We took Flumpert into a demo area, where you see him pictured at the top of the post. A couple dozen options were available to test him. I clicked the "hippity-hop" option and he did a funny dance. I clicked another button and babies appeared. I learned that Flumpert isn't necessarily a 'him.' Hutchinson reminded me that there's no gender in "Spore." There's also no inter-species romance in 'Spore,' but it sounds like every Flumpert will have plenty of life partners nonetheless.

All that I described above is possible with just the Creature Creator that ships in two weeks. Creatures can be made and sent to the demo room to be poked and prodded and to dance. They can also be traded online, uploaded to the games ever-expanding database and have clips of their demo room dances sent to YouTube (via the game's YouTube button of course - where on that site they'll appear, I'm not sure yet. Possibly here?).

Flumpert might show up in your copy of 'Spore,' but actually probably not as potential lunch. He's too tall for that. Every Internet-connected copy of the full game will be on a perpetual database hunt for new content. Hutchinson explained that the game will look for content of certain criteria. To build a city for you to find on a new planet, for example, it might look for any structures made in the building editor of a certain color and shape. For 'lunch creatures' (Hutchinson's term) it will look for creatures of a certain smallness. Taller creatures will be pulled in as predators. Others will be brought in as potential friends.