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GameTrailers' Top Ten Game Creators. Bonus: Remembering Yokoi

Posted by Nadia Oxford

GameTrailers posted a countdown of the Top Ten Game Creators. It's a heartening list, even if there's some hardcore exclusions going on (Sid Meier? 'lo?), because it contains equal parts Japanese and non-Japanese developers. It's a strong testament to how gaming has become revered worldwide and is no longer just some loser hobby that once made frightened parents write to newspapers about Japanese mind control.

As gamers, we appreciate why this kind of diversity is important for the industry we love.

Fore666 said: sid meier, tim schafer, gabe newell,some of them should been on the list insted of all this japanese jerks


Well, I'm excited. I'm especially happy to see the inclusion of Gunpei Yokoi, whose contributions to gaming are nearly as significant as those of Miyamoto himself. Yokoi's death was early, extremely unfortunate and unfairly tainted by the Virtual Boy's crash and burn.

I often wonder what Yokoi would have had to contribute to the handheld community if he were still alive. Yokoi usually advocated simplicity over advanced technology. It didn't always send Nintendo where it needed to go, but the philosophy has served the company well in the handheld race. The gaming world initially made faces at the Nintendo DS' dual screens, and when the PSP was unveiled, the two side by side looked like a Pomeranian next to a Doberman. A few years later, someone's having the last laugh, and it isn't Sony.



It's interesting when you think about how much we value game designers now. When we were kids, we cared less who put together Super Mario Bros. We just knew it existed, and it was good enough for us. When I was eight years old, I never thought I'd ever put a face to “Inafking.”

Related Links:

Kid Icarus on Game Boy: Did Anyone Get To Play This?
Many Colors in the Hardcore Rainbow
Why God Why: More Saga Games on the Way

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