Will Wright's Spore Front-Covered By The Wall Street Journal

Now officially the Best Original Game, Best PC Game and Best Simulation Game of E3 2006 (as awarded by those self-titled Game Critics), Will Wright's Spore was also given an even more special distinction over the weekend: the front cover of The Wall Street Journal! This surely isn't your typical source for gaming news, and apparently it was the first time a game designer made the front page of the WSJ - which only goes to show just how "mainstream" games really are starting to become.

The article is titled "Master of the Universe" and bares the following tagline: "Meet the man who proved videogames don't have to be about sex and gore" (sure, they can also be about making dozens of games and expansions from a single title). From the article:

"Mr. Wright, creator of "The Sims," the best-selling computer videogame of all time, is now at work on "Spore." In his playful new game that resembles a Pixar cartoon, players start as single-cell blobs that can be transformed into whimsical or even threatening creatures. As they move up the evolutionary scale, the organisms eventually become members of space-dwelling societies, complete with weapons, spaceships and entire civilizations.

"It would take you 79 years if you never slept" to fully explore the "Spore" universe, Mr. Wright says, based on his own calculations."

It's a pretty long feature, all in all, but Kotaku was kind enough to post the full article on their website, for all of us WSJ nonsubscribers. Be sure to read it if you're interested about Will Wright's life, how Spore came to be, and why it might be Mr. Wright's last big videogame...

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)