As someone interested in games development and an owner of a complete set of Maxis products (I even kept the boxes), I was prepared to like Spore alot. Some of the parts of the game that I get to play from time to timeare amazing (I love the cut-scenes using the changing characteristics of my unique characters/tribesmen)However, the enjoyment of the early levels of the game is completely offset by the boring money management of the space exploration phase, the incompatibility of the game with my computer and OS, and the pain of the three strikes and you are out DRM. After several days of attempting to fix several of my XP machines to not crash on 3 of 4 Spore startups, I have decided that Maxis and EA can do without my gaming dollars from now on.