on which title(s) you decide to buy: Spore Galactic Adventures, Spore Creature Keeper, Spore Hero or Spore Hero Arena.

Spore Galactic Adventures will be a serve as an expansion pack to the PC original title.‚  Along with adding even more customization and creation possibilities, Galactic Adventures will also bring some interesting and welcomed elements to the series as well.‚  One of the most intriguing features will be the “adventure creator” where players can develop missions, play them and share them with friends.

Spore Creature Keeper will be an installment perfect for those younger Spore players.‚  Unlike Galactic Adventures, Creature Keeper will be a stand-alone PC title and will have a large focus on the social and rearing needs of your character.‚  Also, kids should have a blast with the extensive variety of items like toys, clothing and other doodads.

Spore Hero will allow fans to play Spore on Wii for the very first time.‚  The Wii controlling scheme inspired Maxis to build an entire new title of the franchise “from the ground up”.‚  Expect good things.

Spore Hero Arena, a Nintendo DS title, will look to continue the momentum that Spore Creatures started last September.‚  Hero Arena will give fans a chance to create 3D characters (rather than the simple 2D models in Creatures) and battle foes from different galaxies.

All in all, the new evolutions of Spore seem have enough similarities for fans to purchase just one of the titles while having just enough variability to validate buying all four.‚  The potential of the gameplay on the Wii is exciting while the “adventure creator” in Galactic Adventures should make the franchise as addicting as ever.‚  All the titles are expected to be released in 2009.

From EA:

CREATE, PLAY AND SHARE WITH SPORE FRANCHISE AS EA UNVEILS DIVERSE SOFTWARE LINE-UP FOR 2009

Four Unique Launches Prove that Possibilities in Spore are as Infinite as the Cosmos

The Spore franchise is evolving! With more than 65 million pieces of user-created content shared online, fans from around the globe have gravitated to the game’s powerful creativity-centered experience and massively single-player content sharing site. This year, the award-winning Spore franchise continues to evolve as Maxis, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio announces four new titles, each designed to deliver a unique experience to a specific audience; Spore¢â€ž¢ Galactic Adventures, Spore¢â€ž¢ Creature Keeper*, Spore¢â€ž¢ Hero* and Spore¢â€ž¢ Hero Arena*. This roster offers unique gameplay for space hunters, creature creators and action adventurers, proving that Spore has something for everyone “" gamers, kids and Nintendo fans alike.

“Last year was a very exciting year for Maxis with the release of Spore. We were overwhelmed by the massive response to the game from the millions of people that created, shared and played in the Spore universe,” said General Manager of Maxis, Lucy Bradshaw. “This year we’re going to experiment with new experiences that extend the powerful creativity tools of Spore to all-new audiences. With the universe as our backdrop, the only limit in the Spore universe is your own imagination.”

The next big bang for Spore on PC comes this spring with the deeply immersive and customizable expansion pack, Spore Galactic Adventures. Spore Galactic Adventures adds a tremendous amount of variety and depth to the original “space game” in Spore, allowing players to beam down to planets, play mission-based adventures and even create their own customized adventures for the first time. Each adventure has a unique reward to upgrade a space creature with special accessories “" from an Energy Blade and Stunning Charm to a Jump Jet and more. Players can fight their way to victory as a Warrior, dance with new friends as a Bard, and much more. With an almost unlimited number of user created adventures, there’s more to play than ever before. The “adventure creator” in Spore Galactic Adventures gives gamers the tools to make their own missions and share them with friends via www.spore.com.

Younger Spore fans will have a blast with the Spore Creature Keeper, a stand-alone PC game that has players nurturing, training and playing with their own personally-created creature. With lots of toys, clothes and gizmos to play with, players can pamper their pets to perfection! With Spore Creature Keeper, fans can play with their creation alone or have a play-date online for endless creature fun. Spore Creature Keeper brings all the fun of creature creation to a new level by adding nurturing, teaching and social components to the experience.

Spore will make its highly-anticipated debut on the Nintendo Wii with Spore Hero, an all-new adventure game focusing on creativity and evolution that was built from the ground up for the unique controls for Wii¢â€ž¢. Spore Hero takes players on an exciting adventure through a beautiful, colorful world. Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS¢â€ž¢ builds on the success of 2008′s hit Spore¢â€ž¢ Creatures and allows players to create fully-3D Spore creatures and take them into battle with an array of other creatures across the galaxy. Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena offer two all-new Spore experiences available exclusively for Nintendo platforms this fall.