Eugene Jarvis in line for lifetime achievement award

Arcade-game maestro Eugene P. Jarvis is the winner of this year's International Game Developers Association's Game Developers Choice Award for Lifetime Achievement. Jarvis's first game, Defender, debuted in arcades in 1980.

He went on to create the original arcade version of NARC for Midway--which will launch a remake of the game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox next month--and Robotron: 2084. In the 1990s, he developed a line of driving games under the Cruis'n moniker.

Last year, Jarvis's Raw Thrills studio produced two action thrillers for arcades, Target: Terror and The Fast and the Furious. Raw Thrills is currently at work producing a motorcycle-based sequel, Target: Terror 2.

Jarvis will receive his award in a ceremony Wednesday, March 9, at 6:30pm at Moscone West in San Francisco, during the 2005 Game Developers Conference. For more on Jarvis, see GameSpot's Q&A.