Will Wright is at it again. The game designer famous for creating The SIMS is taking things a step further with his latest project, Spore. It’s a “massively single-player online game” inspired by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. In Spore, you make a tiny multi-cell organism evolve into a fully-developed intelligent being of your own design, then try to lead it towards universal domination – and what a big universe it is! The game is made up of over half a million stars, each with its own planetary system. How to cope with this awesome complexity? Have no fear, because the UrSpore.com online community is here.

UrSpore is a dedicated fan site that compiles the latest news and videos about the game. However, the best thing about the site is probably the forum, and I expect this section to pick up as soon as Spore is released by March 2008. See, Spore is the gaming industry’s answer to Web 2.0, or the proliferation of user-generated content. If YouTube allows you to share videos, Spore will allow you to share creatures, vehicles, and buildings you created with other players. These will be catalogued and rated for quality. Hence, an online community can go a long way in terms of street credibility and popularity. Now, if only UrSpore can have original written content like news and commentary (i.e., a blog) instead of merely compiling those from other sites, then this would really become an awesome pit stop.

Spore will be available in several platforms, including Windows PC, PS3, XBOX 360, and the Wii. For portable addicts, you’ll be happy to know that Spore is scalable, and a DS version is also in the works. And, as a bonus for Nintendo fans, the game will have additional features exclusively for the Wii, utilizing the motion-sensitive controls. Not surprising, really, as Wright has always been vocal about his console preference. “The only next-gen system I’ve seen is the Wii — the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement.”

Ouch. Sony and Microsoft must be reeling.

Wanna know more about Spore? Visit UrSpore and join the forum now.