Expect a crowd of gamers out there tomorrow morning, noses pressed against the windows of retailers across the country or fingers poised to hit the mouse button for an online order for the long-awaited North American release of "Spore."

It's the brainchild of Will Wright and the design team at Maxis, whose "The Sims" remains the world's top-selling computer game. "Spore" has been eight years in development and promises to usher in a new stage of evolution in gaming -- literally.

Here's how it works: The player creates a single-cell life form that moves up the evolutionary ladder within a new world. The game can be played in five stages: cell (an example is shown above), creature, tribe, civilization and space. Every choice the player makes has evolutionary consequences.

Creations can be shared via the Internet, enabling players to explore worlds and galaxies beyond their own. Even pre-release, thousands of people have been playing with the Spore Creature Creator online, uploading fanciful critters complete with personalities and back stories at www.spore.com/players.

With Creature Creator, you can generate a new digital life form -- adding head, legs, eyes (not limited to two) -- and choose colors. Body parts can be changed in size and placement. You can name your creature, see it in motion and get a dossier of its attributes. Then tinker with your creature's structure, and see if it has what it takes to swim in the gene pool.