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Godfathers Of Gaming
A reader writes: "The Godfather's Of Gaming -- GameSpot UK's choice of developers who most influenced gaming. They appeared to have focused on post 1990 people, still worth a look
at GameSpot UK's site."
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definitly should top the list of all time.. Intelligent gaming (not mindless action) interesting plots, and nice graphics (when that time came).
.02
Just my worthless
HEY!!!! Where are Ken and Roberta Williams, founders of Sierra software?! They all but pioneered the graphical adventure in the late 80's. How many people remember playing the original Kings Quest or Police Quest? How about Space Quest and Leisure Suite Larry, both published by Sierra? As the poster said, it is post 90's, but give credit where credit is due!
Bryan R.
Bryan R.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
Modern games ... pshaw... I'm going to come over there with a Vectrex, a 2600, and a six-pack of Hooch, and force you to play "Robotank" until you curl up in the fetal position humming the 5-second loop of background music from "Journey Escape"!
Am I the only one that finds it mildly ironic that the profiled Japanese are mostly individuals, whereas the majority of the Americans/Brits profiled are companies?
OK, let's be honest here.
:)
Most people would have a job limiting their own list to 10. Just off the top of my head, the second two (don't know the first, sorry), the Darling Brothers (Codemasters), Bitmap Brothers, Andrew Braybrooke, Geoff Crammond, Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, Dave Jones, That Tetris Guy, whoever came up with Bomberman. LucasArts and / or Sierra graphic adventure people. iD's Doom team - probably single out John Romero. Sorry, names sometimes escape me at midnight UK time
This is a massive list and trying to slim it down is essentially a silly task. There are a _LOT_ of people on this hypothetical list, no clear way of sensibly ranking them and little beyond subjective preference to rank them. Unless we're trying to start a fight, it's probably not a sensible list to try and create. Say we're grateful to some people, but don't suggest its in any way definitive or complete.
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
What about Dan (Danielle) Bunten of Ozark Software? M.U.L.E. was a tremendous multiplayer strategy game that was very popular on many platforms, but most particularly on its home system of the Atari 400/800 computer system, where up to 4 players could play at the same time.
And let's not forget "Seven Cities of Gold," "Modem Wars" (online multiplyer game from the early eighties) "Command HQ", and more.
And how about Chris Crawford (many innnovative games in the early 8-bit computer era), Jobs & Wozniak (Breakout, for Atari's coin-op division) . . . there are so many more from that era that are totally ignore here, yet they did ground-breaking work for their time! Arrghh!
But, what do I expect? That's the way it always is with these pop culture lists. Like how all of MTV/VH1's "Top Artists" lists are always heavily weighted to those artists that rose to prominence in the era of music videos. So, you end up with the fairly good artists from recent times side-by-side with only the most mind-blowingly greatest artists from 30, 40, or more years ago.
Sigh
Dani Bunten rest her soul.
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Yeah, Zero Wing is probably the only game on the market today where kids and adults can recite the dialogue in the game.
"All your base are belong to us."
"What you say !!"
"Move all 'zig'"
I was stunned that even USA Today had an article a few weeks back about the "All your base..." craze.
This guy was mentioned here on /. a few days back. Apparently he first created pong on an oscilloscope.
Given that this guy didn't even try to patent his invention, nor earn money from it in any way, he deserves a nod.
But I'm sure there's a dozen other people that "need" to be in this list. I do think it leans a bit heavily towards more recent games, undoubtedly because most gamespot readers would just go "huh?" at the mention anything pre-1985.
I'll second this one. I know 2 people that bought PSXs just so they could play this game.
Its' a toss up between Tony Hawk and Metal Gear Solid for best playstation gave ever. Based on the number of people I know that love this game I'd proably say Tony Hawk is the winner.
Wizardry people. Wizardry. How could they leave out Wizardry. I mean Bultar's Trading Post?
Someone you trust is one of us.
I thought it was interesting that a huge company like Namco would be mixed in as one of the "influential developers", given it's actually a diverse behemoth instead of a "godfather" per se. Anyway, on their list of influential titles, they left off one of Namco's very best: an innovative little 3D tank game called Assault. Assault is just about the best adrenaline-pumping pure action arcade game I've ever played. Incredibly difficult, and by the time you get to the final level, if you aren't literally breaking a sweat from moving the controllers, you're just dead. If you ever get the chance to play an original, take it.
However, I totally agree that he doesn't deserve gotfather stauts. His success with Starwing was really due to Miyamoto (another reason why he should be #1), and even Gamespot say in not so many words that Croc is just a Super Mario 64 clone.
Anyway, I'm going to rant about Miyamoto now because I can't be bothered to post in the main thread. This man not only caused a revolution with Donkey Kong, but has hung around for the 20 years since and still changes the industry every few years. Most people would be happy just making the change that Donke Kong did, and Donkey Kong ALONE would get someone one of these 'godfather awards'. But Miyamoto has done so much more.
Mario Bros (the single screen, flip the turtles and crabs one) set the standard for single screen platformer, and as Gamespot said, spawned clones such as the infamous Bubble Bobble.
Super Mario Bros made the 'true' platformer. Massive (in it's time) side scrolling levels, heaps of weird enemies (koopa troopers, goombas :) and secrets like the warp zone. And, who remembers the super-'secret' 'Zero World' (if anyone want to know how to find it, respond to this post). SMB created, like Gamespot said, Alex Kid and Wonder Boy, and in the long-term Sonic. I still play SMB on my SNES with the Mario All-Stars game fairly often.
The there is the original Legend of Zelda. This made the adventure/'rpg' genre for consoles. Anyone who has played it on their Nintendo would know how much of an adventure that game is. Miyamoto wanted to live out a childhood dream of exploring and adventure, and Zelda achived that perfectly.
Super Mario Bros 3, this is, inho, Miyamoto's first massivly crafted to perfection game, the way he makes games totally PERFECT and will spend years doing it. Mario 3 took forever, but it was worth it. No other platform came near it, and really, none now really do either. Even Super Mario World could only be called it's equal at best. Super Mario 3 was huge, so much to do, so many powerups, it was the ultimate 2D platformer. If you don't have it, go get a SNES and Mario All-Stars now!
I love my SNES, probably my favorite console. Miyamoto gave it a new Zelda game, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Kart, and Starwing/Starfox just to name a few. Sure, there is SO much more I could say, but these are what springs to mind. Basically anything Miyamoto touched in the 16-bit days turned to gold, probably why I play it more then any other console...
And, the Nintendo 64 days. Super Mario 64 created a new genre of game, and the Ocarina of Time is a well crafted masterpiece. Miyamoto was more spread across alot of games on the N64 (apart from OoT), so while not massivly chaging them all he just 'touched' them with his magic ;) F-Zero X, Mario Kart, Lylat Wars/StarFox 64 and ExciteBike spring to mind...
The man is flat out with GameCube stuff at the moment, and when that thing is released the world will get a new batch of 'Miyamoto Magic'. I personally can't wait.
(And sorry to hooded1, I didn't mean to turn my reply into a Miyamoto rant ;)
Gumpei Yoko (also spelling?, I'm not sure either) also created the Game Boy, which is Nintendo's biggest console ever. He also made the Virtual Boy, and left Nintendo after that and started his own software house. But then he tragically died in a car accident, in I believe late 1999.
Gumpei Yoko is literally a legend in the world of gaming, and you are right, how could they miss him?
Umm, it may have been the best selling PC game of all time, but it has nothing on heaps of console games. Console games sell more then PC games, that is a fact. This isn't PC vs Console flamebait, that's just how things are.
Also, in Myst's help it came out #1: When CD technology was new, and was still pretty spectacular, and #2: CD Burners wouldn't hit bigtime for another 4 or-so years, so if people wanted to game (and they did, it looked great) they had to pay for it.
Not to say Myst wasn't a game that changed things, and i'd be surprised if Gamespot doesn't mention it in future updated to this Godfathers thing.
Okay, some of their picks were good. But what about some of those great text adventures, like Zork? Or some of the orginal MUDs that spawed the MMUDs of today? And I have to ask: how can you ignore Roberta & Ken William's enormous contribution to gaming while pick at least five racing game devlopers?!
Now, granted, I'm hardly a racing game fan. But how much influence can a racing car game have? I mean, give it to whichever of the three of them deserve it, but don't clutter up an oddball list with five people who made 'good racing games'.
Also, there are too many folks on that list who are one-trick ponies. The guy who created Resident Evil? Okay, a decent game I'm told, but if that all you've ever done maybe they should leave you off the list until you make a little more of a mark? The same goes for Hideo Kojima; Metal Gear Solid was a good game, but it's one game. And all he's really done besides that is the forthcoming sequel. That makes him worthy of godfather-hood? You could almost say the same of Gariett & Wright except they have - over the years - proved their versatility. Gariett may only have really done the Ultima series, but only an idiot would say it was the same old thing each time. Wright's proved himself at long last with The Sims, though it'd be hard to dispute the influence SimCity has had on it's own.
Really, I think this list should have maybe 15 people on it. Too many who don't deserve it (but may in time) and a few obvious ones that are missing!
Wood Shavings!
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
Over here, during the late 80s and early 90s the focus was not, as in the US, on consoles and occasionally PC. The main thing over here was 8 and early 16-bit home computers. Jez San is not mainly there for StarWing, he is there for Starglider (I & II), without which there would be no StarWing. Granted Miyamoto added touches to the formula that made it engrossing to the Nintendo crowd, but to call the Argonaut contribution irrelevant is a bit of a slap in the face. Just because it wasn't on the NES doesn't mean it didn't exist. Starglider isn't on the list next to the pic because it was a different time frame, but ignoring it's contribution to StarWing would be nigh-on criminal.
Gamespot could have made it entirely UK-centric by focusing entirely on the bedroom pioneers like Braybrook, Crowther et al. But they're trying to be all-encompassing, and to be fair, aren't doing a bad job (if a little slavishly devoted to the Nintendo/Sony axis).
Yes there are a million names that could be added to the mix, and I expect that later they will be. Gaming is something that has evolved very differently in different places, so it is only to be expected that omissions occur.
And to those that call placing companies in there unfair, and pandering to the marketers, that's a bit unfair as well. Firms like Psygnosis and Core weren't the slick marketing-driven software houses that proliferate today. They were descended directly from the bedroom coders getting together with their mates. Psygnosis themselves were formed from the ashes of Imagine (an even earlier 8-bit publisher), and in the early days had a habit of getting Roger Dean to do their cover artwork and putting game T-shirts in boxes (I still have my Beast II tshirt somewhere).
It's a little hard to explain exactly why, but names like San, Edmondson, Braybrook and Jones always stir up more in me than Miyamoto ever will. Not because Miyamoto isn't worthy (anyone with half a brain can see that his contribution has been incredible), but simply because I wasn't part of that kind of gaming, and thus was inspired by different people.
- "How do we do it? Volume!" - The Bursar of Unseen University.
Hell, I'd put Romero on my list just because of the negative impact he's had on the gaming world!
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
How could they miss the late Gumpei Yoko (spelling?) He made the Metroid series, and just because there haven't been any recent games people seem to overlook. And what about the Zelda series?
This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
These guys were gaming gods in the 80s. Lords of Midnight, Elite and Manic Miner were probably the most important games of their time.
I can't believe that it took until day 3 to get Will Wright on the list.... He changed the way most of us played games when we first played Sim City (Still one of my favorite games of all time) and with the huge popularity of "The Sim's" today I'd be hard pressed to not have him one of the first people honored.
An interesting selection. My addition to the "why isn't X there" list is Alexey Pajitnov?
I've wasted more time playing tetris than anything else.
id Software did not create Hexen. Although the game was based upon a (very heavily modified) Doom engine, the game itself was developed by Raven Software, along with Heretic, Hexen II, and Heretic II. 'tis a shame that so few people are familiar with the Heretic/Hexen series...
--
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
I had pretty much given up on games altogether, yet I'm addicted again. To me, the Tony Hawk series are some of the greatest games ever created. I haven't had this much fun with a game since I first played Doom in 94.
Thanks to Neversoft, I bought a console and became interested in console games, whereas before I was more than satisfied with only owning a PC. I also know I'm not the only one who bought a Playstation solely to play this game.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
Crawford wrote a number of envelope-pushing games for the 8-bit Atari platform. Eastern Front:1941 used various clever tricks to squeeze 16 colors onto the screen and was a landmark for interface design (a complex wargame controlled using only the joystick and spacebar). Later, he switched to the Macintosh, where he wrote the groundbreaking geopolitical simulation Balance of Power.
As for Bunten, her Modem Wars was the first multiplayer RTS ever. 'Nuff said.
TheFrood
If you say "I'll probably get modded down for this..." then I will mod you down.
Bullshit. A bunch of guys from Softdisk formed id Software to publish the Keen series; they later progressed to Wolf3D. Softdisk had nothing to do with the Keen stuff's publishing. Do I seem a little worked up? Maybe. I just looked at a banner ad to 'pay' for this so-called 'journalism.'
I think everyone who's ever read a "history of gaming" article would be familiar with the story, and somehow whoever wrote this article has it all mixed up?
Pure tripe. I wonder how much else in the article is just plain wrong?
This looks like to be an interesting read all around.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Seven whole years earlier, Flash Attack was doing multi-machine head-to-head competition (although it wasn't an FPS) on the Commodore PET. I was into Apple ][s at the time, but played the later port that ran via MajorBBS.
... father of the Wing Commander series and its various spin-offs.
These combined action/story games were more like interactive movies than traditional flight/fight sims. They didn't inspire many play-alikes, but they sure were memorable.
What about Shashi of Sind? It's inexcusable to miss one of the true Godfathers of gaming. I agree, the list is stuffed with people from this millineum at the expense of the true pioneers.
A bit of satire there - not everyone knows who the people are that you are mentioning, including myself. Could you give a short bio?
BTW, Shashi of Sind, according to a Indian legend, invented Chess. King Rai Bhalit in North West India wanted to reward him, and Shashi asked for one grain of wheat on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, etc. The king agreed. This is (2^65)-1, or 3.69x10^19 grains, much more than the total amount of grain availible.
This is probably the basis of the legend that Chess comes from India, but Sam Sloan thinks it came from China.
is the one by gamespot. check it out . They even included the tetris author, roberta williams, and Nolan Bushnell (of Pong).
Any such list that doesn't count the influence of Pong and Atari is pure crap. Hmm...let me see, the *first* video game? Naah, not really influential.
BTW, why don't people post their own lists? That would be interesting to read.
w/m
That these appear to be in no particular order, but Shigeru Miyamoto should have been first.
I mean without his contributions, where would we be? I think Donkey Kong was the first game I ever played, if only there was an egg crate there so I could reach the controls...
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
yeah, Atari is so cool that we're getting back into it again in the new century.
Most of us moved on when we couldn't hack the hours (70+ was average amongst game designers when I did it in the early 80s) and found cheaper ways to make more money with fewer hours.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
And think of the arcade games that burned through our laundry money - I must have blown $10,000 on quarters to play Ms PacMan back when I was in the Army (it was that or Asteroids - another fun choice).
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
Also, if they are going to credit companies, like Namco..Where's the love for Atari? The list is stuffed with people still in the business at the expense of some of the pioneers that have moved on.
Anyone who enjoyed these games and reminisces about them, still, should do what I did and get the Infocom Text Adventure Masterpieces collection.