Walk of Game honors Nolan Bushnel

[sku_u]

The first ever physical landmark to commemorate videogames honors 2 true icons in the world of gaming: Nolan Bushnel and Shigeru Miyamoto. This walk which is meant to mimick Hollywood's famous walk of fame is situated in San Francisco. You can learn more about it Here:

 

http://walkofgame.com/about.htm

 

It's about time the videogame industry got something like this and with the exception of Ralph Baer, I can't think of any two people more perfect as the first two lifetime achievement inductees than the two who got in this year.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Steve Russel designed Space War, which is what got Nolan interested in the first place. I would also say old Willy Higenbotham (sp) should be on there too. He is the one who has the honors of being the FIRST ever game designer (although it was a science "fair" project rather than a game).

 

And then you get into the guys at Atari...man this would be hard to pick. Al Alcorn better be on there, too. Dont forget who "stella" belonged to either!

 

Fantastic they are getting their rightful places.

 

Cassidy

[Red 5]

Another story on it here:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/03/...e.ap/index.html

[vdub_bobby]

The first ever physical landmark to commemorate videogames honors 2 true icons in the world of gaming: Nolan Bushnel and Shigeru Miyamoto.  This walk which is meant to mimick Hollywood's famous walk of fame is situated in San Francisco.  You can learn more about it Here:

http://walkofgame.com/about.htm

The complete list of inductees is:

Nolan Bushnell

Shigeru Miyamoto

Halo

Link

Mario

Sonic the Hedgehog

 

Um, Halo? I've never played it, so maybe I'm missing something, but you have one of the founders of the entire video game industry, one of the most influential and successful game designers, two of the most enduring video game characters of all time, another extremely popular video game character who was in numerous games, and...a 4-yr old game that has one sequel? As far as I was aware, Halo didn't really break any new ground; it just was really really awesome.

 

Anyone shed any light on why Halo deserves this honor? The little blurb here (http://walkofgame.com/inductees.htm) didn't give me a lot of clues.

 

And as far as I can tell, these are the first 6 inductees.

[+Nathan Strum]

The complete list of inductees is:

Nolan Bushnell

Shigeru Miyamoto

Halo

Link

Mario

Sonic the Hedgehog

 

Ooookay. So they're going to skip Ralph, Steve and Willy, and put Halo in there?

 

Not even Pac-Man?

 

Well, if they want it to be like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, then they've succeeded.

 

The Hollywood Walk of Fame nominees have to be submitted with a $15,000 "sponsorship" fee. Then the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce chooses who gets added. They claim this is based on "1.  Professional achievement, 2.  Longevity of five years in the field of entertainment, 3.  Contributions to the community", but what it usually boils down to is whether or not they have a new project to promote, and how much a studio is willing to contribute beyond the sponsorship fee.

 

It is Hollywood, after all.

 

So I'm sure this is pretty similar. After all, Sony is the one behind all this.

[sku_u]

So I'm sure this is pretty similar. After all, Sony is the one behind all this.

If that's the case then it makes even less sense that Halo, 3 Nintendo icons and an Atari icon would be included and that none of the inductees have any affiliation to Sony.

[rolenta]

I went to the walk of game website and I'm glad to see they correctly acknowledged Nolan as the "Father of the Videogame Industry". Now maybe the mainstream press who see this and wonder who the "Fathe rof Videogames" is.

[PaulEMoz]

So I'm sure this is pretty similar. After all, Sony is the one behind all this.

If that's the case then it makes even less sense that Halo, 3 Nintendo icons and an Atari icon would be included and that none of the inductees have any affiliation to Sony.

 

Yep, that blows a big, wide hole in that particular

[vdub_bobby]

I don't think there's any real conspiracy here...just a poorly designed process (as usual with these kind of things):

Every year, gamers worldwide select six inductees to receive a permanent star on the Walk of Game. Inductees to date are: Nolan Bushnell, Shigeru Miyamoto, Halo, Link (The Legend of Zelda), Mario, and Sonic The Hedgehog.

 

Each October, www.WalkOfGame.com accepts votes in the categories of Game/Character and Lifetime Achievement. The top four Games/Characters and the top two lifetime achievers are inducted into Walk Of Game and have a 24"x 24", customized, stainless steel star installed on the floors of Metreon.

 

The list of nominees is compiled from a survey of industry members, and technology, entertainment, and gaming media. SCA Interactive, a leader in online promotions, powers the Walk of Game voting interface.

From here: http://walkofgame.com/about.htm

 

So, actually, I'm pleasantly surprised that with apparently open voting (?) they have such a quality first class of inductees.

 

On the other hand, the baseball HOF has been around since the 1930s, you'd think people would learn from their (many, many, MANY) mistakes. Oh well. The HOF hasn't.

[+Nathan Strum]

So I'm sure this is pretty similar. After all, Sony is the one behind all this.

If that's the case then it makes even less sense that Halo, 3 Nintendo icons and an Atari icon would be included and that none of the inductees have any affiliation to Sony.

 

I should've been more clear.

 

It has less to do with Sony as a rival, than Sony as a company. At some point, Sony will find a way to profit (and push its own products) through this.

 

Halo is a Microsoft product, and money speaks. That's why it's in there.

 

(At least that's my conspiracy theory, and I'm sticking to it.)

[PaulEMoz]

I should've been more clear.

 

It has less to do with Sony as a rival, than Sony as a company. At some point, Sony will find a way to profit (and push its own products) through this.

 

Halo is a Microsoft product, and money speaks. That's why it's in there.

 

(At least that's my conspiracy theory, and I'm sticking to it.)

 

As will they all. They're all in it for the money, even Nintendo. Nintendo aren't in it because they love you, or because they want to make people happy. They're in it to make as much money as possible, and if this helps them, they'll be all for it.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Shouldn't it be the Master Chief instead of Halo? If they are doing characters then Halo isn't one, and if it was the ringworld that was nominated, well that concept existed long before the game did.

 

Either way, at least two real people that have made a true difference in video games are on there. Individuals like Eugene Jarvis and HSW should go up there as well.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

No edit

 

Never mind, I didn't catch the game category there before posting. Even still Halo isn't the best game ever made.

[Lord Helmet]

I gotta agree with you guys. I love Halo, but it has no business being recognized like this. Especially with so many games out there that are more deserving.

[Red 5]

While I agree that there are many games that should be in the Hall of Fame before Halo, I think they may have been trying to put a modern game in there to attract all generations of gamers.

 

And like Halo or hate it, it's hard to argue with this:

 

Thursday 11th November 2004

HALO 2 IS 'BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCH EVER'

 

10:52 Halo 2 raked in over $125 million in its first day on sale in the US, making it the most successful entertainment launch ever.

That means it's been more successful than any movie or music release in history. To put things in perspective, the highest grossing movie at the US box office ever - Titanic - took $600 million during the course of its screen run. Halo 2 has taken over a sixth of this in one day.

 

The news will come as sweet validation to Xbox corporate vice president Peter Moore, who boldly stated on Tuesday that he was "calling a $100 million day on Halo 2."

 

But even he seems stunned by the actual takings: "The first 24 hours of Halo 2 sales have taken our breath away."

 

US retailers had 1.5 million pre-orders totalling around $78 million for Halo 2 and by the end of the first day an additional 900,000 copies were shifted.

[video game addict]

To the kids that cut their teeth on SNES & above, alot of those people are really unknowns to them. Eugene Jarvis, Jeff Minter, David Crane, HSW, who??

[PaulEMoz]

To the kids that cut their teeth on SNES & above, alot of those people are really unknowns to them.   Eugene Jarvis, Jeff Minter, David Crane, HSW, who??  

 

All the more reason to have such luminaries included in any kind of Hall of Fame. It might encourage them to dig further into the history of videogames, and history is what any Hall of Fame is really about.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

I agree. While many people and games from the early days of video games may not be famous on the level of Halo/Halo 2, Halo would not exist if it weren't for them. Had Halo been released 7-8 years ago I doubt it'd be as big as it is now, it'd probably be like Goldeneye was, popular at the time, all but forgotten now. The market has grown a lot in the past few years and that has helped Halo. Doesn't make it one of the most influential games of all time just yet. Let's look at games that have helped influence Halo/Halo 2:

 

Being a FPS: Wolf 3D, Doom, Quake and if you go bakc far enough, Berzerk

Vehicles: Shadow Warrior (ok, not to the same extent as Halo but they were there)

Battling against aliens: pick and choose your sci-fi story that involves that

Ringworlds: can't remember the names, but from some sci-fi novels. I also recall the game (I think it was the Daedulus Encounter) had a ringworld in it

Choosing different characters: Alien Vs. Predator (Jaguar)

Dual Wielding: Rise of The Triads

Multiplayer deathmatch: Doom, could go as far back as Warlords.

 

I'm probably missing some games, but the overall point is that Halo isn't exactly original and it takes elements from many other titles that came before it. Now I enjoy it as much as the next guy, it is a great game, it's execution is well done, the story and the way it tells it was one of it's best features. Still, there are many other games that should be recognized before Halo is.

[vdub_bobby]

Ringworlds: can't remember the names, but from some sci-fi novels.

I haven't played Halo and I don't know what the "Ringworlds" in the game are, but Larry Niven wrote a fantastic book called, surprise, "Ringworld" in 1977.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...ef=ed_oe_h&st=*