Mario and Link Get Their Stars On the Walk of Game

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Mario and Link Get Their Stars On the Walk of Game

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday March 9, 2005 @05:18AM from the hyrule-represent? dept.

snuttepelle writes "Pong creator Nolan Bushnell and Donkey Kong maker Shigeru Miyamoto, along with gaming icons like Mario, have received the first-ever 'Walk of Game' stars for video games in San Francisco."

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Huh. by Wraithfighter · 2005-03-09 05:29 · Score: 3, Interesting

Anyone notice that, while its a Sony branded mall where this is taking place, that the characters on the walk are all Nintendo, the two people are the Pong creator and Nintendo, and the first game was Bungie (and, by ownership, Microsoft)? Are there actually any Sony titles with a star in the Sony shopping center? Just a thought...

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1. Re:Huh. by kannibal_klown · 2005-03-09 05:36 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Not that surprising...
  
  Sony is great and they have some original characters, but compared to Nintendo they haven't been around that long.
  
  The first ones to go onto the "Walk" are characters, games, and persons that helped make modern gaming what it is today. Heck, any gamer (old or young) know who Mario and Link are and are at least familiar with Pong.
  
  Sony's stuff will come in soon. Besides, if the first entries were Metal Gear's Snake and Final Fantasy, it would look like they were just patting themselves on the back instead of being true to gaming. Start with the earlier popular stuff and move on from there
2. Re:Huh. by Chi+Hsuan+Men · 2005-03-09 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  >Sony's stuff will come in soon. Besides, if the first entries were Metal Gear's Snake and Final Fantasy, it would look like they were just patting themselves on the back instead of being true to gaming
  
  What...what....whaaaaaat? Sony's stuff?
  
  Not to pick nits, but Metal Gear and Final Fantasy were originally NINTENDO titles....
  
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  Respect It.
3. Re:Huh. by kannibal_klown · 2005-03-09 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  Not to pick nits, but Metal Gear and Final Fantasy were originally NINTENDO titles....
  
  Agreed.
  
  But most of the Snake's popularity comes from "Metal Gear Solid" and beyond, which were pioneered on Sony consoles. His Nintendo days were less-than-stellar, but Solid really put him in the spotlight.
  
  As for Final Fantasy, yeh I remember playing that back in the day. However, I was speaking as to how most of the FF games have been Sony games, including the very popular ones. Heck, I could see them putting "Yuna" there eventually (for popularity alone).
4. Re:Huh. by HarvardAce · 2005-03-09 07:01 · Score: 1
  
  Not to pick nits, but Metal Gear and Final Fantasy were originally NINTENDO titles....
  More importantly, neither of them were developed/produced by Sony (or Nintendo for that matter). Sony's stuff would be the stuff done by its first (and perhaps second) party development units...I wouldn't call any game that happens to run on a Sony platform a "Sony" game. Otherwise you have to start calling any PC game a <shudder> Microsoft (or Intel or AMD or Dell, etc.) game.
  
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  Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
5. Re:Huh. by RQuinn · 2005-03-09 07:10 · Score: 1
  
  Is Halo really a game that makes modern gaming what it is today? How is that not "patting themselves on the back"?
  
  From the Walk of Game website:
  Walk of Game is the first-of-its-kind landmark honoring the icons and pioneers of the videogame industry.
  
  They don't claim anything about honouring games/characters that innovate, just icons, which means it's nothing more that a popularity contest. While it makes sense to aim for the lowest common denominator like that, it's dissapointing to those of us who would like to see the games that were significant (yet often much less popular) be honoured.
6. Re:Huh. by HarvardAce · 2005-03-09 07:11 · Score: 1
  
  I was speaking as to how most of the FF games have been Sony games
  The only thing Sony about these FF games are that they are designed for the Sony consoles. They were developed and produced by Squaresoft (Square Enix now). They are definitely NOT Sony games any more so than Half Life 2 is a Microsoft game.
  
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  Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
7. Re:Huh. by HarvardAce · 2005-03-09 07:16 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  How is that not "patting themselves on the back"?
  The OP was talking about how if they put Sony characters/games first, it would look like nothing more than shameless self promotion (since the Mall is owned by Sony). Since Halo isn't a Sony game, they aren't patting themselves on the back.
  which means it's nothing more that a popularity contest
  And the walk of fame is any better? Have you ever seen a list of the people in the walk of fame? Keanu Reeves? Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen?
  
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  Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
8. Re:Huh. by justforaday · 2005-03-09 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  Since Halo isn't a Sony game, they aren't patting themselves on the back.
  
  I'm sure the fact that Microsoft has a huge store upstairs at the Metreon has nothing to do with it either...
  
  note: nearly every store in the Metreon is a Sony store of some sort, with the exception of the MS store.
  
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9. Re:Huh. by necronom426 · 2005-03-09 07:33 · Score: 1
  
  Heck, any gamer (old or young) know who Mario and Link are and are at least familiar with Pong.
  
  Ermm, I'm not trying to be flamebait here, but I am 33 years old and have been playing computer games and programming since 1981 and I don't know who Link is.
  
  I would have thought that the really famous characters would have been picked. If I don't know who Link is, then I can guarantee that the general public won't have a clue.
10. Re:Huh. by gimpynerd · 2005-03-09 07:42 · Score: 1
  
  Seems all my peers know who Link is and a lot of them aren't gamers...but then again I'm half your age.
11. Re:Huh. by MilenCent · 2005-03-09 07:45 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Sony is actually fairly lacking in interesting characters, unless you count things like Ape Escape. Crash Bandicoot used to be well-identified with them, but not anymore, and anyway he was never owned by them.
  
  Snake is more accurately a Konami character (and remember that one MGS game has appeared on the Gamecube), and Final Fantasy is obviously Squeenix (and they make Final Fantasy games, or at least games that contain the words "Final Fantasy" in the title, for Gamecube, and ports of older FFs for GBA, among other systems).
12. Re:Huh. by HarvardAce · 2005-03-09 07:45 · Score: 1
  
  Ermm, I'm not trying to be flamebait here, but I am 33 years old and have been playing computer games and programming since 1981 and I don't know who Link is.
  This is what happens when you name the games after the girl you have to save instead of the hero. "Princess Toadstool 64" anyone?
  To the parent: You have heard of "Zelda", right? Link is the hero in those games. And this walk is meant for console gamers, not computer gamers.
  
  --
  Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
13. Re:Huh. by necronom426 · 2005-03-09 08:01 · Score: 1
  
  "Princess Toadstool 64" - nope, not heard of that one either.
  
  Zelda! Yep, that's more like it. I've never played it, but I've played a similar thing (The Speris Legacy on the Amiga). Thanks for clearing that up.
  
  I thought it must have been from an X-Box, Nintendo or Sega console as I've never had any of those.
  
  The only colsoles I've ever had are the Atari 2600, Playstation and PS2 (and when it's out a PS3). Apart from that is was all computers: Vic-20; C64; Amiga 500; Amiga 1200; PC.
14. Re:Huh. by superpulpsicle · 2005-03-09 08:30 · Score: 1
  
  I'd put Lara Croft in for nominee before Crash.
  
  IMHO she did more for the 3D action genre than Mario too. She made 3D games ok for adults. That's something both Mario and Crash couldn't do in the N64/PS2 first generation rivalry.
15. Re:Huh. by Doomstalk · 2005-03-09 15:24 · Score: 1
  
  And let's not forget that Final Fantasy started on a Nintendo console, and Metal Gear on Nintendo/Microsoft hardware (NES and MSX).
16. Re:Huh. by MilenCent · 2005-03-09 20:45 · Score: 1
  
  IMHO she did more for the 3D action genre than Mario too. She made 3D games ok for adults.
  
  I'll spare you the usual (and, for the record, accurate) comment about Mario games not being specifically for kids but rather being kind of "age agnostic." (While Crash looked like someone was trying too hard.)
  
  There was once a time when Lara Croft and Mario were seen as the two standard-bearers of the coming age of 3D gaming. Since then, Croft has become almost more well-known as an action movie character than game protagonist, while the basic control mechanic in Mario 64 has essentially defined what the term "3D platformers" means.
  
  So I suppose this means I disagree with you about what the Tomb Raider games "did" for the 3D action genre. While the games may have had sterling puzzle design in places, Lara's breasts tend to be what people remember about the series these days. Which is kind of a shame, as it not only set back what could be seen as a real prototype of the kind of dungeon play later found in the N64 Zelda games, but also the cause of female protagonists in games.
Straight from the horses mouth by curtisk · 2005-03-09 05:32 · Score: 4, Informative

Walk of Game website for more info and possible voting on 2006 nominees

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Sense of History? by Anonymous Coward · 2005-03-09 05:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

You know, when I first read the /. headline, I thought... "Cool. Nice to see some sense of history in the gaming biz."

But then I RTFA and came across this...

Bungie's masterpiece Halo became the first video game to have its own star on the Walk of Game - a riff on the Walk of Fame stars in Hollywood.

Give me a break. The number of games that are not only superior, but also of greater historical significance are too numerous to count.
Sense of history, indeed.
A Pong Paddle by OAB_X · 2005-03-09 06:02 · Score: 3, Funny

How would they get the pong paddle as a picture on the star? I mean, a vertical pipe?

ls | pong
1. Re:A Pong Paddle by FidelCatsro · 2005-03-09 06:05 · Score: 1
  
  in short
  like this | '|
  
  then this |. |
  
  --
  The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Re:Sense of History? Not! by cainpitt · 2005-03-09 06:21 · Score: 1

You are not kidding my friend. How about Id's masterpiece Wolfenstein 3D or Id's materpiece Doom? After all these games started the genre that made Halo such a "masterpiece" What significant contribution did Halo bring to games besides a reason to actually purchase an X-Box?
Re:Sense of History? Not! by HarvardAce · 2005-03-09 07:07 · Score: 1

How about Id's masterpiece Wolfenstein 3D or Id's materpiece Doom?
From TFA: "...the first-ever 'Walk of Game' stars for video games..."
Video games != computer games. Most people, when they talk of "video games," are talking about console games exclusively. The line is becoming less fine (for example, you can now find "Doom 3" for the PC on both the Video Games and Software sections of Amazon), but I think (and the recent inductees back this up) that this is geared toward consoles only.

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Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
Re:Bungie?!? by HarvardAce · 2005-03-09 07:23 · Score: 2, Interesting

However, I instantly discredit this thing if they put Halo as one of the best games ever.
Don't look at this as an assembly of the best games ever. Look at this as a "who's who in video games." Much like the walk of fame in Hollywood has just about every even moderately famous or popular actor/actress on it (Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, for example), this is really just a way to recognize the popular games/characters of the time. And whether you think it was a good game or not, it is one of the only successful FPS games available on a console.
I wonder if they've ever played Half-Life, Starcraft, Warcraft, Metroid, etc.
The first 3 are PC games, not video games. While the time when video game exclusively meant a console game has passed, I think the emphasis here is on console games. I'm sure Metroid/Samus will be there eventually, as will your Pokémon, Sonic, Final Fantasy, etc.

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Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
Re:Sense of History? Not! by Winterblink · 2005-03-09 07:59 · Score: 1

If you really want to argue semantics of this, lets take it way back to video gaming back before consoles, when video gaming was solely found in arcades. To that end, shouldn't we be seeing something like Pac Man getting a star?

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Once again... by neilyos · 2005-03-09 11:25 · Score: 2, Funny

Once again, Luigi gets the shaft.
1. Re:Once again... by MonkeyCookie · 2005-03-10 07:14 · Score: 1
  
  In the latest Paper Mario game, Luigi appears at one point and gripes about how Mario always gets to do the cool stuff while Luigi stays at home.
  
  So Luigi pretty much said "Screw Mario" (although in nicer words), and went out and found his own adventure with his own princess waiting to be rescued.