Spore honored in Time's 50 Best Inventions of 2008
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Nov 2nd 2008 at 5:30PM }
Other "inventions" listed include "The Direct-to-Web Supervillain Musical", Hulu.com, and 23andMe's home DNA test, which garnered top honors. The Large Hadron Collider, the "world's most expensive science experiment", made an unremarkable 5th place finish -- Time cited the machine's failure to follow through on its promise to destroy humanity as the reason for its disappointing placement on the list.
[Via Big Download]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
R @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:35PM
Hulu.com is offically awesome by my watch, and its growing with incrediable speed. I use that more than I use Veoh, and probably about as much as I use Youtube.
supakoopa @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:36PM
Thats odd, I didnt know that Time does jokes.
XGM @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:41PM
instantrimshot.com
Jakka @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:35PM
Really? It was one of the biggest gaming disappointments in the entire history of video games.
Mr Khan @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:44PM
hyperbole ftl
Daikatana sez hi2u
(authors note: i am perfectly conscious that this is an incoherent comment)
KingOfGods @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:57PM
Really? Not sure why people think that. I really enjoyed it, it was a pretty fun and unique game to play. I think it's the debate over the DRM used that has people thinking that way.
Haggard @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:00PM
FC2 was a bigger disappointment to me, because I was *expecting* spore to be rubbish.
BigD145 @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:22PM
Science Spore was better. Since when is "cute" an invention?
Esat Dedezade @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:26PM
Word
Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:10PM
John Romero made me his bitch
Psycho300x @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:13PM
Well said.
Anticrawl @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:53PM
I'm loving Farcry 2. But then again your average FPS fan loves things like COD and Halo rehashes with added gimmicks to cloud the fact that it is the same game as before.
Geist @ Nov 3rd 2008 12:34AM
It was a poor game. But in terms of technology, it was quite impressive. Being able to algorithmically generate natural-looking movement is no easy feat.
TheQuagster @ Nov 3rd 2008 11:43AM
Define "Best Inventions of 2008..."
Jakka @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:37PM
Fuck you, Hulu and your US-only availibility.Since Dr.Horrible went largely commercial by now, is there any other place where I can watch it?
Jakka @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:40PM
...okay, after doing some research, Hulu does seem to be an interesting feature with TV Episode stream etc.
Is there anyway to hack it with proxies?
inect @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:06PM
Yes... yes there is.
(a Canadian starts to watch the office on hulu)
Geist @ Nov 3rd 2008 12:36AM
You can watch Dr Horrible on Youtube.
redninja @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:43PM
[edit: banned for being a FIRST poster]
Obie @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:00PM
You better start contributing like a normal person, instead of hunting for "first" posts. Joystiq is pretty good ad banning bozos like you, so you've been warned, kid.
Reader @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:50PM
Come to Engadget, no one gets banned! It's so much fun!
/sarcasm, well, about the second part...
Lone Starr @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:48PM
Time said it so it must be true.
mcatrage @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:05PM
They also had Hitler as man of the year, so they've been known to be mistaken before.
Mr Khan @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:02PM
They are morally neutral on that, they also did Putin one year, right?
It's not about right and wrong so much as it is about influence and change.
Reader @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:56PM
Uh Hitler /was/ the man of the year. They already gave FDR it in '33, who else was there that had that much influence and would be remembered in the future? It's been about 70 years and it's still rare to go a day without hearing the name Hitler.
Now that's not to say TIME is relevant at all anymore... Everyone is the person of the year, really? Was it that lame of a year?
offday @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:06PM
How is Spore an invention? Spore is a video game. Wouldn't that make Pong the invention?
Sounds to me like Time needs to stick to what they know, which obviously isn't video games.
Kassu @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:10PM
Wat?
Securom didn't make the list?
...well, someone had to do it.
KeenCommander @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:50PM
SecuROM in some form has been around for years, only the particularly intrusive version of it (version 7, I believe) is new. Most people just hadn't heard the name until now because the old versions were no more obnoxious than other anti-consumer packages.
Sorry to rain on your +1 parade.
theturtle363 @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:14PM
i dont think half of those things are inventions at all
BigD145 @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:24PM
This from the magazine that names "You" as person of the year.
Haggard @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:25PM
But I'm so unique and talented!
Gehodra @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:33PM
I'm not.
WRE @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:36PM
That's why Haggard won and not you.
Rocketboy @ Nov 3rd 2008 8:08AM
No, you did win.
michas_pi @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:49PM
Did they base their decision on a special DRM-less version of Spore created just for them to review?
Or did they just pirate the game with the DRM already stripped out?
spyder @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:59PM
They must of played a different game than I did.
Markez @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:19PM
Left the world of PC gaming ages ago, but from everything I saw on Joystiq and a few other places, I got the impression it was one of the lamest games in awhile?
Mr Khan @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:36PM
I wouldn't say it was bad, the problem is that the basic concept, procedurally generated genetic evolution, was not delivered upon. The decisions you made in one section really did not reflect upon the rest, as opposed to the reality that they promised, where every little gene would inexorably alter your fate
Spirit @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:33PM
This article must have been written before Spore actually came out or something..
Anticrawl @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:55PM
Wow Large Hadron Collider took 5th place for failing on the first 5 runs? Awesome, 2008 the year with no innovation.
Lorem @ Nov 3rd 2008 9:08AM
Are you kidding me? This game is terrible. IMO Fallout3 and Fable2 weren't that great either. This year is full of disappointments. Let's pray GOW doesn't suck.
Dillon @ Nov 3rd 2008 11:30AM
I think Fallout 3 has been awesome, and true enough to its roots too.
Fable didn't hold me for too long, but that's more due to the fact that Dead Space is exquisite and Fallout 3 right behind. The real-time combat is the biggest stumbling point with Fallout 3.
Will @ Nov 3rd 2008 6:14PM
?! Fallout 3 is awesome.
Dillon @ Nov 3rd 2008 11:32AM
It certainly wasn't bad - but they bit off just a little too much - the tribal and civilization phases were very shallow and lame after the first playthrough.
Space had a lot of promise but just turned out to be too much trouble.
I really enjoyed cell and creature though - but there wasn't enough depth in the whole of the game to keep a longtime gamer, imo.
Someone new to games, though? It's actually a great experience that exposes them to game types they may not have played before.