We kicked off our day (henceforth dubbed “Darkspore Day”) like most developer studio visits, with a tour of Maxis’ lofty, open-space facilities. Instead of a sit-down presentation, however, the morning was spent visiting with different developers, with each of them giving brief mini-presentations on what they do. It was great to see that the enthusiasm was still running high, even with launch day so near. Executive Producer Michael Perry also noted the different approach Maxis has taken with the development of Darkspore has really helped, including staging a large number of closed betas, as well as pushing back the release date of Darkspore by a month. As a result of this “open door” policy, Maxis has been able to really listen to their player’s needs, and I instantly noticed at least a dozen new features that were added due to feedback.

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