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If you agree that video games are art, then its creators are its artists. And like many in the art industries, there are a handful of geniuses in the trade. But a fine line seems to exist between genius and madness - the relationship could be linked. The best artists nurture both and it translates into their creations.  John Carmack - co-creator of Doom/Quake
Carmack is known for popularizing various computer graphics techniques, and even has one named after him. His innovations have helped the video game industry come a long way, and we are quite thankful. In his spare time, Carmack taught himself aerospace engineering and is the lead engineer of an aerospace startup company. Carmack may have the technical savvy of a genius, but his mind clearly wants to be somewhere in space...
Artistic Makeup - 90% genius, 10% madness*  Hideo Kojima - Metal Gear Solid series
Kojima has pushed the artistic value of video games with his contributions in the Metal Gear franchise. "Magical Realism" sounds like something you get out of eating bad mushrooms or the name of your fantasy stripper from Azeroth, and it's also a storytelling device likewise employed by some of the greatest writers of mankind (see Jorge Luis Borges or Gabriel Garca Marquez for starters). Kojima seamlessly introduces magical realism to the art medium that is gaming, adding a refreshing, unexplored vein of development. This, along with a "4th person point of view" narrative style make the MGS series unique and groundbreaking. Kojima's popularizing of these elements is revolutionary for the art of storytelling in gaming. Artistic Makeup - 85% genius, 15% madness*  Will Wright - simcity/The Sims
The man behind SimCity. And SimAnt. And SimEarth. And SimCopter. And SimSuck. He also made The Sims, giving losers everywhere a game they could be winners in. Actually, this is a catch-22. You can NEVER be a winner in any of Will Wright's games because he's the Father of Games You Can't Win. Any game with "Sim" in it doesn't have a conclusion. Your SimCity goes on forever even if it's nothing more than a slum for crackheads and cracked-out transvestite prostitutes. So you can't ever be a winner, and if you're a loser in real life, you should never play Will Wright's games because they won't make you feel any better. Finding millions of losers to buy "Sim" games makes Wright a genius.
Artistic Makeup - 70% genius, 30% madness*  Gunpei Yokoi - Game Boy and Metroid creator
One of Nintendo's most underrated figures, the late Gunpei Yokoi was a fearless pioneer. Creator of the Game Boy - the longest lived and the best traveled system ever, Yokoi was uncompromising with his vision. Yokoi's philosophy, that products don't need the highest end technology to be commercially successful, is still central to Nintendo's practices today (the Wii and DS are technically inferior in terms of hardware to their respective competiting systems yet have outsold their competitors at the time of this writing). He stood by this philosophy with the Game Boy, and even though it only had 4 shades of crap, its superior battery life demolished its color-enabled competition of the day and gave Nintendo a stranglehold on the handheld market for well over a decade. Yokoi deserves mad respect for sticking to his guns. Everyone, even his boss, wanted the Game Boy to have color, but trusting his strategy ensured the Game Boy would be the best selling console spanning multiple generations. This man has mad huge balls for his willingness to go against the grain.
And only a man with mad huge balls could be the creator of Samus...and by extension, the Metroid series. Gunpei made in Samus the video game industry's first (and only?) woman of supreme elegance and class, and he must be rolling in his grave over what Nintendo is making his little girl wear these days.
Artistic Makeup - 60% genius, 40% madness*  Shigeru Miyamoto - Nintendo Godsend
Shigeru Miyamoto is unquestionably one of the most influential names in the industry and has been so for over 25 years. If Nintendo had a first born child, it damn well better be named Shigeru. Miyamoto's influence has shaped each era of the history of video games since the early 1980's. His games and characters are so well known that even oblique symbols from Mario and Zelda are trademarks for video gaming (Warp pipes, 1-up mushrooms, etc.). He has created a universe we've all been in - it's full of goombas and flying turtles and shroom-headed-toadstool-servants-to-the-princess and power-up flowers that make you throw fireballs like your name was Ryu. You pay money to play in his acid-trip induced universe where obese plumbers are superheros with different dates lined up every weekend (Mario has his pick of Pauline or Princess Peach...and probably several dozen guys named Toad, too). With over 200 games featuring Mario, Miyamoto forged an entire industry's identity with this shit.
But Miyamoto is so much more than Mario. He rocked the arcades with Donkey Kong. He made you wear the tanooki suit (and you liked it). He revolutionized the industry with its first true 3D game in Super Mario 64. He challenged everything you knew with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Then he did it again with Super Mario Galaxy. And you could say he's the main pusher behind the Wii's innovation...
And Pikmin. This man came up with an RTS game based on "plant-animal hybrids." You order them around, collecting spaceship parts for a guy who insists you call him Captain Olimar. Sound kinky? It is, and it's a damn good game to boot. Only Master Miyamoto combines the perfect balance of radical acid-trip concepts (madness) and the sheer talent to execute (genius).
Artistic Makeup - 50% genius, 50% madness*  Ken Levine - BioShock creator
BioShock, a demented foray through a twisted underwater dystopian society, broke new ground in the survival-horror genre with its immersive environment and disturbingly captivating storyline. Inspired by the writings of Ayn Rand and George Orwell, Levine raises various political and ethical questions in the game. Few video games come close to BioShock's provocative storyline and it's great to see literary value in a quality game. If you want to see the perfect mesh of genius and madness, look no further than BioShock's slug-infested Little Girls (Levine's character commentary on the merits of stem-cell research). Science would like President Bush to play this game.
Artistic Makeup - 40% genius, 60% madness*  Hironobu Sakaguchi - Final Fantasy series
A visionary of the industry, Hironobu Sakaguchi was a college dropout that had a final fantasy. What was supposed to be his last game for Square became a success, and a legendary franchise was born. Sakaguchi made the phrase, "I was riding my chocobo all night!" okay to say to your buddy at school. He wants to see gaming to become more like interactive movies - as evidenced by his cinematic Final Fantasy series. On his quest to forge this hybrid art, however, Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy movie flopped at the box office and set Square back $120 million. But a true artist doesn't let a commercial setback hold him from his goals. To quote artist Billy Walsh, "Fuck commerce!"
Artistic Makeup - 35% genius, 65% madness*  Alexey Pajitnov - Tetris
Tetris is a wild game about shapes (of 4 square combinations). This man made what Electronic Gaming Monthly onced called, "The most addictive game of all time." Tetris was the Game Boy's killer app and is on the short list of words that instantly connote "video gaming." Pajitnov's design of simplicity, gameplay, and ridiculously high replay rate speak volumes to his genius. The game made zombies of everyone - and a video game phenomena known as the Tetris effect owes something to Pajitnov. One problem though - he never received any royalties on his game since it was licensed by the Soviet Union. Considering how Tetris is on everything from iPods to cell phones to PC's to old school Game Boys, it's easily the best selling game of all time, and you would have to be crazy to not get paid!
Artistic Makeup - 20% genius, 80% madness*  Richard Garriott - Ultima series
Garriott created Ultima, which went on to be one of the most successful and influential RPGs of all time. Also known as "Lord British," this guy is quite the bon-vivant. He collects things like space buggies and ancient weapons. He lives in a castle with a dungeon and a moat. He's going on a trip to the International Space Station scheduled in October 2008 (what's with the trend of video game creators and space travel?). Does he sound like your genius artist type yet? Even Van Gogh needed his absinthe. No doubt, Ultima's Dick knows how to make a good game. Despite his genius touch for game design, between his weird hobbies and living in a freakin' castle, Lord British definitely knows who whacko is.
Artistic Makeup - 15% genius, 85% madness* Satoshi Tajiri - Pokemon Master
 Before he conceptualized Pokemon, this guy had an obsessive fixation with bug collecting. As a young child he would venture into the forest and catch bugs. He would name them all sorts of vulgar and obtuse names, feed them strange berries that did weird things to their bodies, then EV train them and level them up, choosing the best movesets which optimized them for forced battling till they passed out. Tajiri's eccentricities translate well, however, to creating video games. Like some of the greatest artists, he fuses his unique personality to his creations. This guy is the reason animal rights activists protest Pokemon games, Pokemon TV shows and trading cards. Tajiri has already taught millions of kids worldwide that it's cool/fun/easy to tame wild animals and pit them against each other against their will. If you're not careful, Satoshi's wide sphere of influence will also turn your kids into Michael Vick. Oh yeah, his games have also been accused of being satanic. Now, people are quick to throw around the word "satanic" these days so I'd recommend you make your own judgments. Even still, he is the farthest off his rocker out of the industry's great creators, and therefore gets the highest madness rating.
Artistic Makeup - 10% genius, 90% madness* So there you have it. Some of the world's greatest video game minds are all crazy geniuses. Isn't it comforting to know that the people who make some of your most beloved games are all off the wall themselves? Be sure to tune in next week when I'll rate them on their looks.
* estimated values
{tag John Carmack} | {tag Hideo Kojima} | {tag Will Wright} | {tag Gunpei Yokoi} | {tag Shigeru Miyamoto} |{tag Ken Levine} | {tag Hironobu Sakaguchi} | {tag Alexey Pajitnov} | {tag Richard Garriot} | {tag Satoshi Tajiri} | {tag Doom} | {tag Metal Gear Solid} | {tag SimCity} | {tag The Sims} | {tag Game Boy} | {tag Metroid} | {tag Samus} | {tag Mario} | {tag Pikmin} | {tag BioShock} | {tag Final Fantasy} | {tag Tetris} | {tag Ultima} | {tag Pokemon} | {tag art in gaming} | {tag artists}
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AWEEEESOMMME!