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Favorite gaming executives of the past or present.

entremet

entremet

Member
I always thought that Tom Kalinske, President and CEO (1990-1996) of Sega of America, never got enough credit. He helped make the Genesis a huge success, even though the system floundered in Japan. His aggressive marketing will also never be forgotten. Who doesn't remember the Sega scream? I'm not sure why Sega didn't keep him, because the company floundered after his leadership.

Honorable mentions:

Phil Harrison- The marketing and games portfolio genius of SCE. He really saw an opportunity, the maturing the Nintendo generation and fostered new IP that would be appeal to that demographic, something that Sega did as well, but Sony did it better with the first PlayStation. Sad to see him go after the early poor performance of the PS3 and the Home débâcle.

Hiroshi Yamauchi- The Emperor Palpatine of the games industry. Nothing to say about this guy; his rule at Nintendo was legendary. He ruled the company with an iron fist. The one true pimp of the industry.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
k3pxcl.jpg
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Uncharted 2

read the thread title as "favorite gaming EXCLUSIVES"
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Nobody does it like Newell.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I love Bernie Stolar and Vic Ireland just because of how they seemed to go out of their way to fuck things up like nobody else ever could. They were comedy.
 
consoul

consoul

Member
Peter Moore.
Whether he was talking up Sega or Microsoft or just royally screwing up a Rock Band demonstration, he was always good value.

Honorable mention to Phil Harrison.
 
A

AAK

Member
Iwata has to be the most genius, but my favorite is probably Phil Harrison.

I'm didn't take developers into account.
 
S

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
howard_phillips.jpg


Also, OP, there's a great interview with Kalinske here. He does sound pretty cool, it's too bad about that whole 32X boondoggle.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Of course Iwata. He's the smartest man in the industry, and fascinating in his own right. He's also quite humble and human, at least thats what I get from Iwata Asks. In terms of consoles at least, where Iwata leads, everyone else is struggling to follow.

IWATA_EEN_BOBOMB_ZAL_DROPPEN_by_tar.png


peter_moore_ea_bar.gif


And Moore, has a brilliant frankness and enthusiasm about his projects and the entire industry in general. His sense of humour and fun is infectious.

Never got the Phil Harrison love though, I always found him loathesome. The "don't you just love surprises" bit at E3 with tacked-on motion control, "rumble is last gen", PS3 is "true generation" PS3 "is a computer, we do not need the PC" anymore rubbish, and the DS market is children only (which was an out-and-out lie). There's a line between PR and arrogant bollocks and he crossed it far too often for my liking.

I quite like Jack Tretton though, he seems pleasantly distant from old-Sony PR arrogance.
 
A

AAK

Member
Phil Harrison is respected because of how incredibly he managed to do interviews and such during 2006 - 2008 when the PS3 was being bashed by everyone and their mother.
 
L

Lagspike_exe

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
Of course Iwata. He's the smartest man in the industry, and fascinating in his own right. He's also quite humble and human, at least thats what I get from Iwata Asks. In terms of consoles at least, where Iwata leads, everyone else is struggling to follow.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk9/mappster13/IWATA_EEN_BOBOMB_ZAL_DROPPEN_by_tar.png[img]

[IMG]http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd343/mappster47/peter_moore_ea_bar.gif[IMG]

And Moore, has a brilliant frankness and enthusiasm about his projects and the entire industry in general. His sense of humour and fun is infectious.

Never got the Phil Harrison love though, I always found him loathesome. The "don't you just love surprises" bit at E3 with tacked-on motion control, "rumble is last gen", PS3 is "true generation" PS3 "is a computer, we do not need the PC" anymore rubbish, and the DS market is children only (which was an out-and-out lie). There's a line between PR and arrogant bollocks and he crossed it far too often for my liking.

I quite like Jack Tretton though, he seems pleasantly distant from old-Sony PR arrogance.[/QUOTE]

You accuse Harrison of being arrogant, yet glorify the man who said "You know, things break."?
Click to expand...
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Lagspike_exe said:
You accuse Harrison of being arrogant, yet glorify the man who said "You know, things break."?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know Moore's moment of shame well. A PR low point for the entire generation, no doubt. Harrison seemed to do it a lot more though.
 
S

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
disappeared said:
Bernie Stolar was one aggressive dude. He basically gave the middle finger to Sega of Japan regarding the Dreamcast. :lol
Click to expand...
Yeah, but he dropped the ball with the RAM cartridge.
 
M

MechDX

Member
Shig said:
Yeah, but he dropped the ball with the RAM cartridge.
Click to expand...


Referring to the Saturn? If so he wanted the thing dead, where with all its greatness it belonged at that time.
 
F

Flavius

Member
Easily Peter Moore. Personable, affable sort...and loved what he brought to the table in promotion, particularly with the Dreamcast.
 
NekoFever

NekoFever

Member
I'll always have a soft spot for Howard Lincoln. He was in charge of NOA when I was getting into gaming and I love the stories of him and Minoru Arakawa working together in the early days from Game Over.

I need to read that book again. It's been a few years.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
NekoFever said:
I'll always have a soft spot for Howard Lincoln. He was in charge of NOA when I was getting into gaming and I love the stories of him and Minoru Arakawa working together in the early days from Game Over.

I need to read that book again. It's been a few years.
Click to expand...
I just bought a copy. Still a great read.

The goal is to read it over and over again until you can accurately create, from memory, a rights-holder diagram of the Tetris debacle.
 
S

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
Yeah, Iwata is definitely something else. It's hard to argue against a guy who actually worked his way up from the trenches, you can really tell he cares.

Now if only he'd find someone like that for the US branch instead of a Pizza Hut Brand Manager.
 
K

Kaldea

Member
+1 for Iwata. Along with all the mentioned reasons, he seems incredibly personable. That aspect seems to be rare from what I gather.
 
S

soultron

Banned
Victor Ireland always seemed like a cool guy from the stories I've heard about him. Telling reviewers that secret item locations would be changed in the retail version so they couldn't cheat, keeping preview copies that would sit in the trunk of his car, etc.
 
N

[Nintex]

Member
Iwata and Peter Moore are on the top of the list, Kalinske as well for putting SEGA on the charts.
Mama Robotnik said:
I take it that a "Least Favorite gaming executives of the past or present" thread would simply be an unending Kotickfest?
Click to expand...
or a Yoichi Wada fest
 
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