I would have to say that both Molyneux and Miyamoto are accorded positions far above where they belong on that list. I however will say that Molyneux is still above Miyamoto. Want a simple explanation the man tries harder. He has what the other lacks which is real drive to shape the industry. Like Fable of hate Fable, but it is fairly different, and it is actually a work in progress. Whereas Miyamoto is just tweaking old franchises. Sorry I refuse to give out cookies for a guy that is just waiting out the clock.
Speaking as to who I think belongs on top of the list I would have to say Dave Jones. This generation Crackdown was a big milestone in open world development. Perhaps qualifying as a unique new genre, or at least a well defined sub genre. The only real question being which genre would qualify. Regardless it has inspired a host of imitators, and has inspired a whole lot of creative design choices. Beyond that and frankly that should be enough.
He then went on to All Points Bulletin. Talk about taking a huge gamble. The space mangles games, and destroys game developers like no other. Then to do that while actually bringing something decidedly different. Holy shit it might seem to be stupid in hindsight, but had the game pulled it off. We would be talking about a double up in the coarse of a generation. Which is basically unheard of now.
So equal parts great success, and brazeness. Crackdown was audacious, and APB was even more audacious. Talk about pushing the envelope. I don't care that he failed on his second go. He actually dared to go, and he flew too high and got burned. Miyamoto would have never gone that far out of his comfort zone, and Molyneux would have just boasted he was going, and come back later saying he had to settle on Venus. Yeah I place a lot of value on having the stones for the simple reason that nobody has stones anymore. That is why we are waiting for new installments in franchises. When we should be looking for the next great new thing.
