I'm so happy for him, he deserves every award he gets.

@Toki: Stop trolling trollboy. You really are on your own with this one.

So if a Fighting game doesn't use sprites, therefore it's not innovative?

I would laugh if Miyamoto did work in that genre

There's just no denying this man's genius.

look through the credits of any great nintendo game... miyatomo's name will be there. it's hard to find something good that he didn't have a hand in one way or another. without his ideas there would obviously be no mario or zelda, series which have for over 20 years consistently produced the best games of their time.
you could also say that in some way metroid wouldn't have existed either since it was gunpei yokoi's drive to catch up to the high standard miyamoto had set that led to it's development. after yokoi died, miyamoto even helped fill some of the void during the development of the prime games: the decision to go 1st person was his. there are so many instances of him stepping in behind the scenes to improve a game in some way or another, i think it'd be shocking to find out just how much he's been responsible for over the past few decades.

if miyamoto had never lived, it's not just as if many of these games would be missing something; video games as we know them probably wouldn't even exist, since people like him got the whole industry up and running. he is without any argument the most important person in the field of video games to ever live, so even if you don't like his games, i think he deserves a little respect.

also, it seems like bizarre logic to say that a game like zelda has no depth compared to button mashing fighters, or is it just me?

@romulux Truer words have never been typed.

Go Miyamoto Go!

romulux, that was very interesting to read (I like your posts consistently) and it raises a philosophical question - where do ideas come from? would someone else have come along? If Newton and Einstein didn't exist, would someone else have come up with the same ideas? This is an interesting issue, covered a lot in Sci Fi (from starwars to BSG especially).

i don't know the whole story, but it seems like just before the NES the future of home video games was looking grim. without miyamoto there's no doubt the NES wouldn't have done as well, so despite some success it still could have failed to make home consoles popular and it could have been years before another company succeeded with a system.
even if it still would have been popular enough to revive the games industry, mario radically changed the way games were made and things would have gone a totally different direction without it. so no matter what way you look at it, it would be a much different world without miyamoto. i don't think it would have been possible for someone else to fill his role and come up with those ideas, because the timing of his arrival was vital to the way things played out.

it doesn't matter either way, miyamoto's the person we got and i'm glad it was his influence that shaped the way games are played. the defining thing about him is that he seems to have the absolute best sense of what will be fun, and everything else comes second. looking at what's popular on the HD systems, i don't think enough designers place sheer fun at the top of their priorities these days.

You know, in Eternal Champions, the character Slash was a caveman who was blessed with an imagination, unlike his brainless piers. In fact, this imagination scared his tribe's elders so much, that they had Slash stoned to death. Let's just say, I'm glad I'm no caveman!

WooT

so... disliking miyatomo equates to having an imagination, and we're brainless for disagreeing? argument won. i don't know how, but you've done it.

Whatever you like it or not.
All of the video-game industry wouldn't be as we know it today without this man.

Mr. Shigeru, thank you for your work.

Troll harder, Toki.

Essentially, what I was saying is that it bothers you all that I have a different opinion. So you either call me ignorant, or say that I'm trolling. I guess it makes the situation feel less chaotic if you can classify my motivation. But maybe, just maybe, I don't share your love for Miyamoto. I don't think he deserves an award because I don't think that he's done anything in his life all that outstanding. Sure, he laid the foundation for the entire video game industry to be built upon, but I don't believe he had much to do with its development over the years.

And if that answer isn't good enough, try this one on! Just as you are all compelled to come on this forum and post your opinion about Miyamoto winning an award, I am too! The only difference is, mine isn't as positive.

Nobody's trolling here but you!

Sigh

So I can't have my say? Lovely.

Of course you can have your say Toki. But don't be surprised if the NintendoLife user-base struggle with negative comments regarding The Great One.

No one's surprised here, I promise you that!