Speaking with the Associated Press, Spore creator and bona fide master game designer, Will Wright, seemed surprisingly ... okay with the various "Spore-nographic" organs creatures people have made using the Spore Creature Creator. "Some of it's really good for what they were shooting for. It's amazingly explicit, especially when those creations are animated," Wright said.

On the topic of giving creative power (and lots of it) to players, Wright explained, "When you give players creative control, you have to expect they're going to do the unexpected," but he was quick to add, "We just have to make sure those people aren't messing up the experience for others." To this end, Wright told the AP that there will be a system in place whereby players can "ban" content from ever appearing in their own Spore universe. Elsewhere, we fully expect there to be entire universes populated solely by undulating naughty bits.

Is that the sound of Satan sharpening his skates? According to a new interview with Team Xbox, 3D Realms boss George Broussard implies that – dare we say? – development of Duke Nukem Forever is going along swimmingly. You know, just like it has been since ... 1998.

All most kidding aside, Broussard tells the site that the developer has "several hours of fairly polished game to play," and that, "It's fun, it's in focus, we know what bits are fun and which are not, and it's just a matter of time now." But clearly, time moves a little slower in 3D Realms', er ... realm. Given that the company has already denied reports that it's coming this year, we'll have to make due with Duke Nuken 3D on XBLA "sometime in September." Of 2008. Really. Promise.

[Via Big Download]

The Force which compels LucasArts to concoct more ways to utilize the Wiimote for lightsaber gameplay will be with it ... always. According to the latest EGM rumor section, "Quartermann" brings unconfirmed word that the Star Wars factory is looking to follow up its Wii version of The Force Unleashed and The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels with yet another lightsaber-centric game, this one utilizing Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus accessory.

You may recall that LucasArts was one of, well, pretty much every Wii third-party left feeling a bit ... seventieth-party by Nintendo's choice to unveil MotionPlus to them on the same day as the public. According to the Q-man, now that the company has access to the tech for development purposes, it wants to make the bestest lightsaber game ever. Might we suggest it be called: Star Wars: Lightsaber Duels – This Time It's Not All Spazzy, Really!

[Via NWF]

As promised, Sony and Incognito have rolled the latest Warhawk update out of its hanger, prompting a mandatory install once you start the game. Major additions for version 1.5 of the game include much-anticipated PlayStation Trophies (57 of them, with a good mix of gold, silver, bronze, and "mystery offerings") and support for custom music via the in-game XMB.

We've just installed the patch and are firing up a match with Hanson's "MMMBop" on full blast! Sure, the update's no new-map-and-rocket-packs gala like the upcoming Fallen Star booster pack – which hits tomorrow – but it's nevertheless another nice show of free support for a still very popular, ever-expanding game.

Proving that there's still more head-shaking to be caused by the iTunes App Store in the wake of the "I Am Rich" app silliness, the developers of the 1337pwn.com Xbox Live friends list app for iPhone have accused the developers of the iLive Xbox Live friend list app of stealing their data and bandwidth. Oh no they d'int!

According to the 1337pwn gang, oh yes, they did. On its blog, the app author writes, "We discovered that the other XBOX Live Friends application available in the AppStore is/was using our data feeds without permission. They were stealing a nice chunk of bandwidth and CPU through their improper use of our server interfaces. These folks were using our data without permission, authorization, or credit given. Not cool."

What's both cool and funny is how 1337pwn went about getting its revenge. "With a couple of tweaks to our data feed, we are now credited for the data within their application. Given that we have a sense of humor, we have also incorporated new features such as a random online status," it revealed. The image above shows iLive pulling data from 1337pwn's server before its devs realized the jig was up. We've tested iLive since 1337pwn took action and found that most of its status fields now report "Suspended until next release." Well, at least we didn't pay for it.

When we spoke with SCEA president Jack Tretton during E3 about Final Fantasy XIII going multiplatform in the US, he was quite frank about the impact the game's PS3 exclusivity in Japan would (or wouldn't) have for the company. "Seeing as there isn't that big of a [PS3] installed base in Japan, I don't know how big of a coup that is for us," he admitted.

Across the Atlantic, Sony Europe boss David Reeves seemingly gets his Japanese PS3 sales figures broken down by individual components. Speaking with VG247 during last week's Leipzig Games Convention, Reeves said, "I think that just as we got a massive blip up with GTA IV – which was not exclusive – we'll get exactly the same blip up with Final Fantasy," adding that, "I know [FFXIII] will look great on PS3 and – it's up to Microsoft to clarify this – it's still exclusive in Japan."

While we're still betting on higher sales of the PS3 version over the 360 release domestically, it really seems as if Reeves is living in the mid- to late-1990s, when Japan was still SCEI's most important territory. Times have changed, Sir.

[Update: Corrected a Sony exec mix-up. They're all the same to us, you know.]

EA Mythic has announced that its MMO treatment of the classic Games Workshop tabletop game, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, has begun its march towards store shelves.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (best known in the MMO community as WAR) is finished and off to the magical disc-forging factory, preceding a public beta set to begin September 7, for which more than 800,000 players have registered. A very large, metal switch connected to what are surely fortress-like game servers will be flipped to the "fully on" position September 18, which is when the rest of the world will go to WAR.

Red Mile's interactive adaptation of Frank Miller's landmark, hard boiled graphic novel(s), Sin City, has a new-ish developer. The title was originally being handled – presumably with those special gloves used for working with razor wire – by Transmission Games, the same outfit producing Heroes Over Europe for Red Mile. Both games have 2009 release dates.

The publisher, who is working with Atari to get its games onto shelves, tells GameSpot that work on Sin City: The Game was handed to another developer "quite some time ago." Said developer's identity is unknown, but we do know that Frank Miller practically hand-picked his old pal (and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay writer) Flint Dille to "spearhead the design, scriptwriting, story generation, and overall production" of the game, which will – unsurprisingly – utilize Unreal Engine 3. Also, the color red. Lots of it.

(And no, the new developer isn't Platinum Games, despite MadWorld's more-than-vague resemblance to Sin City.)

Following up on yesterday's rumor out of OXM that Gearbox may be handling Halo 4, Variety's Ben Fritz reports that his source close to the dev confirms that it "has definitely had conversations with Microsoft about doing a new Halo game and is very excited at the prospect," but that "there was no deal in place." For those who might not remember, Gearbox has a history with the Halo franchise, having handled the PC version of the original game.

Fritz reckons it's "quite possible" Gearbox will helm a new Halo project ... it's just "not a certainty yet." If it happens, that would make at least four Halo-related titles in the works: Halo Wars; the Halo game that Bungie was supposed to reveal at E3; Peter Jackson's interactive take on the Halo universe; and whatever Gearbox may or may not be crafting. Given that OXM's rumor regarding Halo 4 as a launch title for 360's successor (if there even is one), we should expect to hear something official either way in, oh, the next year or two.

It's not remarkably wow-worthy, but CVG reports that its "development sources" have dished up dirt on a new screenshot feature planned for version 2.5 of the PS3 firmware. We have no reason to doubt this rumor, since CVG's sources previously broke the news that StarCraft 2 was going to be an MMO. Uh...

The purpose of this feature is presumably for folks to take pictures of error messages for customer service their in-game exploits to share with friends. Of course, we can speculate on how it will work. Most likely, it will involve a combination of button presses on the controller, since bringing up the in-game XMB would ... probably result in a screen grab of the in-game XMB.

This functionality could be a boon for those of us who write about games for a living and would really like to be able to take our own screenshots of PS3 games in HD. Xbox 360 debugs have offered this since day one – via a networked PC, no less – and we've been on Sony for a similar solution for eons. Unfortunately, PS3 debugs have different firmware than retail units, so our dream scenario may be limited only to finished retail games.

(Fun fact: Pressing the Lock and Home buttons on your iPhone simultaneously will take a grab of whatever is on screen and save it to your Camera Roll. Fun!)

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Bungie's latest community update takes an energy sword to rumors that sprung up following the developer's Edge Award for Interactive Innovation acceptance video. Specifically, the dev clarifies that, "There will be no insertion of Campaign objects, enemies or friendlies via the Forge as folks have speculated." Okay then. What else? Oh, yeah, no "new feature that implements Campaign objects into multiplayer" is in the works, either.

Seriously, folks ... let's be more ambitious with our rumors! The video is clearly hinting at the fact that Halo 4 won't be developed by Bungie, or even Gearbox, but by gamers themselves. That way, if you don't like the story or missions, you'll have no one to complain to but yourself.

[Via X3F]

We've heard of 18-hour bras, but 18-hour boss battles? Ridiculous! A couple weeks back, we reported on a Final Fantasy XII guild that attempted to take down one of the game's new big bads, the Pandemonium Warden, only to succumb to fatigue, hunger, sleep deprivation, and general near-deathness at the 18-hour mark. Square Enix now says it has heard the fan outcry against the idea of such longevity-rich enemies and is fixing things.

"In response to these events, we have determined that further alterations are required to prevent such battles from exceeding a certain predetermined length of time," reads the latest community update from PlayOnline. What will these "alterations" consist of? "Included in the version update scheduled for early September will be modifications to the degree of difficulty of Pandemonium Warden (and associated pets), Absolute Virtue (and associated pets), and Jailer of Love. The aim of these changes is to create battles where a decisive outcome may be reached within a shorter period of time."

Square's statement also reaffirmed the company's continued "commitment to a healthy and wholesome game environment." You know, one where players aren't passing out while playing.

[Via Massively]

Having celebrated his 45th birthday on Sunday (happy birthday!), Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima has again spoken on the trickiness of leaving the series despite his strong desire to get on with new ventures.

Speaking with Kikizo, Kojima likens his on-again, off-again relationship with the series' director's chair to that of famed Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki. "It's like when [he] says he is not going to do more [movies], and then always ends up doing [them]. I think I am kind of in a similar situation," said Kojima, adding, "I have ideas other than Metal Gear, and I want to go on to make other new games, but for political, business or technology reasons, there is always a time when I have to return."

Don't take that to mean "as director," though. "I would like to pass on the Metal Gear series to younger staff members, and then go on to produce the title, and not be so attached to it," he confided. Given his involvement as co-writer of MGS3 and co-writer / co-director of MGS4, Shuyo Murata – director of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – is currently tipped as Kojima's pick to take the reins of MGS5.