Spore Hitting Stores September 7

Electronic Arts and Maxis have announced that the much-anticipated video game Spore has gone gold and will be available at North American and Asia Pacific retailers September 7—and European retailers will get a jump on things, with the game going on sale September 5.

From the creators of games like The Sims,Spore essentially puts players in charge of the development and evolution of their own custom critters: players can create their own organisms, evolve tribes, develop civilizations, and eventually take their species to space to explore universe created by other Spore players. Players will be able to customize their creatures, as well as their vehicles, buildings, and spaceships, and share all their creations with the larger Spore universe via the (ahem) Sporepedia.

"We are so excited to finally get Spore into the hands of fans and players," said Spore’s executive producer at Maxis Lucy Bradshaw, in a statement. "The most engaging stories are truly the ones people create themselves, and we can’t wait to see how players not only craft and explore the Spore universe, but hear what stories they have to tell as a result."

Spore will come in two flavors— the $49.99 Spore and the $79.99 Spore Galactic Edition—the latter of which contains bonus DVDs ("The Making of Spore" and "How to Build a Better Being"), a hardback book of Spore art, a 100-page handbook, and an exclusive Spore poster.

Spore is rated E for "Everyone" by the ESRB, and will be available for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X.