Spore Origins iPod game appears on iTunes Store

Electronic Arts is gearing up for a huge push on its long-awaited Spore game next month, with the PC game complemented by several handheld versions, including DS, mobile and iPhone.

Well, you can seemingly add another format to that list: iPod. Yesterday, Spore Origins suddenly appeared on the iTunes Store in the US, and could be bought for iPod and iPod Nano for $4.99.

However, by this morning the game had been removed from iTunes, and there's no sign of it on the UK store either.

Judging by comments on the MacRumors story that first reported the game's availability, there may have been some technical gremlins in the game, with several users saying it hung at the title screen.

However, some got it to work, and it seems the game will follow the pattern of the mobile and iPhone versions, with you guiding your Spore around primordial ooze eating smaller things and avoiding bigger things - while upgrading your Spore with new parts every so often.

We'll have to wait and see if the iPod game reappears this week, or if its release will be held back until the other versions of the game go on sale early next month.