Get ready because the Spore universe is set to invade your world sooner than thought! Maxis has announced that Spore Hero for the Wii and Spore Hero Arena for the DS are both launching to Earth this October.

Electronic Arts and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will be hosting a panel entitled "Homophobia in Virtual Communities" to discuss methods on how to combat discrimination and hatred language in online gaming communities.

Maxis has revealed more info about the new Wii and DS entries in the Spore franchise. Check 'em out after the jump. These two new games -- Spore Hero for the Wii and Spore Hero Arena for DS -- are scheduled for release this year.

Here's another million-mark breaker. Spore of Electronic Arts has broken through the big 100M creatures creation marker, with over 30 million Spore creatures uploaded to Sporepedia. And according to the press release, "that's more than 19 times the number of known species on Earth." There's also something for you if you're the creator of the lucky 100 millionth creation.

It's final. Will Wright, creator of The Sims franchise, is leaving Electronic Arts. This was confirmed on Wednesday by Mr. Wright himself, leaving a heavy shadow hanging low over EA's front lawn.

Outlining the future of the Spore franchise, Maxis has now revealed that new titles will be heading out. Four new installments are confirmed. If all DNA replication goes well, they may be out by this year. Other than that, there's also the possibility of eventually seeing Spore hit the PS3 and 360 - and the good thing is, if ever they do, they're definitely veering away from the "oh just port it from the PC version" scenario.

It's been a long while since we heard anything about Oddworld Inhabitants' movie and game project, Citizen Siege. It's been two years, in fact. OWI has confirmed that the project is still in development - but unsurprisingly didn't provide any other details.

At least we know it hasn't turned into vaporware. That's something.

If you're bored with all the unicellular screenshots and videos of Maxis' upcoming life simulator Spore(PC, Nintendo Wii, DS, Mac, and Mobile), then feast your eyes on this latest trailer for the game. Producer Kip Katsarelis and Software Engineer Soren Johnsen explain how the civilization stage of the game works and show just how cool it can be waging war against your fellow life forms. Video and details after the jump.

The folks at Maxis and Electronic Arts have announced a new patch for the Spore Creature Creator, bringing it up to version 1.01. Find the full patch notes for this update after the jump!

In light of the EA Maxis' Spore going gold, concern once again has hit the PC gaming segment over the definite inclusion of digital rights management (DRM) software with each copy. Many have argued over the integration of SecuROM on executables of The Sims 2 and its expansions, and now that Spore producer Lucy Bradshaw has confirmed Spore will be succeeded by at least one expansion, there's a whole lot of bickering to come for PC gamers. More details at the full story.