Mark Cerny to be inducted to AIAS Hall of Fame

Mark Cerny is to become The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 13th Hall of Fame inductee, joining other industry greats such as Will Wright, John Carmack and Sid Meier.

The Hall of Fame is reserved exclusively for those who have contributed significantly to the advancement of the industry - which Cerny has more than done during the course of his 28 year career, according to AIAS.

"Mark Cerny is the closest we have come to a modern day Da Vinci," said Joseph Olin, president of the AIAS. "What he does isn't restricted to a single aspect of game creation, he really is a Renaissance man.

"He is a diversely accomplished game designer, producer, programmer and technologist, fluent in Japanese and one of the foremost Western experts on the Japanese game market. He's also one of the only top-level independents in a business dominated by institutions. The projects that he has contributed to have been phenomenally successful, with sales of almost two billion dollars and over a dozen titles each exceeding two million units in sales."

"Mark is one of the only individuals who have managed to stay on the cutting edge of game development from the heyday of arcade games all the way up to the current generation of gaming consoles," added Evan Wells, co-president of Naughty Dog.

"Each step of the way he's redefined how the industry thinks about game design, technology, and production philosophies. The franchises that he's helped launch are some of the most influential in the business. Mark has left an indelible mark on all of the games he's been a part of, the developers that he's collaborated with, and most importantly the individuals that he's worked along-side of."

Cerny's career began in 1982 when, at the age of 17, he joined Atari Games where he created arcade classic Marble Madness.

In 1985 he joined SEGA, working on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, among other titles. And in 1994 he joined Universal Studios working first as VP then later as president, overseeing the development of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon.

Cerny subsequently founded his own consultancy company, Cerny Games, where he has worked on a range of titles to date, from Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, to - more recently - Resistance II, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and God of War III.

The Hall of Fame award will be handed to Cerny at the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, to be held during the D.I.C.E Summit on February 18.

"I'm thrilled to accept this award, which clearly has a lot to do with the drive and talent of the many teams that I've had the pleasure to work with over the years," said Cerny.