Miyamoto More Influential Than George Bush

Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto is the second most influential person in the world, according to the current polling figures for the Time 100. That's more influential than the president of the United States, according to voters.

Miyamoto joins 201 other nominees up for making Time's prestigious list. He currently ranks behind only the American satirist Stephen Colbert. That's 199 other nominees trailing behind him, including George Bush (Number 15), Bill Gates (Number 23), Ricky Gervais (Number 56) and, languishing at the bottom, Paris Hilton.

According to Miyamoto's listing, his pros are, “Most successful game designer, creator of Super Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, whose new platform, the Wii, is currently the top-selling game console.”

Cons for Miyamoto are listed as, “His perfectionist tendencies often result in games being significantly delayed and, despite the Wii's game play innovation, its graphics are far behind the competition.”

Should Miyamoto make the final 100 (which looks pretty likely at this point) it will join being knighted in France on his list of non-games industry honours.

Miyamoto wouldn't be the first to make the list, with former Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi making the list in 2004 and Bungie's Halo 2 team appearing in 2005.

Is Miyamoto more influential on the world stage than America's commander in chief? Answers in the Forum please.