Shiggy!

Gamers have been saying it to each other in the flickering TV light since the late seventies, but a recent survey conducted as part of this year's Develop Conference has made it official. About nine thousand developers world wide were asked to nominate their personal favourite for Game Developer Hero, and legendary Japanese games designer Shigeru Miyamoto has scooped up the title. The "father of modern video games", hopefully now in receipt of a snazzy red cape, heads up an impressive list of acknowledged (and notorious) innovators like Will Wright, Peter Molyneux and Sid Meier, becoming the proud owner of yet another industry award by a significant majority.

Miyamoto-san's long association with Nintendo as a designer and later producer has resulted in an impressive list of classic titles including the original Donkey Kong arcade game, and thus the initial creation of Nintendo's most recognised mascots, the Super Mario Brothers. Add to that the Legend of Zelda series, along with more recent innovations like the phenomenal Nintendogs and quirky Pikmin series, and you can see why the poor man's mantelpieces are creaking under the weight of his various awards and honours. Still, who wouldn't be pleased with another one, especially when it comes along with the license to name yourself a hero?

The top ten contenders for the coveted title are listed below, along with the reasoning behind their nominations:

Shigeru Miyamoto: often referred to as ‘the father of modern video games’ for his role in creating legendary games franchises Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pikmin and F-Zero and titles such as Nintendogs and Wii Music John Carmack: cofounder of id Software and lead programmer on Doom and Quake Will Wright: co-founder of Maxis and brains behind SimCity and The Sims franchise and, more recently, Spore. He now runs entertainment think tank Stupid Fun Club Dave Jones: founder of Realtime Worlds (Crackdown, All Points Bulletin) and co-founder of Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), Jones created major game series Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto Sid Meier: founder of MicroProse and developer of Civilization. Second person to be inducted in the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame behind Shigeru Miyamoto Peter Molyneux, OBE - creator of God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous and Black & White, as well as Theme Park, Fable and Fable 2 David Braben: Brit programmer and founder of Frontier, Braben is best known for co-writing the hugely popular Elite. The studio’s work on The Outsider promises to deliver yet another ground-breaking title and a number of gameplay firsts Masaya Matsuura: famed for pushing the frontiers of computer music, Masaya took the games industry by storm with the release of PaRappa The Rapper, winning notable awards and changing the landscape of gaming forever Mike Morhaime: president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, the legendary creator of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo series and the world’s biggest MMORPG World of Warcraft Jonathan Blow: developer of award-winning title Braid	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
	Lemmings
	Fable 2

Jonathan Blow's inclusion is a nice nod to the indie gaming scene, but I was surprised to see so few Japanese names on the list - where's Hideo Kojima, for example, who alongside Miyamoto-san, holds a GDC Lifetime Achievement Award? Who else would you like to see honoured as a "hero" of the games industry?