In an attempt to build awareness, buzz, and maybe even a few incremental sales at retail, the Sony Metreon, the San Francisco entertainment center owned by Sony Corp., backed the creation of the now 2-year-old Walk of Game. This Bay Area version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame was designed to bring some star power to the game industry, recognizing its accomplished creators and most enduring games and game characters.

　　Last year's celebrity-packed inaugural Walk of Game induction ceremony saw Shigeru Miyamoto and Nolan Bushnell receive Lifetime Achievement awards (Bushnell was in attendance, Miyamoto was not).

　　On the game and game character front, Halo, Link, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mario were also inducted into the Walk last year. All six winners were memorialized with their own permanent star, embedded into the Metreon floor.

　　This week, 2006's inductees were announced. After the public votes were tallied, Civilization creator Sid Meier and id Software cofounder John Carmack came up winners, beating out Sims designer Will Wright, Black & White's Peter Molyneux, and Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani at the polls.

　　Accompanying the two designers into the Walk will be games Starcraft and EverQuest, the Final Fantasy franchise, and game character Lara Croft. Those winners trumped Castlevania, Civilization, Donkey Kong, Doom, Fox McCloud (Star Fox), Frogger, Grand Theft Auto, Half-Life, Madden NFL, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Pac-Man, Pitfall Harry (Pitfall), Pong, Quake, Resident Evil, Samus Aran (Metroid), Space Invaders, Street Fighter II, Tetris, and The Sims.

　　All six inductees will get their own 24-by-24-inch brushed steel star in a ceremony to take place in early 2006.