“Spore Porn” aka SPORN is an old topic now, and things have cooled down quite a bit since the initial onslaught of phallic critters designed in the Creature Creator. Today CNN gets in on the gig and they include some quotes from Lucy Bradshaw.

Many of the popular user-generated content sites have faced similar challenges in trying to control obscene material. In Second Life, users can read Slustler, a cyberporn magazine, or buy programs that allow them to have animated sex with other characters.

“Whether it’s modeling clay, dolls or crayons, a small number of people can be counted on to use it for something vulgar,” said Lucy Bradshaw, “Spore’s” executive producer.

Enter the Spornmaster, a 37-year-old Web developer who refused to give his name for this interview. He, like many others, has spent hours creating characters and turning them into sexual beings.

“It came up simply as something silly and juvenile to do,” he said.

The creatures are not just static. Users can create animated scenarios for the characters to engage in, some of which include sexually graphic acts.

When EA got word of the Sporn creations, it began working with YouTube to pull them down. Players who repeatedly upload “offensive content” are warned, suspended and eventually banned, Bradshaw said.

Read more.

Gamereactor TV brings us the final part of their 4-part series of videos covering a demonstration at E3 2008. In the finale they look at the Space stage.

Prototypes reveal the creative process behind Spore. Stop by 1UP for a closer look at Spore at the Cellular level. Included is talk of prototypes like BIOME and ParticleMan, some things that made the cutting room floor and more.

The Game Critic Awards get underway with the announcement of the nominees for this year’s E3. The winners will be announced on August 5th. LittleBigPlanet lead the nominations with five, Spore has the following three:

Best of Show
- Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
- Gears of War 2 (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
- LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)
- Mirror’s Edge (DICE/Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
- Spore (Maxis/EA for PC)

Best Original Game
- Flower (ThatGameCompany/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)
- Left 4 Dead (Valve for PC, Xbox 360)
- Little Big Planet (Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)
- Mirror�s Edge (DICE/Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
- Spore (Maxis/EA for PC)

Best PC Game
- Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare/EA for PC)
- Left 4 Dead (Valve/EAP for PC)
- Spore (Maxis/EA for PC)
- Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II (Relic/THQ for PC)
- Warhammer Online (EA Mythic/EA for PC)

Spore Origins is now available for your AT&T mobile phone! You can purchase Spore Mobile here. It’s available exclusively through AT&T until September 4th, and will also be released to other carriers, devices, iPod, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Over on the official Spore site they feature more community tips from the Sporepedia. I need all the tips I can get! Here’s a little question for you guys ‘n gals. Have you downloaded other creatures to disect them and see how people worked in certain looks? I think I’ll have to give that a go, as my creativity when it comes to “crafty” things is a big old zero!

IGN’s Livewire show with Jessica Chobot and Fargo has a sit down video interview with Spore’s Lucy Bradshaw. They talk about adventures in the tide pool, collecting DNA points, special abilities, diet, the number of creatures that have poured in and more!

CNET broke news that Spore is about a week away from going gold! Of course that doesn’t change the release date, but it’s nice to know the game is pretty much finished!

Electronic Arts’ evolution game, from legendary designer Will Wright’s Maxis studio, is about a week from going “gold,” I was told Tuesday by Thomas Vu, a producer on the game who gave me a demo Tuesday morning. Going gold, of course, means the game is about to be sent to manufacturing. EA has said that Spore will launch September 7.

Edge Online tells us that EA would love to sell creature parts. Egads. This makes me wonder if we’re also going to see creatures up for sale on the likes of eBay!

Depending on its success, Will Wright and Maxis’ Spore for PC could be a candidate for paid downloadable content, EA CEO John Riccitiello said during an earnings call Tuesday.

“I would love to imagine that two years from now or a year from now the debate is whether or not we need a ‘Spore’ label inside of EA,” Riccitiello said, envisioning a franchise as successful as The Sims, which has its own label.

He said he’d love to “be able to monetize, if you will, body parts, plant parts, car parts and planets as a way to generate incremental revenue on an installed base of several million active users.”

Riccitiello is careful not to get ahead of himself. The game doesn’t launch until September 7.

Birmingham Star, Melbourne, July 30: Computer games have always been considered a waste of time, but now schools in Australia are looking at ways to use them to help kids learn.

Helen Stuckey from Australian Centre for the Moving Image said that the fun kids derive from playing a game could be applied to learning.

A study on what makes gaming so much of fun revealed a phenomenon called ‘flow’ – a feedback loop between the level of challenge and the level of skill.

“Flow happens not when you’re relaxed but when you’re actively involved in something that’s quite difficult in a task that stretches you and challenges your ability,” The Daily Telegraph quoted her, as saying.

“People get that kind of pleasure out of all kinds of things – a challenging job, surfing, puzzle solving – and it’s actually the key to what makes a really good game.

“It’s something educators really want to capture in the creation of learning tools, because it is about challenge and learning, and it’s something that games do very well,” she added.

Stuckey said that there were many games, which were teaching kids things without them even knowing it.

“Just playing a game doesn’t mean that you’re not learning, because in many cases you are. Games are being found more and more in the classroom with people using existing games as ways to explore ideas,” she said.

“Most of those games are frequently sims (simulation) games because they are learning systems _, they have rules that correspond with real life and there is learning by doing.

“There are ways we can use our skill set learned from interactive entertainment both for education and self improvement,” she added.

The upcoming Spore game, from the creator of The Sims and Sim City Will Wright, is another example of a game that can offer children valuable lessons.

“Spore is interesting because not only does it have those elements, it’s a sandbox kind of God game where you have to create assets yourself. So you’re experimenting – if I do this what happens, if I do that what happens,” she said.