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Is this the Video Game Mount Rushmore?
Denver, 12:32 PM
Wed Dec 2
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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Is this the Video Game Mount Rushmore? |
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04/13/09
If we're going to talk about FPS, either JB Blazcowicz (or whatever the Wolf3D guy's name is) or Doomguy. Though they may be weak as interesting characters, they have much more claim to being on a gaming Mount Rushmore than Master Chief. Wolf3D and Doom were both technological milestones that brought about FPS gaming as a whole.
Mario definitely deserves a place on there, but not because he represents the platformer. He represents the rebirth of the industry after the gaming crash post-Atari. If it weren't for Nintendo, gaming might not be the powerhouse it is today and PC gaming might still be the top platform.
Lara Croft? Maybe. She represents the pure bank that can be made by pasting a big-boobed heroine on your cover. Kind of like anything big-boobed, gamers readjust their ideology so that the boobs become acceptable. That is to say, even those who hated platformers with a passion made concessions to play Tomb Raider just because big blocky triangle boobs were involved. Influential on the industry, tho? Hard to say. While she represents one of the first strong female leads, she's still a bimbo. I think Chun-Li is a better female character than Lara Croft.
Sonic... no. I am a huge Sonic fan, but there's no reason for Sonic to be on that mountain. He's Sega's answer to a rival. Mario was coined without the assistance of anything else, but if there was no Mario, there'd probably be no Sonic. Personally, I would either put Guybrush Threepwood or Roger Wilco up on the mountain not only because they represented the once-prosperous and dominating adventure game genre of the 80s and early 90s, they also represent some of the finest comedy writing ever in video games and have yet to be toppled as kings of funny, a very rare thing in the industry today.
04/13/09
Mario, Link, Freeman, Chief.
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Mario, Sonic, Master Chief and Kratos.
Because each one represents the strongest brands. But only if we want to represent brands.
But anyway, screw the brands, Pacman is the real deal and should be in it.
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Mario for Jefferson -- A principle player in Manifest Destiny for both the USA and console gaming.
Harman Smith for Roosevelt -- Two New Deal proponents who assassinated people and the U.S. budget despite being wheelchair bound.
Sonic for Lincoln -- Lincoln freed the slaves; Sonic freed developers from Nintendo's illegal business practices.
04/12/09
But unfortunately some Iconic games lack Iconic figures.
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04/12/09
You see the issue here is that "that guy from doom"...yeah, just no, he isn't iconic, the cyberdemon is. As for Lara and sonic, they are pinnacle icons of gaming history.
Goldeneye was an excellent game, but didn't have an iconic gaming figure, as it was a game of a movie, just a very very good one. World Of Warcraft, again, no figurative character, but a race, "THE HORDE".
Gorden freeman. He does belong up there. Pac-Man will always be a symbol of the birth of the games industry, so he will always belong there. Same for sonic.
As for masterchief, he doesn't belong at all. He's the only one out of place. The internet could argue for days and poll and poll and poll on which character should replace him. Link, Kratos, Cloud, Dante, jesus the list would go on for days on who we think should replace masterchief.
04/12/09
Both God of War games are fantastic, but I wouldn't call them iconic or transcendent. Same with Devil May Cry (although the sequels were a bit formulatic). You might have a case for Cloud had he been a stronger character. FFVII is still the most iconic game in the franchise, and really ushered in a new wave of gamers to the genre, however the character of Cloud was very, very lacking in a genre that relies upon strong characters and story telling.
Halo 1, 2, 3 all were iconic, transcendent games that set a standard of excellence for console FPS' as well as online play, in an emerging genre. They defined (and continue to define) an entire generation of gamers, and have the rare function of transcending beyond the boarders of gaming into the mainstream. Master Chief is the face of all this. You may dismiss the game as low brow, overrated trash, and although you would be wrong, it is impossible to dismiss the impact the Halo franchise has had on the gaming world.
04/12/09
i think you and most of these other people are confusing "quality" for "popularity". there is no doubt that halo is an extremely popular game, and it's still selling well, but the fact that people buy it doesnt necessarily mean that it's good. people will buy anything that their friends and a lot of other people buy. and i think the only reason it took off in the first place, is because the xbox didnt have any good games on it at the time. then all the people who had xboxs last gen loved halo 1 and this gen bought and rebought shinier versions of the exact same game, and bought the books for and bought the memorabilia and spin off RTS game for Halo, all due to lack of anything else for their last gen system, and for the people who did play it originally, their friends told them that it was a good game and they bought it and they kept playing because it had split screen so they could play with aforementioned friends, and so on and so forth until it reached a billion halo games. if it were the best FPS like you and so many others are touting it to be, then those same people along with others wouldnt be out buying killzone 2, COD4, Half Life2, TF2, etc. the fact is is that to people who actually care about variety and actually good games, will buy said good games.
halo may have contributed to raising the bar for FPS games, but all those i mentioned allhave said bar to the height in which halo has it, and all have succeeded in raising it a little on their own. halo is not the only FPS that has ever contributed to the genre.
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Hell, if you just want to talk about it in terms of games EVERYONE played at some point you need to put John Madden on there.
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Mario
Sonic
Link
Pac-Man
04/12/09
Or maybe Solid Snake should be there instead of Pac-Man
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04/12/09
Snakes a good one.
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04/12/09
1) Shigeru Miyamoto
2) Alexey Pazhitnov
3) Richard Garriott
4) Sid Meier
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04/12/09
1) Nolan Bushnell
2) Shigeru Miyamoto
3) Gunpei Yokoi
4) Alexey Pajitnov
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04/12/09
But Hideo? And Huge? No way. They're like Grant and Cleveland at best.
04/12/09
I mostly agree with this list. Richard Garriott should be replaced with someone else though.
@jasonburnett:
lol@American Mcgee. He's like the Sonic of game designers. And having both Carmack and McGee would be dumb, as they were both iD people.
@Sutekh_Slain:
Bushnell gets a good nod. Yokoi gets one for making one of the most difficult-to-understand game genres (RPGs) playable by kids.
04/12/09
04/12/09
Will Wright?
No particular vehemence here, just was surprised the name hadn't popped up in the thread.
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04/13/09
Get a grip, man. We're talking about granite effigies here, not some ice-cream cake you make for your friend's birthday party...
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