In 1977, a young Iwatani began as a programmer for a computer software company called Namco, and designed the 1978 and 79 arcade releases Gee Bee, Bomb Bee, and Cutie-Q. That's right, folks - Toru Iwatani is the creative genius behind the phenomenon known as Pac-Man. and it was all because of Shakeys Pizza (and girls). It was Iwatani-sama's innovation that helped videogames achieve their current level of popularity. Toru Iwatani is a god among men in the gaming industry. "When comes together well, there is very little that is more gratifying," Boon told Edge Magazine in 2006. He has reinvented the series from its simplistic roots into a deep, well-rounded fighter that's seen upgrades that include everything from the use of weapons and fully-realized quest modes to online head-to-head match-ups and fighters with dynamically-switching fighting styles - and audiences continue to eat it up. Though John Tobias left the Midway team in 2000, Boon has continued to create and oversee each new Mortal Kombat project. At its height, Mortal Kombat was such a popular and influential fighter that even Midway itself started ripping its own game off, joining the already-sizeable number of clones that tried to capitalize on the MK formula (War Gods anyone?). In fact, it was the heavily-criticized emphasis on blood and gore that spawned the first real debate on violence in videogames that also led to the eventual creation of a rating system to help inform parents about which games may be suitable for their kids. Sporting a dissimilar combat engine, block button and the innovative "Fatality" match-enders, the violent puncher created or seriously influenced many gaming trends that still stand today - not just in the genre, but the industry as a whole. The explanation behind the MK sensation? It was an entirely different experience from Street Fighter altogether. John Tobias and Ed Boon were tapped as the men who could pull it off - with Tobias handling much of the design and Boon wielding his programmer's wand to create the overnight success, Mortal Kombat. It all started when Midway decided to capitalize on the success of eventual rival Capcom and its blockbuster slugger, Street Fighter II, by creating a unique fighting game of its own. If you considered yourself the latter, then you have Ed Boon to thank for it. In the heyday of arcade fighters, there were two kinds of people: those who played Street Fighter and those who played Mortal Kombat. A member of the Computer Museum Hall of Fame, a Lifetime Achievement Award winner from the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an all around nice guy with a fierce loyalty towards his friends and his company, Sid Meier is the ideal role model for any aspiring game designer. And let us not forget about Sid's other successes like his Pirates remake or the latest game to bear his name, Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution - a title that brought an interesting console-specific spin to a game that was classically designed for PCs.Ĭurrently the Director of Creative Development at Firaxis, Sid's genius and influence is still going strong. After all, no one does the 4X game like Sid Meier does - just look to titles like Alpha Centauri, Civilization III, and Civilization IV to prove it. Meier had already been bought out of MicroProse by Stealey before Civilization II was released, but his new company, Firaxis Games, has produced a steady stream of instant classics for more than decade. Meier became synonymous with series like Railroad Tycoon, Colonization and Civilization. Meier's list of gaming accomplishments doesn't end there. Spitfire Ace, F-15 Strike Eagle, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Silent Service, and Sid Meier's Pirates are just a handful of his acclaimed works. Meier and, then-US Air Force Major, Bill Stealey formed MicroProse in 1982 working on a string of strategy hits and launching more than a few famous names from the company's ranks. With almost 30 years of experience creating games, Sid Meier is rightly considered one of the founding fathers of American computer games.
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