Yu Suzuki
Arcade fans who skipped school and did extra
chores for money just to have enough credits to beat Virtua Cop or OutRun can
blame Yu Suzuki. He started off as a humble programmer who joined Sega before introducing the world#DY#s first ever 3D fighting
game that we know as Virtua Fighter. Many of his other works went on to
influence gaming as we know it.
One of the big titles he made, Shenmue for the Dreamcast, while considered as
overly ambitious used Quick Time Events before high profile titles like Resident
Evil 4 and God of War even picked up the twitch-based mechanic that kept players
on their toes. The "Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment" genre Suzuki wanted to
popularize via the U.S. million game may not have worked, but parts of it can be
seen in most sandbox style games.
Richard Garriott
Lord British, as fans of the
long-running role-playing game series Ultima would know, has been creating
immersive worlds for almost three decades. While Japan had the oddities of
Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, the west grew to love the RPG genre thanks to
Ultima#DY#s vast universe that spans over numerous games and spin-offs.
When you look at World of
Warcraft, Final Fantasy
XI, Guild Wars, or
other MMORPGs, you gotta hand it to Garriott#DY#s Ultima Online
for laying the foundation of taking adventures online with hundreds of other
friends. Korea#DY#s much loved MMORPG, Lineage, was also produced by Lord
British.
