influential
Latest
Shigeru Miyamoto back for round two -- nominated for 2008 Time 100
We imagine that Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of some of the most recognizable intellectual properties on the planet, doesn't like coming in second place -- let alone ninety-second place. Unfortunately for the banjo-plucking game designer, that was the case in last year's Time 100 list, when Shiggy, sandwiched between the world's fifth richest man and the author of "The Secret", nearly didn't make the cut. Though his pride was surely bruised, Miyamoto wasn't discouraged by the low ranking -- he merely stepped up his game, providing oversight for some of last year's best-selling Wii titles. Perhaps that's why he's been nominated for the 2008 Time 100 list, where dedicated Nintendo fanboys have pushed the eccentric designer to number 27 -- somewhere between Michael Cera and Oprah. Your votes can help propel the father of modern video gaming to the top of the list, a position currently held by a certain precipitationally-named Korean pop star. Unless, of course, you're anti-Shiggy -- but who could you say "no" to that adorable face?
Miyamoto nominated again for Time 100
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Help_Make_it_Happen_Miyamoto_Nominated_Again_for_Time_100'; It's that time of year again, folks -- the point at which we implore you to help us shamelessly rig an internet poll so that Nintendo design guru and all-round hero Shigeru Miyamoto can climb as high as possible in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people.The Shigster is amongst 207 names to be shortlisted for the final Time 100, and currently lies in 25th spot, after coming ninth last year. At the time of writing he's sandwiched between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (who, as a self-made billionaire of 24, we find eminently punchable) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the assassinated Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto.On his profile page, the magazine mentions the usual Miyamoto achievements (Donkey Kong, Mario, father of modern videogaming, etc.), but also refers to Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit, and ponders whether the latter will help "reverse gravity for all the obese, video game–playing kids out there." If it does, we'd say that's worthy of a top five spot next year![Via Eurogamer]
MacTech's 25 most influential, version 2007
MacTech has released their MacTech 25 for the second year in a row-- it's a list of the top 25 most influential people in the Mac community (as selected by the community itself), and it reads like a who's who of people doing great stuff : John Gruber, the suave-looking Aaron Hillegass and Brent Simmons all make return appearances. This year they chose everyone who's ever programmed for MarsEdit (as Daniel Jalkut is happy to say), not to mention both co-founders of Rogue Ameoba, Paul Kafasis and Alex Lagutin.Who's missing? Anyone from Apple-- MacTech specifically left them off the list to make sure they didn't hog the Spotlight, so to speak. They say that Apple employees are allowed to be put in the Honorable Mentions section, but as far as I can tell, while Leo Laporte, David Pogue and Merlin Mann all made it, no one from Apple actually did. Better get cracking on those influencing techniques for next year, guys.
Miyamoto makes the print version of Time 100
We all knew that Shigeru Miyamoto would rank pretty highly on the online version of Time magazine's list of the most influential people; after all, it was people like us determining the rank.What's surprising is that Miyamoto also appears in the print version of the Time list, which was not determined by Internet polling, but by Time magazine editors, who probably know a little more about who's influential in the world. This one isn't ranked hierarchically; the fact that Miyamoto is #92 out of 100 is only because he's categorized in the last section, "Builders and Titans." Put down your torches.Strangely, the piece about Miyamoto is written by Johnathan "Fata1ty" Wendel, who, as a competitive PC gamer, seems pretty far removed from the fun-for-all Wii phenomenon. He's also possibly the first Time writer with a part-1337 name.
Miyamoto ends up at #9 on the Time 100
An expert team of historians and sociologists have finished their initial research, and have determined that Shigeru Miyamoto is the 9th most influential person of the year. We're totally kidding about the experts and the research-- it was just a web poll. Rather than taking the time to go down the top 8 and make fun of them, we'll leave the baffling revelation of who made the cut as an exercise for you. You'll be surprised, and kind of confused! Maybe even a little disgusted!
Is Nintendogs the most 'important' DS game?
The folks at GamePro have put together a pretty interesting feature listing their picks for the top 52 most important games ever. These aren't necessarily the best games, or the best-selling games, but their choices for those titles that have been the most influential on gaming as a whole. And while we're sure many of their picks will be questioned and debated to the point of exhaustion, we're really only interested in one small part of the list -- that is, the only DS title to make the cut. Nintendogs weighs in at #44. Does this mean it's the most influential of all DS games? Since it's the only one on the list, it would seem so, and while we agree that Nintendogs certainly advanced gaming, we might argue that since the franchise draws heavily on both Animal Crossing and the digital pet phenomenon, it's hard to see Nintendogs as a "focusing lens" that forever changed gaming. Does that mean Nintendogs did nothing new? Of course it did. But the idea of a needy digipet existed long before Nintendo popularized the portable pooches with their array of titles. GamePro says "first" doesn't matter -- it's being the folks that do it right that matters -- Nintendogs certainly did a lot of things right, but is it the most important game on the DS? It's an interesting question.And we have a question of our own -- where's Brain Age? The game that started the training phenomenon is easily equally influential, or perhaps even more so. But we won't argue; rather, we admire the effort that goes into such a list, and after skimming the comments on the article, we don't envy the flood of angry e-mails that are surely flowing into the mailboxes of the writers.
