Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena Land at North American Retailers Today

Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena can now be found in US stores! Read the press release below.

The Epic Fight to Save the Galaxy is Now on the Wii and Nintendo DS

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct 06, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Battle, create and explore in Spore(TM) on Nintendo consoles! Today, Maxis(TM), an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio, announced that the highly-anticipated Spore(TM) Hero and Spore(TM) Hero Arena are now available at North American retailers and will hit store shelves internationally on October 9th. Built from the ground up exclusively for the Wii(TM) and Nintendo DS(TM) platforms, Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena immerse players intoan action-packed adventure filled with creativity, combat and exploration as they fight to save their planet.

"Spore has proven to be a huge hit with tween and teen boys. We are so excited to release Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena-- two new games that bring all of the action, adventure and fun that this audience loves," said Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis. "Now, players will be able to take on the role of their own kind of hero, by creating it however they like using the Creature Creator, tackling challenging quests and battling friends in competitive multiplayer modes."

Spore Hero delivers the unparalleled creative freedom of Spore in an action-adventure game created exclusively for the Wii. Set in a rich and vibrant 3-D world, Spore Hero empowers the player to become the hero as they embark on an epic quest to save their creature's home planet from destruction by the evil nemesis, Zarkhator. Along this journey, players engage in fun battles, solve puzzles, and explore to collect more than 250 cool new creature parts, all with unique abilities. These parts, which can be used to customize creatures in the revolutionary and award-winning Spore Creature Creator, can change the way creatures will play and fight in the world. Players can also utilize their brawling skills in a dynamic multiplayer mode, in which they battle their friends with their own customized creature to become the 'baddest' Spore hero around!

Spore Hero Arena catapults players into a galaxy filled with fun and intense arena-based combat. Featuring an all-new story set in the same universe as Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena takes players on a quest to save planets in their galaxy from an evil force. Throughout the game, players create their own unique gladiator hero creature and guide it from planet to planet as they fight enemy creatures, collect new parts, gain upgrades and unlock special abilities that will benefit their hero. Developed with multiplayer capabilities in mind, Spore Hero Arena also allows players to battle with up to three friends locally or play with a friend over Wi-Fi and share creature creations over a Wireless network, taking the Spore gameplay experience to an entirely new and interactive level.

Available for $49.99 MSRP, Spore Hero is rated E10+ by the ESRB. Spore Hero Arena is available for $29.99 MSRP and is rated E by the ESRB.

To learn more about Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena, playminigames and download fun content, please visit www.sporehero.com. For screenshots or press materials about the Spore franchise, please visit http://info.ea.com.