Yu Suzuki: Props At GDC 2011

Well this is certainly interesting news because it gives me something to talk about.

Not as tan as Nagoshi

Now my buddy model3 always gets these stories out right away so check out his stuff: Yu Suzuki GDC 2011.

SEGA^® Corporation is proud to announce that Yu Suzuki will be the recipient of the Pioneer Award, a Special Award presented as part of the 2011 Game Developers Choice Awards and one of the highest honors in video game development.

He will receive the award on March 2, 2011 during the Game Developers Conference 2011 in San Francisco.

Also in 2003, he became the sixth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science’s “Hall of Fame.”

For what you ask?  Check out the Wikipedia.

Game Series: OutRun, Space Harrier, Hang-On, After Burner, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Virtua Cop, Ferrari F355 Challenge, Shenmue, etc...

He started Sega Racers!  Without OutRun and Virtua Racing, where would we be?  Without the Ferraris, the gameplay, the music, the sense of speed, the parallax scrolling, the blast processing, etc.? Sega arcade games is where it's at.  Also, you gotta give props to the Lockheed Martin-inspired Model 1 board which led to Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter as well as Model 2 and Model 3 boards (new Daytona games!!!).  And Shenmue which is a damn fine story-driven series that doesn't rely on bishounen or guys with WMD's!!

It's a shame that Virtua Fighter isn't as well-respected nowadays and Virtua Cop has somehow vanished off the face of the earth.  And of course, the non-existence of Shenmue 3.

So I'm looking at Kotaku again and they called Suzuki the "Mother of Video Games."  Of course that sounds weird cause Suzuki is man, not a woman.  Then I'm looking around and there's some people who diminish the work he's done.  I'm not calling out names here cause it is what it is.  Suzuki was prolific, but how much?  Well, probably not as much as, say, Shigeru Miyamoto, but look at it this way.  I'm not one of those pinheads who tries to scientifically tier every single game, company, designer, and so forth into who's the "best" and who's not (see Greatest Games Ever Made by me).  I don't care about that stuff.  All I know is that me and many other people have reaped the benefits of what Yu Suzuki has done and that's all that matters.

Oh look, it is Suzuki and Miyamoto!

Maybe Suzuki can give you tips on making a good racing game (Mario Kart doesn't count)!

And then there's Daytona USA.  Yu Suzuki is to OutRun as is Toshihiro Nagoshi is to Daytona USA.  Now I've come on here plenty of times and called Nagoshi a bum cause that's what he is.  Now whatever influence Suzuki had over Daytona USA, whether direct (sat there working on the design) or indirect (influence leading others to make more racing games), there is SOMETHING there should we should be grateful for.

That's about it, I'm gonna go eat a hamburger now.