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The Big Round-up: Wednesday, June 18

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

Spore Creature Creator demo now available on Big Download
It's one of the most anticipated PC game launches of 2008 (some might say it's one of the biggest of all time) and now we can finally give you a tiny taste of it. Electronic Arts' Maxis studio has released the Spore Creature Creator, a stand alone editor that players can use now to make creatures that can later be imported into the full Spore game when it is released on September 7.

Spore Creature Creator Giveaway
Big Download wants to see intelligent design in action. So, we're kicking off a two week giveaway contest to see what crazy creatures grow and evolve. Simply download the Spore Creature Creator and let your imagination run wild. Take a screenshot of your best creature and email it to contests@bigdownload.com. Our judges will pick the top ten creatures and let you vote for the winners.

A brief chat with Maxis' Lucy Bradshaw on Spore Creature Creator
In 2005, in what was supposed to be an interesting but un-extraordinary panel at the Game Developers Conference, Will Wright, the near-legendary creator of Sim City and The Sims titles, revealed to a shocked audience his next full blown creation in playable form. That creation was Spore, a kind of evolution sim game where players could help make a complete space-faring civilization out of a single cell organism.

CoD 5 screens get leaked
Several screens from Treyarch's Call of Duty 5 have found their way to the internet by a few German websites. This NeoGAF thread has them all in one place for your viewing ease. The screens give us our first glimpse of the World War II Pacific Theater setting in all of its jungle-y glory. While the WWII setting is a bit of a letdown after CoD4's much-appreciated move to the modern era, the Pacific Theater is at least a little interesting. We have a feeling that guys hacking around with machetes will be an ongoing theme in CoD5. Oh and don't forget the samurai swords, there's even a screen showing off some possible melee action.

Civilization IV: Colonization has all new assets, redone interface
Sid Meier told GameSpot that Civilization IV: Colonization is "a very different game" from Civilization IV. While it's based in the same engine (a customized version of Gamebryo), it features a totally redone interface, all new assets (art, etc.), and greatly improved graphics -- better unit shadows and water, more complex models, and higher resolution assets of all kinds.

Diablo II 1.12 released
BlizzPlanet reports that Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo II has been updated to version 1.12. The patch eliminated the need for discs so long as all .MPQ files are installed. Those players who performed either a Single Player or Multiplayer install will need to reinstall the game using the Full Install option if they want play disc-free.

Supreme Ruler 2020 patch released
A patch for BattleGoat Studios' Supreme Ruler 2020 has been released, updating the game to version 5.1. The patch contains numerous fixes, upgrades, and additions for the geopolitical simulator.

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