Sunday NY Times says Spore is special
by Christopher Grant 
{ Oct 9th 2006 at 12:15PM }
Steven Johnson, Colbert Report guest and author of Everything Bad is Good for You, wrote a thoughtful piece on Will Wright's Spore in yesterday's widely read New York Times Magazine entitled, "The Long Zoom." Like any writeup of Wright's simeverything, Johnson's includes equal parts hagiography, history, and hype, imbuing Wright's unreleased masterpiece with transcendental potential.
Johnson's title refers to Spore's ability to zoom from the microscopic level all the way out to the galactic level, recalling the Eames' influential Powers of Ten (video embedded above). Wright's collaborative presentation with musician Brian Eno on "generative art," arranged by the long-term thinkers at the Long Now Foundation, also suggested a more cerebral sophistication than we're used to seeing, and reading about, in video games.
If you think the hype for Gears of War may be hard to live up to, consider Spore, a game that is beginning to more resemble a panacea for all the gaming industry's myriad ills than a clever expansion of the Sim- series.
[A faux pas, and a personal pet peeve: Charles and Ray Eames were not, in fact, "brothers" as Johnson writes, but an enormously successful husband-and-wife design team, responsible for everything from the aforementioned Powers of Ten film, to their famous molded plywood Eames Lounge Chair.]
See also: Spore figurines!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sub @ Oct 9th 2006 12:35PM
A bit long, but it was a good read.
Truth be told, I don't think I've ever been excited about a game as much as I've been excited about Spore. The game kind of seems too good to be true.
Tom B. @ Oct 9th 2006 12:37PM
"That odd orbit belongs to Pluto."
Poor Pluto. :(
You can be a planet when I create life on you in Spore. See...
There's life on Earth.
Earth is a planet.
Therefore, life implies planethood!
xx/eyes @ Oct 9th 2006 12:40PM
I love "Powers of Ten" -- A great short. All the rest of the Eames videos are worth checking out if you enjoyed this. I own the box set.
Kworn @ Oct 9th 2006 12:46PM
That was a great little video.
Just shows you how small we are
Metacore @ Oct 9th 2006 8:03PM
That camera must have REALLY good zoom! Anyone ever saw Waiting? They were so proud of thier super long shot, imagine how it was filming this. Mercury probably kept cracking up in the middle. Does the boxset of bloopers? "damn! did I just say mickron? Wtf is a mickron?" Come on, let's shoot it again!
Mark D @ Oct 9th 2006 1:54PM
Great read, I can't wait for this game. Hopefully it'll come out after I build my new computer.
mark @ Oct 9th 2006 6:50PM
that video is hypnotizing...O_o
and very interesting.
fanguad @ Oct 9th 2006 2:06PM
nitpick: New York Time's Magazine
Google says:
"Did you mean: New York Times Magazine"
Mr. "New York Time" doesn't own a magazine.
http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/
Maximoisgood @ Oct 9th 2006 3:21PM
This Video makes me feel so small and insignificant, now I am depressed. Anywho. I wish they would release this video in HD, that would be awsome.
Nin10dude @ Oct 9th 2006 7:22PM
Whoa, I watched that video in science class today.
Hardcore @ Oct 9th 2006 10:05PM
That was the coolest video i've ever seen, and no I'm not Amish.
FSK405K @ Oct 10th 2006 2:38AM
Remember class:
Spore = SimEarth ^ n
FSK405K @ Oct 10th 2006 2:38AM
"You assemble a new life form to represent yourself using an almost comically intuitive tool. If you have the technical chops to assemble a Mr. Potato Head, you can build a creature in Spore. You start with a basic body type wrapped around a standard skeleton, and then you can pretty much do whatever you want to it...At first you guide a single creature, instructing it to forage, hunt, drink, sleep, mate; your strategy evolves depending on the needs of your creature and the opportunities and threats presented by the environment."
So much for Dobzhansky and Mayr, eh?
Aux @ Oct 10th 2006 3:21PM
Just as xx/eyes said above, Powers of Ten is an excellent film, along with the other films of Ray and Charles Eames.