Even though Spore has been on the receiving end of some awful press (i.e., the DRM debacle and the whole piracy fiasco,) the game is still a fan-favorite masterpiece of development genius. And the new stats released on the game’s user base and content creation certainly verifies its popularity.

While Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena may be making headlines for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, the original Spore made it back into the news for simply being an addictive and massively infectious game to play. So much so, a press release was issued regarding the amount of user content that has been created for Will Wright’s uber-game.

"Last year was a very exciting year for Maxis with the release of Spore. We were overwhelmed by the massive response to the game from the millions of people that created, shared and played in the Spore universe,” said General Manager of Maxis, Lucy Bradshaw. "This year we’re going to experiment with new experiences that extend the powerful creativity tools of Spore to all-new audiences. With the universe as our backdrop, the only limit in the Spore universe is your own imagination.”

Expansion packs, spin-offs and handheld titles are a sure way to keep the gamers interested. Hopefully none of the content will succumb to the piracy effect that nearly toppled over EA’s finances throughout 2008.

You can learn more about Spore its expansion pack, the user-generated content, the DS title and the Wii spin-off by visiting the Official Spore Website. For more gaming news and info, be sure to stay tuned in with Blend Games.