For this SporeDay, we’re treated to not one, but two interviews from the official Spore website.

The first interview is from a Spore creator that goes by Slartibartfast38.  He was one of the winners in the 2008 Spore Holiday contest.  Check out his interview here and get to know about his wonderful works:

Slartibartfast38

What’s the favorite creation you’ve made-and what’s your favorite by someone else?

That’s a tough one. If I had to choose, I’d have to say ‘The Wright House’ for my own creations, just based on the responses it has recieved. But most recently, I made one called ‘The Terminator MKII,’ and it just might be my best looking creation.

My favorite creation by another person is ‘Spode’ by Dirtymeat. When I first started playing this game and checking out all the amazing designs, ‘Spode’ was the first one that made my jaw literally drop, and it still does. Whenever I wonder what the limits of this game might be, I look up ‘Spode’ to remind myself that there aren’t any limits. Amazing in design, creativity, and execution.

Which editor is your favorite to create in? Why?

I’d have to say I have grown to love the building editors. I am still relatively new to them, and I learn something new about them each time I use them. I also feel I can be somewhat more imaginative in the building editor as the boundaries feel a little more broad. The bulk of my work is in spaceships, however. But I now feel comfortable in both. I look forward to moving on to the creature editor one day.

The second one isn’t really Spore related, it’s an interview with Seth Shostak, SETI Senior Astronomer.  Seth took in questions from the Spore community about life in the universe and other things SETI is up to:

LuckyPierre: Besides listening or watching for E.T.’s signal, what else does the SETI Institute do?

The Institute has a broad research program in a subject called “astrobiology”. This sounds as if it’s about life around other stars, which of course is treu. But a lot of astrobiology research concerns life on Earth: how did it get started, and when?

Other research areas include learning where could life survive, and how might we find hidden biology on Mars or some of the moons of the outer solar system. So the SETI Institute is about more than just looking for communicating aliens — it’s also about extraterrestrial critters that might not be clever, but whose existence would tell us a lot about whether life is extremely rare or very common. The Institute also has extensive programs for education and outreach, including a weekly science radio program, “Are We Alone?”

Zombieontherise: What if SETI makes successful contact? What would be their first priority?

The first thing to do after first detecting a signal is to check it eight ways from Sunday. Are we sure it’s ET on the line, and not just more human-made interference? If we convinced ourselves it was real, we’d let the world know – and in particular, the world’s astronomers. We’d want them to collect all the data they could.

Aweirdgamer: What planet, outside of our own solar system, is the best candidate for life as we know it?

There are none that are wonderfully good candidates, but the best bet so far is a planet with the nifty name, Gliese 581c. This planet is roughly twice the diameter of the Earth, and is orbiting a star about 20 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Libra. Does it have oceans and an atmosphere? We still don’t know.