Walk of Game

Shape History!

The nominees for the 2006 Walk of Game inductions have been announced and voting is now open from October 1st-31st. Sony’s Metreon is a 350,000 square foot venue billed as an entertainment destination where visitors can virtual bowl in lanes the size of houses, shop, dine, game, and watch movies in the West Coast’s largest IMAX theatre. It also houses the Walk of Game, where leaders in the gaming industry are presented with 2×2 foot squares bearing their name (much like being granted a star on the Walk of Fame). Every year, gamers worldwide cast their votes in favour of the game developers and for the game characters (!) that they feel have made their mark on the industry.

Last year saw Nolan Bushnell (the creator of Pong and industry pioneer) and Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario Bros. and the Legend of Zelda) receive lifetime achievement awards; the games Sonic the Hedgehog and Halo get the game kudos; and Link and Mario grab the character honours.

This year sees and equally strong field of nominees. My personal picks? For lifetime achievement I think it would be difficult to ignore the impact that Will Wright’s The Sims has had. Just look at all the variations it spawned. There’s always a soft spot in my gamer heart for the classics though, and I would like to see Toru Iwatani get the nod for Pac-Man. For the games, I think it fair to see Quake get in, as well as Pong, the game that started it all. Characters? Gotta be Lara Croft, who single-handedly spearheaded the rise of in-game characters as pin-up models, and Samus Aran of the Metroid series.