Electronic Arts' new "God" game, Spore, where players are given the freedom to create a species and follow its evolution from simple germ to a full-blown civilization is out September 7 on PC and Mac; a Nintendo DS version, Spore Creatures, will ship alongside them. The game's been Best in Show" for several game conventions for years now, here's how its been shaping up...

Will Wright's Religious Statement?

If you've followed any of Will Wright's games, you'd notice that he has a similar theme through all of them and it's of playing sort of a "God" character. He never pushes his beliefs overtly in the games, but there might a few people out there who'd get offended.

Spore might seem like a game that is pushing religion on gamers via evolution, but Will Wright and company have been careful not to tread too closely to it:

"We didn't want to go too far down that path: we leave the whole creation of the universe question open," he told Eurogamer. "Obviously as the player you're coming in and playing something like a god, directing the evolution of a species, but we never really state who you the player are."

Where It Started...

Maxis, the game's developer, recently released tools for fans to start interacting with the game pre-release. Half a million (and counting!) creatures have been created thus far with Creature Creator for the game -- a feat the team says would have taken them 55 years to complete!

Even celebrities have been getting in on the action, making their own creations and posting them online for all to see. You can take a look at Spore creatures by the likes of David Lynch, Stan Lee, and Carlos Santana here.

Sidequests and the Game Proper

Besides Creature Creator, EA has made another game available for download in the same universe: Spore Origins for Apple's iPhone. The general consensus, though, seems to be that it gets quite boring after a while, has game-freezing bugs, and only 18 levels. We suggest you wait for the full version's release even if you're itching to get your Spore fix early.

The game proper will allow the player to create a creature species from scratch to reflect its full maturation. Spore will start you off with its simplest form and evolve from there to an eventual end -- a first for a Maxis game. While their previous games would go on infinitely, Spore will give gamers the option to finish the game after an estimated 15 to 20 hours of gameplay.

Galactic and Download Edition

Hoping to accommodate gamers with differing preferences, Electronic Arts will release Spore at retail and online. Those of you who can't wait to get your copy of Spore up-and-running as soon as it hits retail and the interwebs can pre-load the game now. Players can use the EA Download Manager and it will give them up to 99% of the game, but the last, crucial, 1% will be made available on launch day and is estimated to take 30 minutes to an hour to download.

EA and Maxis also plan to release a special edition of Spore called "Galactic Edition" for $79.99. From what we've seen, it looks like true believers will get their money's worth as the package will include a "Making of" DVD, Spore poster, "How To Build A Better Being" National Geographic documentary, a 128-page art book, and (phew!) 100-page "Galactic Handbook."

The Future of Spore

When Spore is finally unleashed on the masses this week, it will be feature complete, but the team hasn't shied away from hinting at how they plan to expand the universe. In speaking to Eurogamer, Lucy Bradshaw, Executive Producer on Spore said:

"When we started Spore, we were thinking about how we'd make an engine that had the possibility of expansion, so yes, we'll add to the experience. I think, however, we have a very cool opportunity to take Spore in a few different directions too. The editors are so cool and fun, that we want to advance those as well as the gameplay that we put into the core game."

Besides the expected gameplay tweaks and additions Will Wright, the game's mastermind, has mentioned that they're "looking way outside the game space, such as TV, movies, etc." to expand the universe, he told Reuters recently.

Get your creature creating on September 7 (PC, Mac, and DS), but don't expect to see the last of Spore. The game's been years in the making, after all, Electronic Arts and Maxis wouldn't want to let it go into unknown territory any time soon.

Carlos Macias is a featured writer for Xomba.com. Read the rest of his work here .