'Spore' computer game's alien population exploding

LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — The "Spore" alien population is exploding, boding well for the September launch of the latest brainchild of computer game legend Will Wright.

Electronic Arts-owned Maxis Studio released "creature creator" software last month in the hope that aspiring "Spore" players would bring a population of aliens to life in time for the game's premier.

The response astounded even Wright, maker of the world's top-selling computer game "The Sims."

"I was really hoping we'd get 100,000 creatures by September and a million by the end of the year," Wright said Monday while demonstrating "Spore" on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo video game trade show in Los Angeles.

"We hit 100K in 22 hours and a million by the end of the first week. The numbers are just blowing us away."

A week ago, the number of creatures in the ...