In four days (July 27, 2010) StarCraft II will finally grace us with its presence, 12 long years after the the release of the first game. As the space marine in the very first teaser trailer so cheekily put it, “Hell, it’s about time.” After years of speculation, discussion, screenshots, demos, beta testing, and probably hundreds of articles on the game I can’t help but ask as the release date approaches: will it be worth it?

Comic-Con isn’t a videogame convention but the presence of games has risen incrementally in recent years. Game companies use Comic-Con to reveal new gameplay elements or elaborate on the choices it made before a game is released. This year Comic-Con has some interesting panels that include some big name titles. We want to share with you a short list of game related activities going down at Comic-Con 2010.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday (May 9, 2010), and there’s just enough time to get out there and pick something special up for your mother, grandmother or wife. While cards and flowers are nice, a game is just as thoughtful – especially since it’ll last longer. So in honor of the forthcoming special occasion, I’ve put together a brief list of games which might appeal to them and work well as gifts.

Now you’re probably asking how I would know a mother, or grandmother, would love these games. Well, I have done extensive research (I asked my mother and my mother’s friends – some of whom are grandmothers) what games they love. Yes, all mothers are unique and special with their own tastes, but there’s still a good chance that yours might have similar tastes…

If you like additional downloadable content for your games, but don’t like paying for it, then drink Dr. Pepper. For a limited time, Dr. Pepper and EA have teamed up. Now, bottles of Dr. Pepper and select fountain cups at stores like 7 Eleven will come with promotional codes for free DLC for select EA games. 14 oz., 16 oz. and 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, Dr. Pepper Cherry, Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry bottles will all carry the codes under their caps, and codes will be on stickers on the fountain cups.

Once you acquire a code, you can visit the Dr. Pepper website to enter your code. You’ll need to log into the Dr. Pepper site and your EA account. Then, you can get DLC for your game. The website says you can get DLC for Sims 3, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Spore. I’m guessing it only applies to the PC versions of the games, though the EA press release does mention the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 2.

Here’s what you can get for each game…

From the success of the original incarnation of Spore comes a sort of spin-off for the Wii called Spore Hero. Spore Hero leaves the concept of growth and evolution behind in favor of light quests suitable for the youngest of gamers. Backing up the gameplay to Spore Hero is an original score composed by Winifred Phillips who is also responsible for creating music for other games including SimAnimals, The Maw and God of War.

Phillips’ music has always done a wonderful job of matching the vibe of a game whether the character is walking carefree through lush fields of vegetation or dealing a decisive blow to the final boss. With a game such as Spore Hero and the audience it caters to, you would imagine the soundtrack would consist of quirky or blatantly jolly songs, but Spore Hero’s soundtrack totally outdoes those expectations. The entire soundtrack is orchestral in nature and drips of complexity and style. It’s entirely possible to view Spore Hero’s music as that of a feature animated film and not that of a video game.

EA’s next Spore expansion pack’s release date is creeping closer. On June 23, 2009, Spore Galactic Adventures will be available in stores. Unlike the previous $19.99 Spore Creepy and Cute Parts Pack expansion, the Spore Galactic Adventures expansion costs $29.99. There’s a good reason for it though!

The previous parts pack expansion for Spore just added in some additional creature parts and movements. So your characters could be customized further in the Creator Creator mode or the Creature Stage phase of Spore. The Spore Galactic Adventures expansion adds new depth and life to the Space Stage portion of the game.

See, the Spore Space Stage is typically all about exploration, diplomacy, trading and colonization. You’re typically searching for planets, creating colonies on uninhabited planets, getting spices from colonies and dealing with other empires and space pirates. It’s more about the big picture than a single creature.

In Spore Galactic Adventures, players get to refocus in on a single character again, like they did in the Creature Stage…

For as long as there’s been video games, it seems like there’s been video game piracy. It’s sadly become a commonplace occurrence, with deserving developers and publishers becoming victims of disrespectful players who would rather steal than pay for a quality game.

Some developers and publishers attempt to strike back. Anti-piracy measures are designed, created and implemented in the hopes of thwarting the game pirates. Unfortunately, these measures are typically no match for determined pirates with plenty of free time on their hands.

This constant struggle between companies and thieves has lead to some memorable, and occasionally funny, piracy protection measures. Today, Gamertell takes a look back at the anti-piracy included in Spore, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates and Earthbound…

Fans of Spore don’t have to turn on their computers and start up their games to see their favorite creatures anymore. It turns out that EA and Z Corporation have teamed up to give Spore gamers the opportunity to turn their virtual lifeforms into actual, up to four inch tall, statues. Of course, there is a catch – you need $49.50 and your creation can’t be “sporn” (an adult and immature creature). I’m a little surprised there’s even a market for custom Spore statues, but there you go.

Z Corporation uses ZPrints, created from 3D data and high definition, multicolor, 3D printing, to create a ZPrinted Spore Sculpture. You can even get statues made of the creature as it evolved, to the point it is at when you send it in, so you can see exactly how far it has come.

Its pretty easy to do, as well…

I guess EA’s probably feeling stumped right about now, since it turns out Spore was 2008′s most pirated game according to TorrentFreak. I guess this means that the whole DRM that was supposed to protect EA and restrict illegal copies of the game didn’t exactly do its job.

TorrentFreak researched and was reporting on what games are the most popular among the unsavory corners of the internet, and surprise surprise, Spore was number one. It was illegally downloaded over torrents over 1.7 million times. Actually, it seems that EA Games were quite popular among the pirates in 2008, as Sims 2 came in second, Crysis was fourth and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars was fifth. Must have been a successful year for the them…

In celebration of the release of the Creepy & Cute Parts Pack expansion for Spore, EA has thrown players 24 new exoskeleton limbs to toy with.

The patch containing the new parts can be downloaded via the EA Download Manager and from EA’s web site. The patch is available for both PC and Mac.

Click through for a full list of the fixes and limbs…