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Sir Peter Molyneux?
KBV writes "It seems that for the first time in history a games developer has been granted an OBE (Order Of the British Empire) by the Queen of England. When Peter Molyneux - the creator of Black & White, Fable, Populous and many other games - was asked by BBC News about the honor he simply said "It's come completely out of the blue, I never would have guessed that I'd have that kind of honour." For the games industry as a whole, this is very much a good thing. It's great that developers are being recognized for their hard work and cultural impact on the world."
To answer your question, "Sir Peter Molyneux?", the answer is no. He's been awarded an OBE not a knighthood.
OBE incidentally, is a three-letter acronym meaning, "Other Bugger's Energy".
... but the award is actually decided firstly by a 'relevent' government committee, and the prime minister comes in later on. At no point does the Queen decide who receives the awards - she simply hands them over.
It's Peter Molyneux OBE, rather than Sir Peter. He wasn't awarded a knighthood. Well done him though.
And it might be worth mentioning that Her Majesty is Queen of an awful lot of other places as well as England.
Recipients of a KBE (Knight of the British Empire) are called Sir. Whereas KBEs are limited in number (a KBE has to die before another can be kinghted) OBEs are quite commonplace - frequently given to non-celebs that do a service to their community etc..
Jez San of the late Argonaut Software received the title in 2002. Good research!
You can get these Honours for 'services to ', and lets face it, a couple of these games are all time classics, Populous certainly defined a new genre of gaming. Oh, and a OBE doesnt make you a Knight, which is what you need for a Sir title.
Not Sir Steven Spielberg. As Mr Spielberg is not a citizen of a Commonwealth country he can only receive an honorary knighthood. This means he can append the "KBE" (Knight of the British Empire) suffix to his name but cannot claim the honorary prefix of "Sir".
You get a medal, the Queen taps your shoulder with a sword and, if you are a citizen of a Commonwealth country, you would become Sir Samir.
The female equiv. of a Knight has always been a Dame. eg the Actresses Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith
although the letters obe mean order of the british empire, they refer to several actual 'titles'
If you get an OBE it stands for Officer of the British Empire, a specific title. Above MBE (member) and below CBE (commander).
Free pedant points please
FGD 135
Its not on the death of a specific person it's a fixed numerical limit. "The Order is limited to 100 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commanders, and 8960 Commanders." so as long as there are only 844 knights you don't have to wait! NB Other orders exist with similar classes eg KCB
The first? Not so.
3 12 7/
Stephen Grand, creator of the Creatures series, already has one:
http://www.nesta.org.uk/mediaroom/newsreleases/
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Marc A. Lepage
Software Developer
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_U nited_Kingdom ...
As well as being Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth is head of state of fifteen other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, known as the Commonwealth Realms. These countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
Peter Molyneux has come up with some really great games over the years, most of which have allways been right on top of the latest technology.
Games like Populous (back in the sega days) was way ahead of its time, and even new games like fable where characters and even the game change as you progress has allways seemed like a major effect he has gone after with each game.
TruePunk | Games
Some points:
1) Blanket statements about the "Roman Senate" are liable to innaccuracy because its nature, and the rights and obligations of its members changed throughout Rome's long history. As an example, Roman senators were by definition all equites (knights) until 123 BC.
2) A blanket statement about knighthood being concerned with banking and commerce rather than war is (like your other blanket statements) inaccurate. In dark and much of middle-age Europe, knights were simply people with the means to maintain their own horse, armour, and weapons, and this did not become associated with nobility in most countries until d the 11th to 13th centuries (depending on where). Even then, with the exception of France, it did not become closed to other classes, who could either be elevated to knighthood (something that even happened to indentured servants), or simply be knights if they had the means (e.g. the 13th century Spanish "cabelleros villanos"). Note also that (again with the exception of France) knighthood was seldom hereditary, and it never has been in England.
3) Drake was knighted after returning from a successful circumnavigation of the world, not for his privateeing activities. Note also that England did not have an empire when Drake was knighted (Spain and Portugal were the imperial powers of the time).
Readers of this post who may be less familiar with Yes Minister the delevision series may find that this clip seems a little familiar.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
First, the Queen doesn't hand them out.
Second, he's NOT being knighted.
Does the idea of fact-checking anything even itch its way across the editors' minds?
"Sufferin' succotash."