AIAS honors ex-Nintendo execs

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences already has a Hall of Fame into which it annually inducts gaming luminaries such as Sims creator Will Wright, Civilization designer Sid Meier, and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. But the AIAS is establishing another career-scope honor to bestow upon deserving parties in the form of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented for the first time during the Interactive Achievement Awards on February 8, 2007, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The first two recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards will be Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa, respectively the former president and chairman emeritus of Nintendo of America. The two are being honored for their work in building Nintendo of America into the dominant console manufacturer in the mid-1980s US gaming scene, and by proxy, a driving force in resuscitating the industry after the gaming-industry crash of 1983.

"The impact of the work done by Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln can still be felt today," said AIAS president Joseph Olin in a statement. "The creation of the licensed publishing model, quality approval for third-party games and peripherals, and the fostering of innovative sales and marketing programs, played a significant part of Nintendo's success then, and are at the foundation of the consumer interactive entertainment business."

According to the AIAS, it will award the Lifetime Achievement Award "to honor those who have devoted their lives to the advancement of the interactive entertainment industry and have made significant contributions that have guided the business to the prominent position it is in today." Presenting the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Awards to Lincoln and Arakawa will be Electronic Arts chairman and CEO Larry Probst.