Yahooooooooo: Spore Is Gold

True, we've known about the September 7th (5th in Europe) release date for a while now, but it was hard to ever quite believe in it after all those painful years of delays to Maxis' evolveathon. But Spore has indeed gone gold at last, and the release is mere weeks away - making it perhaps the vanguard for what's set to be an absolutely epic Autumn for PC gaming. Internet, prepare thyself.

Something Sporian we've not mentioned here previously, incidentally, are the fascinating prototypes the official site has been dribbling out over the last few weeks. Early code-experiments for the game, yours to dabble with for free - they provide something of a history to the game's development, plus chances for an early look at how aspects of the finished thing will work. It's fairly unprecedented behind the scenes access for such a high-profile game. Grab 'em from here.