Fans' creature creations made real

After receiving a mail from MaxisCactus yesterday about Spore Sculptures, I now present you the official press release about these sculptures.

I wish they were cheaper. Me being European I'd have to pay shipping on top of the price of the sculpture. I don't think it'll be something I can afford. Too bad, because I'd really love to have one of my creatures as a sculpture!

EA and Z Corporation Partner to Make Spore Creations Come Alive

3D printing technology turns players' one-of-a-kind creatures into figurines called Spore Sculptures

REDWOOD CITY, Ca. and BURLINGTON, Mass., USA, Dec. 18, 2008 – Spore™ fans’ most outlandish and otherworldly digital creations are coming to life!

Maxis, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, and Z Corporation today announced that fans of the critically acclaimed video game Spore can now transplant their unique creatures into the real world as “Spore Sculptures” through Z Corporation’s 3D printing technology. The partnership furthers EA’s commitment to extending intellectual property outside of traditional gaming, giving fans a platform to go beyond the game and further express their creativity.

“At its heart, Spore is a tool for creativity. Since launch, fans have made more than 40 million Spore creatures, vehicles and buildings,” said Patrick Buechner, Vice President of Marketing at Maxis. “We wanted to give players a way to extend their in-game creativity to the real world. The flexibility of the in-game creation tools allows an almost limitless variety of Spore Sculptures.”

Z Corporation’s high-definition multicolor 3D-printing is the technology that enables the conversion of players’ one-of-a-kind creatures into figurines that can be proudly displayed to friends and family. Spore Sculptures are the latest incarnation of ZPrints™, full-color physical objects produced from 3D data much as a traditional office printer creates a document from text.

“A ZPrinted Spore Sculpture will immortalize a Spore creature at any given time, or several selected times to document its evolution,” said John M. Kawola, Z Corporation CEO. “There’s a staggeringly large universe of 40 million potential creations that can cross into the physical world.”

To create a Spore Sculpture, players design their creature using the Spore Creature Creator with hundreds of flexible drag-and-drop body parts and a virtually infinite number of possible configurations. Players can then digitally paint their creatures with unique patterns. Once the creatures are complete, players upload their digital creations to www.sporesculptor.com and place their order. The ZPrinted models (up to 4 inches tall) will be shipped directly to consumers. For detailed information on the Spore Sculpture creation process, visit http://www.zcorp.com/Solutions/Entertainment--The-Arts/About-Spore-Sculp....

Released to worldwide critical acclaim in September, Spore is a game that lets people tap their inner creativity and build their own personal universe, evolving life from a single-cell organism to a galactic god over hundreds of millions of years. Gamers design a species and guide it to sentience, then help it build a society, develop its culture, and ultimately explore an infinite cosmos of worlds created by other players.

Crossing from the virtual to physical worlds is a popular trend in merchandising for the gaming industry. Spore Sculptures will be a dramatic addition to Spore T-shirts, playing cards and comic books. Z Corporation technology is ideally suited for this role given its status as the industry’s only high-definition multicolor 3D printer.

Spore Sculptures will retail for $49.50 USD.