What is the largest influence in gaming history?

Making this topic after seeing this article.

Just reading the article, I consider the notion that Apple has the biggest influence laughable at most. Sure Angry Birds was downloaded the most times of any commercial game out there, and that the iPhone may in fact shape up the modern on-the-go gaming arena, but I'd hardly even consider the company the most influential EVER.

Myself, I would have to go with Nintendo, because of how it made gaming a household name again after The Great Video Game Crash Of 1983, and they had quite a few innovations throughout its history, such as portable gaming, 3D platforming that works, and workable motion controls that the other two present-day consoles later adopted.

Honorable mentions include, but are not limited to, Sony (bringing the hobby to mainstream), id (multiplayer and a VERY active modding community) and Valve (narrative-driven gameplay, digital distribution and expanding upon id's innovations). That's not all of them, given that there's quite a few with huge contributions, but those are the three I can think of at this moment.

edited 2nd Nov '11 7:40:22 PM by EarlOfSandvich

I now go by Graf von Tirol.

Are you asking about a singular game or what company?

If the former than Super Mario Bros would be my guess.

If it's the latter than I agree with Nintendo.

Nintendo/Mario Bros, without a doubt.

"Seriously, don't eat the mermaid. And not just because it's half cannibalism." ~Otherarrow

Activision created the second and third party developer, which form the majority of the games market.

Granted, Activision get a lot of (mostly deserved) hate nowadays.

edited 2nd Nov '11 7:31:39 PM by hnd03

So. Let's all pause for a moment to smell what the Rock was, is, and forever will be... cooking.—Cave Johnson

Forgot to note that. Kind of ironic that the reason they split from Atari is the state it's in now...

edited 2nd Nov '11 7:33:10 PM by EarlOfSandvich

I now go by Graf von Tirol.

I'd say that it differs between platforms:

• Consoles: Nintendo, really, I think.
• PC: Id Software and Apogee Software, hands-down. I'm hesitant to list Valve, but they have taken id's place in not only holding up the PC gaming traditions, but also expanding upon them with stuff like Steam and Steamcloud.
• Mobile: Hard to say, since Apple and Google are both kinda tied here, in my opinion.

edited 2nd Nov '11 7:57:24 PM by RocketDude

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

Wow, what a horrible poll. If you're going to put out votes, make sure it's what actually influenced the industry, not the latest systems.

It's clearly Nintendo and Super Mario Bros., hands down. LOL at the latest systems.

Quest 64 thread

Google made the Android.

So. Let's all pause for a moment to smell what the Rock was, is, and forever will be... cooking.—Cave Johnson

I can't really decide who the absolute largest influence was, but I can narrow it down to a few key companies and what they contributed:

edited 2nd Nov '11 7:37:49 PM by Zennistrad

If Nintendo brought THREE things to the table that no other company did, wouldn't that them the largest statistical-wise right now?

Also, Apple really didn't contribute much to the gaming industry overall, atleast compared to every other well known gaming company.

Quest 64 thread

It could depend on how big those things are since it's rather subjective.

I, personally, think all three are huge influences on the industry so that's why I said Nintendo.

The guy who first realized that using computers for recreation wasn't that bad an idea.

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

@hnd: Ah.

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

I'd say Nintendo and Super Mario Bros.

Fantastic Supreme Überkaiser Emperor Folt of The Infinity and Beyond" ... "The First"!

Poor Ralph Baer. Gets a freaking medal for inventing the first game console and he still gets bumped off the list for Steve Jobs.

Who never, ever saw computers as a gaming platform.

Not to knock Steve Jobs influence, but REALLY!? The gaming industry predates him.

I'd love to know who the "industry professionals" were that voted in this survey that are apparently incapable of remembering anything older than 1996 (apparently).

Another thing to question the credibility of this survey of "experts".

Only two people in the greatest influential people survey actually have anything to do with games: Gabe Newell and Shigeru Miyamoto (both of them no doubt very influential in today's scene, though the latter is more so by leaps and bounds). Aside from Steve Jobs, there's the inventor of the World Wide Web and Mark Zuckerberg, both of them having next to nothing to do with gaming. That'd be like including Bill Gates because of friggin' Microsoft!

edited 3rd Nov '11 11:30:07 AM by EarlOfSandvich

I now go by Graf von Tirol.

It used the latest consoles. Nintendo didn't even MAKE the motion gaming market, Sony was the first of the consoles to do it.

If it actually used stuff like the NES, PSX, X Box, and so on, it could be taken seriously. But the poll was made incorrectly in the first place. It didn't acknowledge origins of games whatsoever.

Quest 64 thread

I take it you haven't seen the video in which Steve Jobs was the one who first announced Halo?

But I agree that Apple definitely isn't the largest influence in gaming history.

edited 2nd Nov '11 8:40:20 PM by INUH

Infinite Tree: an experimental story

Appe? Steve jobs? WHAT!? Great guy, great company, but their influence is only really recent when it comes to games.

I'd have to go with Jerry Lawson in the people category. Dude invented the videogame cartridge. Without that we'd still have to buy a separate console for every new game for another generation or two.

As for companies? Well, Nintendo's the obvious choice... But I'll have to go with Sony. I'm not a fanboy of theirs (Anymore) but it was them that really set the modern standard for consoles with the PS 1 and brought in the dual analog control we all know and love.

Then again, Sony only ever launched the PS 1 because Nintendo screwed them over in the most retarded way possible.

Bleye knows Sabers.

Can we even claim that a single person or company had the largest influence on the entire history of gaming? Our info is nowhere near complete enough.

edited 2nd Nov '11 8:46:40 PM by Recon5

1000 is a pretty small number of industry professionals. I have to wonder what logic went behind who this poll was distributed to.

What about the other niches as well, which may have not invented, but revolutionized entire genres?

I'm surprised there's nary a mention of Maxis (simulation games) and Blizzard (strategy)

edited 2nd Nov '11 9:23:44 PM by EarlOfSandvich

I now go by Graf von Tirol.

^Blizzard did not invent the RTS...

Infinite Tree: an experimental story

Exactly (the Herzog series and Dune II in fact)! I did say revolutionized, although Dune II is a real good game by historical standard.

edited 2nd Nov '11 9:26:11 PM by EarlOfSandvich

I now go by Graf von Tirol.

Ah, my bad, then.

Infinite Tree: an experimental story