Will Wright’s “Spore” was introduced to the gaming industry earlier this year at GDC. The game allows you to sculpt a creature out of virtual clay and maintain the species’ social lifespan from primordial ooze to planetary and galatic conquest. Each stage of the game is a different piece of the species development. The primordial ooze plays like an arcade game, while the game shifts to city management and then RTS as you try to become the dominant species on your planet. The game is huge in scope, and if anyone can pull it together into an entertaining experience (and not a micromanagement nightmare) then it’s the creator of Sim City and the Sims.

Although the E3 presentation doesn’t shed any new light on the various gameplay elements (it’s the same presentation as at the GDC), now we can at least get a glimpse of at some of the games visuals. Gamespy seems to have the largest collection of screenshots. There’s an article, too, which describes a bit on how you mold not only creatures, but also vehicles out of clay. There’s also information on the the client will ciculate your creations over the Interweb to others who also play the game. As an extension of this, you’ll receive reports and stats on your creature’s contributions to the metaverse and the general stance (attack, food, etc) that the other gamers’ took as they met your creatures.

Hopefully later in the show some game sites will get a personal tour by Will Wright — but perhaps the game is simply too early in development. Reports from the GDC has us believe the game was nearing completion and I was secretly hoping the game would come out this Christmas… but oh well. Xbox360!!