Who are the “BIG GUYS” in the videogame business? According to Wall Street Journal writer Nick Wingfield, these are “some of the people … who are reshaping the videogame busines.”

In no particular order:
Sam Houser (34): President, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software. He’s the “Quentin Tarantino of videogame designers.”

Jason Jones (34): Lead designer, Bungie Studios, Microsoft. Halo 3.

Shigeru Miyamoto (53): Sr. managing director and general manager, entertainment analysis & development division, Nintendo.

Will Wright (46): Chief creative officer, Maxis Electronic Arts. According to the WSJ, Will’s about to ski-jump a shark–he’s exploring a reality-TV project.

Satoru Iwada (46): President, Nintendo. He’s “shunning the battle between Microsoft and Sony for domination of the living room.

Ken Kutaragi (55): President, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony.

Tony Hawk (37): Professional skateboarder and game celebrity. Did you know that the series of games bearing his name have sold more than $1 billion?

David Stern (63): Commissioner, NBA. He controls the NBA licensing.

Gene Upshaw (60): Executive director, NFL Players Association.

Mitch Davis (43): CEO, Massive. Massive puts ads in games.

Brian Farrell (52): CEO, THQ. He’s listed and the CEOs of Activision and EA are not because his stock is up way more than either of his rivals’.

Frank Gibeau (37): Executive VP, general manager, North American publishing, EA.

Peter Moore (50): Corporate VP interactive entertainment business, entertainment and devices division, Microsoft.

Jason Hall (34): Sr. VP, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Time Warner. He’s heading up a game based on Dirty Harry.

Peter Jackson (44): Film director, producer. Remember Lord Of The Rings and King Kong?

Steve Schnurr (44): World-wide executive of music and music marketing, EA.

Larry Shapiro (41): Co-head, videogame department, Creative Artists Agency. Hollywood agent that perpetrates hate crimes against games in the form of games-turned-movies.

Edward Castronova (43): Associate professor and director of graduate studies, telecommunications department, Indiana University (Bloomington). He writes about games from an academic perspective.

Rob Pardo (35): VP of game design, Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi Universal.

Jill Hamburger (47): VP of gaming domain, Best Buy. Now gamers have an effigy to burn for warmth when we’re shivering outside Best Buy on a cold fall night awaiting the launch of the next big gaming console.

Tim Harrison (35): Head of games, Vodafone Group

John Riccitello (46): Managing director and co-founder, Elevation Partners. He’s behind the purchase of Pandemic and Bioware.

Doug Lowenstein (54): President, ESA. This man is fending off attacks from rabid, misguided politicians who are looking for a galvanizing election issue. He’s got his work cut out for him.

Hirokazu Hamamura (45): Editor in chief, Famitsu Editorial Board; President, Enterbrain. It’s hard to understate the importance of this magazine in that market. Metacritic, CNET.

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