Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney will be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit (Las Vegas) in February. Sweeney is the 16th inductee, joining such industry darlings as Will Wright, Mark Cerny, Richard Garriott, Peter Molyneux and Sid Meier. Sweeney will receive his Hall of Fame Award on February 9 and will be inducted by Epic vice president Mark Rein as part of the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.
Sweeney founded Epic Games, the makers of the Unreal, Unreal Tournament, and Gears of Wars series of games, and the Unreal game development engine.
"Tim's vision has changed the face of gaming with the advent of the Unreal Engine and the commitment of Epic, as a studio, to bring both consumer and industry-facing technology to new heights," commented Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. "We're honored to add Tim Sweeney to our Hall of Fame. His unrelenting and innovative work on behalf of developers and gamers has created the imaginative games that help to drive the success of our industry."
"I've had the pleasure to work alongside Tim Sweeney for nearly 20 years," said Epic's Mark Rein. "Many people in the game industry are aware of what a brilliant technical visionary he is, but what they might not realize is that he is also a great leader and thinks deeply about how to use technology to empower artists and creatives to be successful and realize their vision. Tim's sense of fairness and doing what's right, not just for Epic but for the industry as a whole, is also what makes him so admired among the people who know him."
Source: GI.biz
