Big hope 'Spore' slips back to 2009

One of Electronic Arts' big hopes of next year has slid back to 2009, the publisher revealed in a newly issued financial paper.

Spore was dreamt up by Will Wright, who is most famous for inventing the best-selling Sims franchise. The game lets you define and control life from its single-celled beginnings to actual beings heading into space.

"Spore is a title we have enormous confidence in," EA boss John Riccitiello told analysts. "I've had the chance to review the title three times in my short return to EA and it looks fantastic."

"I will also tell you that its release will be right up [to] the bubble in Q4 [of fiscal '08], if not sometime in early fiscal '09 so we don't feel comfortable in forecasting it."

A Nintendo DS version of the game is also being developed alongside the PC game.