In astronomy, the "Drake Equation" is a tool used to try to estimate the number of intelligent species in the galaxy. Scientists can plug a series of numbers into the formula -- how likely it is for planets to form, the percentage chance that those planets can support life, etc. -- and the resulting number should be the number of civilizations waiting for us "out there." Of course no matter what numbers people plug in, to date there's only one known life form to make it through Drake's equation unscathed: Us.The PC gametakes Drake's equation to its other extreme. What if the galaxy werewith life? Teeming with creatures of infinite variety, spread across tens of thousands of blossoming worlds?explores this idea by allowing the game's players to flesh out this vibrant model of the universe. Content editors are integrated right into the gameplay, and by simply playing the game you're building out the universe for the next player. While the gameplay isn't always perfect,is a technological coup that opens up a whole new genre of gaming.The object of the game is to start with a single-celled life form and evolve it into a creature, then an intelligent being, and finally a spacefaring civilization. Is it evolution? Is it intelligent design? All we know is that alien life is out there, and it's fun to play with.In many ways the real genius ofis that the immense complexity of the technology is hidden beneath very simple editors, such that you forget the technology is even there.allows players to create fully articulated and textured 3D models of vehicles, buildings, and creatures. The creatures are the most impressive: they're instantly capable of walking, chirping, fighting, singing, running, even flying. And they stand up to scrutiny -- they look alive, and even cute, when zoomed all the way in. The data used to store a complete creature is under 30K. The fact that anyone, including non-gamers, can create and share these models in their first game session without any training or practice is remarkable.Of course, creating the content is only half of the equation. Afterwards, the content has to populate across theuniverse. Here, again, the game shines. Creating an account is relatively simple when the game is first installed (you'll want an Internet connection to fully appreciate). From then on, every time you play, the game automatically populates the universe with new content downloaded from the net. The downloads happen so fast as to be unnoticeable -- another example of the best technology being the kind you never see. Moreover, everything you create is instantly and quietly uploaded for others to share.Players can self-select the type of content they want to see in several ways. For one, you can "subscribe" to your friends, which means you'll automatically download any content created by them every time you play. These creations will have a higher probability of appearing as you play. There will no doubt be "Spore Celebrities" whose creations are so interesting that they'll get tons of subscribers -- you can already see some popular creators on the Sporepedia. Players can also create something called "Sporecasts," which are collections of content that you can subscribe to, such as "Star Trek Vehicles" or "Earthlike Animals." Again, when you subscribe to a Sporecast, the game will make it more likely you'll run across those particular game elements as you play.You can also filter out objectionable content -- clicking a big "X" icon will ban a creature or object from your game and submit the questionable content to Maxis for possible deletion. Despite the three million creatures already populating thedatabase and the tens of hours we've already played the game, we've only run across one potentially offensive creation, and it was removed from our game in an instant.