GamePro's 18th Most Influential Person in Gaming is...

[<subject name here>]

For their 20th anniversary, GamePro is making several top 20 lists, including the top 20 best games ever made, and the top 20 most influential people in gaming. And at number 18 for the most influential people in gaming list is Todd Howard, above Ed Boon of Mortal Kombat fame (19) and Brian Crescente, one of the editors of Kotaku (20).

http://www.gamepro.com/microsites/twentyyrs/

 

[Eternal]

To be honest, as much as I like Brian C I dunno if he deserves to be up there, Kotaku has done a lot of amazing stuff for gaming journalism but there are def 20+ people more deserving in the industry. And Todd Hardwood doesn't deserve to be in the top 50.

Ed Boon eh... top 30 maybe...

5caps says Miyamoto is either #1 or at least in the top 3.

 

[Trithne]

I can't bring myself to watch that interview. What's with video interviews anyway? Give me text anyday.

Toddy is not influential. Except possibly for providing the influence to destroy RPGs forever.

If both Chris Taylors, Avellone, and Warren Spector are not in that list, I may be forced to hurt myself.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

GamePro is crap, I subscribed to them at one point, stopped, and resubscribed a few years later and they had gone even further downhill. I take what they have to say with a grain of salt (as usual).

5caps says Miyamoto is either #1 or at least in the top 3.

Yep, he's going to be and he deserves to be up there. I really don't know individuals who really belong up there, I can't say that I follow individuals in the industry too much.

Rogue should be on their top20 (influential I'm assuming?) games but I'm doubtful given that they have Portal at #20, a game which hasn't been around long enough to show how influential it is. Dragon Quest also deserves a spot, though I'm guessing it will go to Final Fantasy instead. Ultima and/or Wizardry deserve a spot. Doom probably deserves a spot, though they could go with an earlier FPS and be fine as well. SF2 probably deserves it's spot, can't think of any fighting game that deserves it over it, though they incorrectly call both Double Dragon and Kung Fu fighting games. Their statement that RE4 set the stage for modern TPS games is a bit absurd, it had terrible combat controls and I haven't seen it really influence any game directly besides RE5.

 

[BlackJAC]

Whilst I can fully understand people on here having issues with Todd Howard's handling of a certain Fallout title, i don't understand why that suddenly makes him an unworthy candidate when it comes to these sort of lists. After all, he was the main driving force behind both Morrowind and Daggerfall. Two truly outstanding games that most game developers would agree stood head and shoulders above the majority of the competition when they were released.

Whilst Oblivion isn't on my all time favourite list no one can deny the impact that particular title had on gaming.

 

[Trithne]

I'm fairly sure that around the time of daggerfall, Todd was something like the coffee boy.

Their lists are terrible, it feels like I personally have a better understanding of the past 20 years of gaming than the entire gamepro staff.

Rogue should definitely be in that list.

 

[TheGM]

Ed Boon wel did make a sub=par fighting game super popular by putting blood in it....then every game after needed blood.

Moving on.

I can't bring myself to watch that interview. What's with video interviews anyway? Give me text anyday.

Toddy is not influential. Except possibly for providing the influence to destroy RPGs forever.

If both Chris Taylors, Avellone, and Warren Spector are not in that list, I may be forced to hurt myself.

Why hurt yourself when you can hurt others.
Sure Todd was part of some big hits but I know those names where part of some true classics.

Doom probably deserves a spot, though they could go with an earlier FPS and be fine as well. SF2 probably deserves it's spot, can't think of any fighting game that deserves it over it, though they incorrectly call both Double Dragon and Kung Fu fighting games. Their statement that RE4 set the stage for modern TPS games is a bit absurd, it had terrible combat controls and I haven't seen it really influence any game directly besides RE5.

1: Well there where a couple before Doom. Doom stared the mad craze to make all those FPS games.
2: thats just wrong. Somebody needs to be hurt for tghat one.
3: Just Gears of War and it's knock offs. But still RE4 is just the same old clunky tank controlls with a camera over the shoulder instead of a Pre-rendered spot. Thats why it never makes sense when people called it "new". RE5(aka RE4.2) was just as clunky and sometimes worse then 4. REmake is still the best.

Whilst I can fully understand people on here having issues with Todd Howard's handling of a certain Fallout title, i don't understand why that suddenly makes him an unworthy candidate when it comes to these sort of lists. After all, he was the main driving force behind both Morrowind and Daggerfall. Two truly outstanding games that most game developers would agree stood head and shoulders above the majority of the competition when they were released.

Whilst Oblivion isn't on my all time favourite list no one can deny the impact that particular title had on gaming.

Like Trithne said, he was none entity for Daggerfall. Morrowind. Never played it but so I can't comment.

Hell I own Oblivion and played the hell out of it. But it is nothing more then a FP-Golden Axe. Hell...Fatal Labrynth is a deeper RPG then it.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

1: Well there where a couple before Doom. Doom stared the mad craze to make all those FPS games.

That's why I listed it instead of the others .

Whilst I can fully understand people on here having issues with Todd Howard's handling of a certain Fallout title, i don't understand why that suddenly makes him an unworthy candidate when it comes to these sort of lists. After all, he was the main driving force behind both Morrowind and Daggerfall. Two truly outstanding games that most game developers would agree stood head and shoulders above the majority of the competition when they were released.

Whilst Oblivion isn't on my all time favourite list no one can deny the impact that particular title had on gaming.

Oblivion didn't have much of an impact on gaming, in fact I can't think of any game that has drawn from it. Todd was additional design for Daggerfall and was lead producer on Morrowind. Todd deserves no recognition for what's good about TES, that would go to the creators of Arena and/or Daggerfall. Morrowind, from most accounts, is a step down from Daggerfall so if anything, he deserves credit for the gradual decline of the series rather than it's greatness. That aside, there are many people who deserve a hell of a lot more recognition than Todd and probably any of the TES guys as I don't know of any game outside of Bethesda that TES has influenced.

GTA or GTA3 also probably deserves a spot on the games list as it has had an influence on the industry, people have even started copycatting it. Some side-scrolling beat-em-up deserves a spot on the list as well, maybe Renegade/Kunio-kun or Double Dragon? An early RTS also deserves to be on the list, maybe Dune II (I'm just using something plausible off of wikipedia here)?

They have DDR listed which is arguable, it certainly made rhythm games popular in the US and was probably a big part of the reason that Guitar Hero and then Rock Band were made.

 

[Trithne]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest
Doom - Popularising FPS and especially Deathmatch
Deus Ex - Proving FPS, and videogames in general, can have plots (You could also use System Shock)
Rogue - Countless imitations and hours lost into that merciless game.
Starcraft - Bringing RTS and competitive gameplay into the spotlight.
Street Fighter 2 - Same as Starcraft for fighting games.
Ultima Online - Seriously. The first MMO. Influential yes.

As for people, my above list, and I bet Carmack's already got a place on the list. Romero should be there too. And Richard Garriot. But not Todd 'Fantasy, for us, is a knight on horseback running around and killing things' Howard.

 

[BlackJAC]

Games like Two Worlds (albeit a terrible attempt) borrow heavily from Oblivion and there are others. Just because a series of games doesn’t spawn 101 clones doesn’t mean they haven’t had a major impact on gaming. The same can be said about the Civilization series, other than number 4, they managed to create something that has captivated a huge amount of gamers and I can’t think of many decent Civ clones.

I think too many people expect TES games to stand up to the likes of BGate, when in actual fact one is an RPG and the former is an Action RPG. There’s not many action RPG’s out there that come close to Morrowind imo and when someone insinuates Morrowind was when this genre got dumbed down, it leads me to believe they’re relatively new to gaming. RPGing was dumb down the day people started to rely on a machine to do their RPGing. I’m old enough to remember having to use your brain, a piece of paper and a pencil if you wanted to RP.

 

[cronicler]

Morrowind was really a big and complex world, thats true but I really wonder how many people from that game and its predecessors are left in the B. Morrowind was complex and living world. Dumbed down and painted forest green it became Oblivion. Then modders went Ant on it. Then B. took the final product and dumbed it down and painted it sickly green to produce Fallout. Now Obsidian is going to go Ant over it.

I just can't accept someone who had the creativity to pump out so much in Morrowind can just shut it down....

Ps: No personal experience on these games but I have even seen people saying thet Morrowind was pruned compared to Arena/Daggerfall... Then again the source is the interwebs...

 

[BlackJAC]

My biggest gripe with Oblivion is that damn green arrow, the green arrow that you have no way of turning off and this in turn spoils almost every quest as you're spoon fed directions. I don't understand why a developer would shovel so much cash into creating a huge world to then make it all pretty redundant by shoving a shitty marker n front of your nose.

Yeah it has other flaws, but at least those were mostly eradicated by mods et al.

It's a sad fact that developers go for graphics over substance and I highly doubt there will ever be another Baldur's Gate as people don't want text, they want massive guns and graphics.

The only recent RPG I can really say I've enjoyed is The Witcher as it's not about becoming God-like or about the best weapon you can find, it actually makes you think and question things like mortality etc.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Games like Two Worlds (albeit a terrible attempt) borrow heavily from Oblivion and there are others. Just because a series of games doesn’t spawn 101 clones doesn’t mean they haven’t had a major impact on gaming. The same can be said about the Civilization series, other than number 4, they managed to create something that has captivated a huge amount of gamers and I can’t think of many decent Civ clones.

To say that something had an impact on something else, you need to be able to measure that impact. Having an impact on one game is not significant, what's significant is something like Diablo II which has been cloned and influenced the western MMOs. Whether or not those clones are all that good are a seperate issue, the fact that companies make them and use elements from the game in other games are what matter.

There’s not many action RPG’s out there that come close to Morrowind imo and when someone insinuates Morrowind was when this genre got dumbed down, it leads me to believe they’re relatively new to gaming.

There are many superior ARPGs to Morrowind but not many ARPGs like Morrowind. Still, I haven't played other games of it's type like Ultima Underworld or Daggerfall, and I know that the latter is widely considered to be a better game.

RPGing was dumb down the day people started to rely on a machine to do their RPGing. I’m old enough to remember having to use your brain, a piece of paper and a pencil if you wanted to RP.

Because PnP RPGs are dead and DnD4 being the best selling PnP RPG ever is just some mass hallucination. Wait, what? Singleplayer RPGs are, by definition, a completely different type of game than multiplayer RPGs (including all PnP ones). Of course the rules get simplified for computers but that doesn't mean that the plots have to. The thing that computers facilitate the most is combat, they dramatically speed it up so obviously they'll be able to include more of it. They will also have to include more of it if it's to equal the same amount of gameplay time as combat takes in PnP.