Thanksgiving Special: Top 10 gaming industry people who deserve the thanks

Whether it’s Turkey Day or Christmas, we feel the need to thank the greatest figures in video game history for their contributions that made gaming as fun as it is today. For decades, we’ve seen creative minds emerge and bring forward games that amaze the world, but they don’t get much recognition. But now, we have enough time to list down some of the greatest geniuses behind phenomenal landmarks like Mario, Wolfenstein 3D, and even The Sims.

Whether it’s Turkey Day or Christmas, we feel the need to thank the greatest figures in video game history for their contributions that made gaming as fun as it is today. For decades, we’ve seen creative minds emerge and bring forward games that amaze the world, but they don’t get much recognition. But now, we have enough time to list down some of the greatest geniuses behind phenomenal landmarks like Mario, Wolfenstein 3D, and even The Sims.

We’ll be paying our respects to people from the industry who deserve gratitude after the work they’ve done – from pioneers of programming techniques that became crucial to game development, to masters of breaking new grounds in game design who captured the masses – that none other could come up with.

   

John Carmack
You’re not “1337” enough unless you’re John Carmack, even if you’ve been gaming since he made Wolfenstein 3D possible. Apart from being hardcore enough to do some coding during his honeymoon, id Software’s co-founder and lead programmer also deserves the props for Doom and Quake. His programming genius led to innovations in 3D graphics, and those who work with him will tell you how Carmack’s programming skill is difficult (if not impossible) to match.

Will Wright
Before the Nintendo Wii captivated hearts of casual gamers, Will Wright’s The Sims reached beyond pimple-faced teenagers to become the best selling PC game in history. One of the rare gems you can share with your mother or girl friend was about simulating virtual lives made fun by Wright.

Some complain about having too many expansions for The Sims games, but let’s face it – millions of people have this man to thank for countless hours of entertainment. The anticipation surrounding Wright’s next big title, Spore, just shows how people know this guy can deliver.

Yu Suzuki
Arcade fans who skipped school and did extra chores for money just to have enough credits to beat Virtua Cop or OutRun can blame Yu Suzuki. He started off as a humble programmer who joined Sega before introducing the world’s first ever 3D fighting game that we know as Virtua Fighter. Many of his other works went on to influence gaming as we know it.

One of the big titles he made, Shenmue for the Dreamcast, while considered as overly ambitious used Quick Time Events before high profile titles like Resident Evil 4 and God of War even picked up the twitch-based mechanic that kept players on their toes. The “Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment” genre Suzuki wanted to popularize via the U.S. million game may not have worked, but parts of it can be seen in most sandbox style games.

  

Richard Garriott
Lord British, as fans of the long-running role-playing game series Ultima would know, has been creating immersive worlds for almost three decades. While Japan had the oddities of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, the west grew to love the RPG genre thanks to Ultima‘s vast universe that spans over numerous games and spin-offs.

When you look at World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, or other MMORPGs, you gotta hand it to Garriott’s Ultima Online for laying the foundation of taking adventures online with hundreds of other friends. Korea’s much loved MMORPG, Lineage, was also produced by Lord British.

Shinji Mikami
Survival horror, hack ‘n slash, beat ’em up, courtroom action – name any of Capcom’s specialties, and Mikami’s probably part of it. After proving how video games can send some scares with Resident Evil, this former planner has become a vital producer, director, and game designer in Capcom’s roster.

Many fan favorites like Devil May Cry, Dino Crisis, Viewtiful Joe, and even cult favorite God Hand can be credited to him. Some may argue that he didn’t create survival horror or sword-and-gun action, but he sure created the best entries to those categories.

Nobuo Uematsu
It took sweat and blood to make this choice since we have plenty of favorites when it comes to video game music. There’s Koji Kondo from Nintendo who made Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda worlds much more fun to explore, Yasunori Mitsuda who chiseled Chrono Cross‘ score to perfection, and many others whose talents we’ve seen and heard, but one shall prevail. Let it be Nobuo Uematsu, the man of Final Fantasy fame who’s got diverse music that encompasses all genres and even owns a band.

Uematsu is the type we’d call a living legend after providing us with years of astounding melodies. He has been a strong force in Final Fantasy titles as a composer that never failed to provoke emotions no matter what technical limitation there is. One of his greatest songs, Final Fantasy VIII‘s theme song Eyes on Me, even received “Song of the Year” award at the Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards and proved video game music is worth praising after selling over 400,000 copies.

   

Ken Kutaragi
The “Father of the PlayStation” is, without a doubt, among the most revered in the industry. His valiant efforts to convince Sony that gaming isn’t a fad paid off in spades, and the PlayStation brand which development he spearheaded dominated the scene for more than a decade.

Kutaragi was known as an excellent problem solver and an engineer who planned ahead, so he was entrusted with important research projects by Sony. Soon enough, he became chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment International (SCEI) after leading the corporation’s gaming division for years. Some gamers may not know about his contributions, but many others would never have picked up a game console in the first place without the platforms he provided.

Hironobu Sakaguchi
Known as the father of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi has 80 million units of video games sold under his belt. Before he founded Mistwalker, Sakaguchi created the franchise that turned Square from a small from a company near bankruptcy to one of the leading forces in the game industry.

For years to come, Sakaguchi led Final Fantasy to stardom and played a major role as Squaresoft’s Executive Vice President. He was also involved with other big hits such as Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve, Brave Fencer Musashi, Kingdom Hearts, and many others before resigning to start his own company. Now under Microsoft’s backing, Sakaguchi’s Mistwalker released the critically acclaimed Blue Dragon and is expected to dish out more big titles to improve the Xbox 360’s library of RPGs.

Shigeru Miyamoto
Nintendo Company Ltd.’s front man needs no introduction, and you should be ashamed if the name doesn’t even ring a bell. When the video game industry suffered from the 1983 crash, it was Miyamoto who came up with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda to prove that there was love for gaming, and the Nintendo Entertainment System had the goods to deliver.

From the iconic moustached plumber, Miyamoto went on to create other endearing classics like Star Fox and F-Zero. Aside from other smash hits like Pikmin and Nintendogs, most of the biggest Nintendo titles are also often related to this man, either as director or producer.

 

Hideo Kojima
Much like Solid Snake in his near impossible missions, Kojima was lucky enough to pull off his Metal Gear game despite negative criticism of his ideas by Konami Digital higher ups. Since then, as we all know, the notorious hide-and-seek title originally for the MSX spawned the popular Metal Gear Solid series. With the innovations Kojima brought to the table, the experience MGS games deliver has become a holy grail for game designers.

It was Metal Gear Solid that introduced the world to the magic of combining cinematic elements to video games, and showcased how superb voice acting can make the difference. Don’t be surprised if a Kojima game asks you to play literally under the sun, tell you to switch controllers, or even command to turn your console off; it’s perfectly normal.

Honorable mentions:

Tomonobu Itagaki
Any fan would’ve included Tomonobu Itagaki in this list, but we had to settle for ten. That, and some statements of this guy can ruin Thanksgiving for other gamers (don’t worry, we don’t think Tekken sucks).

Controversial remarks aside, Itagaki has proven his worth as Team Ninja’s leader by giving us pure dosage of action in Ninja Gaiden and eye-candy babes in Dead or Alive. Itagaki’s mantra in developing video games involve violence, sex appeal, and pushing gaming platforms to the limit – what more can you ask for?

Yasumi Matsuno
After working on Ogre Battle titles, Yasumi Matsuno joined Square and directed development of games that garnered praise from both gamers and critics alike. Two of his projects, Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII, surprised everyone with fresh mechanics and received perfect 40/40 scores from Famitsu.

Matsuno’s name isn’t thrown around as often as other Japanese developers, but those who know him are aware of his genuine ideas and realize how much respect he deserves. Even Square Enix’ premiere series of games, the Ivalice Alliance, wouldn’t have been possible without Matsuno’s immersive worlds that had intriguing political twists.