thetonestarr on 20 August 2009
VOTING IS CLOSED.
All eligible votes HAVE been cast. Votes are being counted, the Results Thread is at the following URL:
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=84245
Follow that link to see the results!
In the original thread, we discussed everybody that should be nominated.
Now we're going to vote.
RULES:
The rules are simple. Look through the list and read the short descriptions of what each person is responsible for. Then, select who you personally believe to be the ten most important people to the videogaming industry, in order of most to least. Your votes will count for the following values:
| Choice # | Value |
| 1 | 15 |
| 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 6 |
| 6 | 5 |
| 7 | 4 |
| 8 | 3 |
| 9 | 2 |
| 10 | 1 |
Voting ends in one week - next Wednesday night at 12:00 Pacific. I want to allow for EVERYBODY to cast their votes - and I'd like to ask for EVERYBODY to vote, please, as well. I'm looking at you, VGChartz high staff.
After I will tally up all the votes. Then, I'll put together the final list with writeups. Presently, the plan is to feature the Industry's Top 25 after all is said and done.
RESTRICTIONS:
The only restriction to voting is that you must have been registered for at least a week (NOBODY registered after the creation of this thread is eligible), and you must have at least 50 posts in more than five threads. I make this restriction because I'd like to try weeding out as many cheaters as possible, but I still want it to be fair for newer members. If you don't yet meet the restrictions, you most likely will by the end of the week, so just work on it and be patient!
If there are any questions, I will be happy to clarify. Just let me know.
With that, let's begin!
NOMINEES:
| James Allard |
Oversees design and engineering in the Xbox and Xbox Live brands, |
| Michel Ancel | Designer for Ubisoft, responsible for much work behind the Rayman series and Beyond Good and Evil |
| Chris Avellone | Mostly RPG designer, worked on Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights 2, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout 2, and more |
| Cliff Bleszinski | Designer for Epic Games, worked heavily on the Unreal franchise, as well as Gears of War and Gears of War 2 |
| Dan Bunten | Early game designer, created many games widely regarded as "ahead of their time", such as M.U.L.E., Modem Wars, and Command HQ |
| Nolan Bushnell | Founder of Atari, responsible for design of the Atari 2600, also employed Steve Jobs and let him borrow parts to create Apple, Inc. |
| John Carmack | Founder of iD Software, responsible for the popularization of the FPS genre. Programmed Commander Keen, Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, and more. |
| Tom Chilton | Lead game designer for Blizzard and the World of Warcraft franchise |
| Doug Church | Game designer, has worked on franchises like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Deus Ex, and Tomb Raider |
| Richard Garriott | Designer, creator of the Ultima franchise, has worked on every Ultima game, also City of Heroes/Villains, and Tabula Rasa |
| Bill Gates | Founder and former CEO of Microsoft, responsible heavily for popularization and simplification of home PC usage |
| Ron Gilbert | Programmer, designed the LucasArts adventure game script SCUMM, worked on Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island franchises |
| Gary Gygax | Father of the "tabletop RPG" and possibly the entire RPG genre in general, started Gen Con |
| Trip Hawkins | Founder of Electronic Arts, the world's largest third-party videogame developer |
| Kazuo Hirai | current CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, partially responsible for the success of the Playstation and Playstation 2 |
| Yuuji Horii | Creator of the Dragon Quest series, has worked on every Dragon Quest title to date |
| Dan & Sam Houser | Responsible for turning the Grand Theft Auto series into the powerhouse titan that it is today |
| Seiichi Ishii | Game designer, helped create both the Virtua Fighter and Tekken franchises, has also worked on a variety of other franchises |
| Satoru Iwata | Current president of Nintendo, responsible for directing Nintendo into the DS and Wii ages, also worked on Earthbound and Kirby games |
| David Jaffe | Game director, worked on the Twisted Metal and God of War franchises, among others |
| Kenji Kaido |
Developer, has worked for Taito and Sony, responsible for work on |
| Hideki Kamiya |
Designer, formerly for Capcom and Clover, worked on Resident Evil |
| Makoto Kano | Game designer, creator of Metroid, has also worked on dozens of other Nintendo games across a variety of franchises |
| Jeff Kaplan | Game/map/world designer for the World of Warcraft franchise |
| Yoshinori Kitase | Videogame director and producer responsible for work on most mainline Final Fantasy titles and direct spinoffs, among others |
| Hideo Kojima | Created the Metal Gear franchise, popularized the stealth genre. Has also worked on a number of other franchises. |
| Koji Kondo | Video game composer responsible for music from all main Mario games, all Zelda titles, and many other Zelda flagship titles |
| Ken Kutaragi | Hardware designer, created part of the SNES chipset, also created the Playstation, known as the "Father of the Playstation brand" |
| Ken Levine | Founder of what is now 2K Boston, has worked on System Shock 2 and Bioshock, among a few others |
| Brad McQuaid | Designer responsible for a large portion of Everquest, also made Vanguard: Saga of Heroes |
| Bill Mensch | Early microprocessor developer, created processor families used in early Apple computers, as well as some Atari systems, the Commodore 64, and the NES, among others |
| Shinji Mikami | Developer, creator of the Resident Evil franchise, also helped in creation of Viewtiful Joe and Devil May Cry. |
| Shigeru Miyamoto | Artist turned developer and producer, created or helped create some of gaming's absolute best-selling franchises ever, such as Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, Star Fox, Pikmin, F-Zero, Nintendogs, and many more. |
| Sid Meier | Created or helped create/produce the Civilization series, Pirates!, Railroad Tycoon, and hundreds of other games. |
| Peter Molyneux | Developer, worked on Dungeon Keeper, the Fable series, The Movies series, Project Milo, and a few others |
| Peter Moore | Former COO of SEGA of America, responsible for discontinuation of Dreamcast and SEGA's success as a software developer, also former VP of the Xbox brand, current President of EA Sports |
| Michael Morhaime | President and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, creators of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo franchises |
| Yuji Naka | Lead programmer responsible for the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, former head of Sonic Team, now works for Naughty Dog |
| Gabe Newell | Creator and director of Valve software, developers of Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and more. |
| Tetsuya Nomura | Videogame designer responsible for a variety of work on Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and a few other games, such as Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG |
| Alexey Pajitnov | Created Tetris and the Tetris Company, as well as various Tetris spinoffs and Hexic HD. Considered the "father of the puzzle genre" |
| Rob Pardo | Executive VP of game design at Blizzard, has worked on nearly all Blizzard games, and all Blizzard franchises, as well as work on the Mortal Kombat Trilogy |
| Chuck Peddle | Designed microprocessing chip used in the Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari's 8-bit computers, and a number of other computers |
| Ted Price | President/CEO of Insomniac, worked on the Spyro series, Ratchet and Clank series, and the Resistance franchise |
| Frédérick Raynal | Designer, created Alone in the Dark, as well as Little Big Adventure (not to be confused with LBP), and a few other games |
| Jason Rubin | Co-founder of Naughty Dog, creator of the Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter franchises, as well as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune |
| Hironobu Sakaguchi | Creator of Final Fantasy, has worked on nearly two-dozen Final Fantasy titles, as well as Chrono Trigger, Blue Dragon, and more |
| Masahiro Sakurai | Director of Sora Ltd and Project Sora, considered the main creative force behind most Kirby titles, as well as the Super Smash Bros. series |
| Tim Schafer | Worked on SCUMM, Maniac Mansion, and the Monkey Island franchise, also wrote and designed Grim Fandango and Psychonauts |
| Bruce Shelley | Developer, helped design Sid Meier's Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Age of Empires franchises |
| Warren Spector | Game designer, popularly known for the Wing Commander and Deus Ex franchises, as well as work on the Ultima series, System Shock, and more |
| Brett Sperry | Designer, founder of Westwood Studios, designed dozens of games, best known for the Command and Conquer franchise |
| Chris & Tim Stamper | Founders of RARE, producers of the Donkey Kong Country games, Goldeneye 007, Viva Piñata, and many other games. |
| Bill Stealey | Cofounded MicroProse, as the source of funds, with Sid Meier, who he produced over 400 games with |
| Goichi Suda | CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture, developers of various unique titles such as killer7, Fatal Frame VI, No More Heroes, and others. |
| Yu Suzuki | Game designer/producer, worked for SEGA and helped create Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop, Shenmue, After-Burner, and dozens of other games |
| Satoshi Tajiri | Game designer, mastermind behind the Pokémon franchise |
| Takashi Tezuka | General Manager of Nintendo EAD, has worked on a variety of games in the Mario, Zelda, Pikmin, and Animal Crossing franchises |
| Akira Toriyama | Character designer responsible for all Dragonball characters, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon, among others |
| Fumito Ueda | Video game director and designer, responsible for Ico and Shadow of the Colossus |
| Nobuo Uematsu | Videogame music composer/musician, created music for dozens of games, most notably in the Final Fantasy franchise |
| Masayuki Uemura | Hardware designer, led the team that created the NES, SNES, NES Zapper, and a variety of other Nintendo peripherals, as well as some Nintendo games |
| Ken & Roberta Williams | Founders of Sierra On-line, known for dozens of early PC games, as well as the Dynamix brand, and the original publishers of Half-Life |
| Will Wright | Video game designer to thank for most of the design behind Sim City, Sim Farm, Sim Ant, Sim Tower, The Sims, and Spore, among others. |
| Hiroshi Yamauchi | Third president of Nintendo, made the decision for Nintendo to move beyond playing cards to other ventures, guiding it smoothly into videogames. |
| Kazunori Yamauchi | Video game designer, creator of the Gran Turismo series. Has worked on all Gran Turismo games. |
| Gunpei Yokoi | Video game and hardware designer. Created handheld gaming itself through the Game and Watch, Game Boy, Virtual Boy, Wonderswan. Also produced Metroid. |
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