It as been announced that Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and Zelda, is to be honored with the BAFTA Fellowship by The British Academy this year.
Miyamoto isn’t the first to games industry person to be given the award, with Will Wright, SimCity and Sims creator, and Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and creator of Pong, being past recipients.
“I am very grateful to be able to receive such an honorable award from the British Academy,” said Miyamoto.
“Our videogames cannot be created by one person; since Donkey Kong until the most recent New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I have been working closely with a number of friends for three decades in order to develop fun and enjoyable games.
“I would like to receive this honourable award on behalf of all of these dependable colleagues.”
BAFTA chairman David Parfitt said that a “BAFTA fellowship is the highest accolade the Academy can bestow on an individual for their creative work”
Previous winners of the award include film industry legends such as Hitchcock, Kubrick and well-renowned playwright Pinter. Parfitt thinks “it is only fitting that Miyamoto be recognized alongside these other pioneers for his groundbreaking work.”
“He helped to develop an entire creative industry and is still a major force in its continuing success.”
The BAFTAs are held on 19th March in London, UK. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which Miyamoto was general producer of, is nominated in the Family & Social Gameplay categories.
Head over to our New Super Mario Bros. Wii game hub for more on the hugely popular new effort from Nintendo.
Published: Feb 24, 2010 12:00 am