Walk of Game voting closes Sunday

Hollywood has its Walk of Fame, and the San Francisco Metreon theater is about to get its own Walk of Game. Next year, six 2-foot-square stars, emblazoned with the names of four video game characters and two legendary designers, will adorn the floor of the theater. What names will be on the stars? That's where you come in--voting is taking place now at the Walk of Game official Web site.

Currently, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell are leading in the polls with over 100,000 votes cast to date. As for games and game characters, the leaders in the poll break down thusly:

Link (The Legend of Zelda): 11.6%
Halo: 11.4%
Mario: 10.9%
Master Chief (Halo): 10.6%
Zelda (The Legend of Zelda): 7.9%
Final Fantasy: 4.9%
Sonic the Hedgehog: 4.9%
Donkey Kong: 4.1%
Grand Theft Auto: 3.6%

One thing voters should keep in mind as the voting draws to a close is that if a franchise secures two top slots, the franchise's creator must choose only one star--for example, Microsoft will have to determine whether Halo or Master Chief appears on the star. So in fact, there is currently a tight race for fourth place between Final Fantasy, Sonic, DK, and GTA.

Voting comes to a close this weekend; October 31 will be the final day for gamers to cast their ballots. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the six winning stars will be held in 2005.