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Miyamoto Enters The Golden Joystick Halls Of Fame

1st December 2003, 11:59am
Mario creator becomes the first entrant to the Computer and Video Games Golden Joystick Hall of Fame at today's awards ceremony.

The creator of the World's most famous plumber, legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, has become the first entrant to the Golden Joystick Hall of Fame. This announcement was one of the highlights of today's Computer and Video Games Golden Joystick Awards ceremony, which were presented by TV comedian Phill Jupitus at a glittering awards ceremony at London's Park Lane Sheraton Hotel.

In a videotaped acceptance speech, Mr. Miyamoto said: "I'm honoured to become the first recipient of the Golden Joystick Hall of Fame award. I would like to thank all of the game fans and game media in Europe who are helping to energise the video game industry. For more than 20 years I have been fortunate enough to work with very talented people with amazing foresight from the early Donkey Kong days to our most recent, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! I really have enjoyed every minute. It's an amazing industry to work in."

Mr. Miyamoto's induction to the hall of Fame wasn't Nintendo's only reason to celebrate at today's awards, as the company also picked up the coveted 'Publisher of the Year' award, while two of its games also received recognition: Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube Game of the Year) and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Most Wanted Game for Xmas 2003). In addition, the company's handheld games machine, the Game Boy Advance SP, beat off strong competition from Sony's Eye Toy and Microsoft's Xbox Live! to be named Hardware of the Year.

The Golden Joystick Awards, the UK's premier awards for interactive entertainment, are presented by Dennis Publishing, a leading publisher of magazines in the computer and video games and men's lifestyle sectors. The awards are voted for by readers of Dennis' magazines and visitors to its consumer websites.

"The success of today's event has underlined that the Golden Joysticks are the definitive UK awards for computer and video gaming," says Tara Leathers, Games Division Publisher for Dennis Publishing. "The 88,000 votes which we received from the general public and the fact that all 480 seats for today's ceremony were sold out well in advance go together to prove that these awards are not only the people's choice, they're the industry's too."
by Benjamin Murphy