The 2011 DICE Summit is just under a month away, and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has just about rounded out its award lists. Today, the AIAS said that it would confer the second annual Pioneer Award to Bill Budge, whose 30-year career has covered ground at such tech heavyweights as Apple, 3DO, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Google.

　　Budge also created Raster Blaster. While Budge is not a household name, his accomplishments are highlighted by his early-career emphasis on creating tools to help people build their own games. Specifically, Budge created the 3-D Game Tool, which gave non-programmers an easy way to create simple 3D games and applications.

　　While at EA, Budge created Pinball Construction Set, one of the publisher's first titles, which allowed users to build and play their own pinball games. "Pinball Construction Set was the first game that introduced me to the idea of constructive games and systemic thinking," commented Will Wright, of Budge and the game. "I doubt SimCity would have existed without it."

　　Budge will be handed the Pioneer Award as part of the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, during the 2011 DICE Summit on February 10. At the same ceremony, the AIAS will honor BioWare doctors Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk as well as Bing Gordon. Numerous games are also up for multiple IAAs, including Red Dead Redemption, Enslaved, and God of War III.

　　Now in its second year, the Pioneer Award was presented to Activision cofounder David Crane last year. Crane, along with Wright and other notable industry figures, will be on hand at this year's Game Developers Conference, where he will offer a postmortem on arguably his most influential creation, Pitfall!.