BioWare Docs videogame Hall of Famers

BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have been inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame alongside videogame greats such as Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux and Yu Suzuki.

It's the first time the door has been opened to two people at once.

Why? Because The Doctors, as they're widely known, have been responsible for games such as the seminal Baldur's Gate, as well as recent blockbusters Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

BioWare's games are "some of the most wildly successful" out there and will "resonate among gamers for a very long time", reads AIAS president Martin Rae's justification for their inclusion.

"The range of their talents is endless," he adds, because they can make games, run a business and went to medical school - where they made educational projects Acid Base Physiology Simulator and Gastroenterology Patient Simulator.

Upon graduation and while practising family and emergency medicine in parallel, the pair hooked up with some game developers and formed BioWare.

Then this happened: Shattered Steel, Baldur's Gate, MDK2, Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Sonic Chronicles, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. And next year BioWare will launch an unprecedented three new games: Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3.

Ray Muzyka, the one without the swashbuckler facial hair, likes to play poker. And he's seriously good, having finished in the top 400 players from the 7500 that started at the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Greg Zeschuk, the one with the swashbuckler facial hair, apparently likes gourmet food, music and fine beer.

"We're truly honoured to represent our teams of passionate, hard-working, creative staff across the BioWare Group within Electronic Arts, and they all share this award with us," comments Muzyka, keen to again trample the EA Louse allegations of poor staff care made in October.

"Driving BioWare's success past, present and future are the amazing family of people we have been privileged to work with over the years and our shared core values of quality in our workplace, quality in our products, and entrepreneurship in a context of humility and integrity."

Greg Zeschuk's comment bangs home the same message: "... We'd also like to thank our wives and the families of our employees for their continuous support over the years, which together with the hard work of our great teams continually enables BioWare's success."

Epic Games' Mike Capps welcomes The Doctors into the AIAS Hall of Fame. He's "thrilled" about it all, because "their passion for excellence, and the joy they find in gaming, is evident in everything they touch".

"They're deservedly famous for their industry-defining blockbuster games," he adds, "but I know they're even more proud of building BioWare, a values-driven company that's one of the best places to work in the world."

The first videogame maker inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame was and had to be Shigeru Miyamoto in 1998. Since then he's been joined by (in order) Sid Meier, Hironobu Sakaguchi, John Carmack, Will Wright, Yu Suzuki, Peter Molyneux, Trip Hawkins, Richard Garriott, the late Dani Bunten, Michael Morhaime and Bruce Shelley.