If you are planning to buy a digital download of Spore instead of a boxed version you may be interested in the following EA Press Release:

Counting down the minutes to Spore’s launch next week? Now you can get one step closer to the next-big bang in gaming from the creator of The Sims by pre-loading the game direct from EA!

Starting today, gamers who pre-order the PC version of Spore from the EA Store ( http://eastore.ea.com) can pre-load the game now and be among the first to start playing on the day of release.

Pre-loading Spore is available only for PC. For pre-ordering info about Spore for Mac, please visit www.greentreeonline.com . Spore Galactic Edition will be available as a boxed product-exclusive at retailers.

Once pre-ordered, you will see Spore in your EA Download Manager. You will then be able to download 99 percent of the game to your computer with the remaining part of the game to be downloaded upon the date of the game’s release. It will only take 30-60 minutes for the install to complete before you can begin conquering galaxies in Spore before anyone else! Please note that you will be charged for the game on the 28th of August and your statements will reflect this.

Spore ships on September 5 in Europe and Asia and on September 7 in North America.

Spore gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world or explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers.

 

In addition to shipping for the PC, Spore will be available on the Mac, Nintendo DS and mobile phones.

 

 

 

For more information on the EA Download Manager, please visit the EA Store at: http://eastore.ea.com/store/ea/ContentTheme/pbPage.welcome/ThemeID.718200

For more information about Spore, visit our press Web site at http://info.ea.com

 

 

 

 

There you have it: your download will be 99% complete until the game ships in your territory. Somehow that strikes me as almost worse than not having the game at all