Shigeru Miyamoto, or the Father of Mario, Donkey Kong, the Legend of Zelda, and all-things-your-childhood, was given the Innovation Award for Consumer Goods by the Economist last night at a ceremony held at the Science Museum in London. The award recognizes Miyamoto’s contributions and achievements in the videogame industry.

A statement released by the Economist went on to say that Miyamoto “is the inventor of Nintendo and has been one of the key architects in the electronic gaming industry.” While few would quibble over Miyamoto’s impact on videogaming, stating that he “invented” Nintendo in the literal sense is really giving him too much credit. As Gameindustry.biz points out, “Nintendo was in fact founded by the Yamauchi family, although Miyamoto has overseen the company’s modern-day renaissance.”

Semantics aside, this is just another notch in the already accolade ridden belt of Mr. Miyamoto. Already a French Chevalier (or, in English, a knight), he is the first person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame, he was featured in Time Asia’s “60 Years of Asian Heroes” alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and the Dalai Lama, and, as if not already enough, he was featured in Time Magazine’s 2007 list of 100 most influential people.

Gameindustry.biz