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Who has been most influential person in gaming history? The late Steve Jobs. What is the product that has most influenced game development? The iPhone.

No, those aren't the opinions of mere fervid fanbois; they're the considered conclusions of 1,000 gaming-industry executives surveyed in the run-up to next week's London Games Conference.

Here are the top five in each category, as determined by the survey:

Top five people to have shaped video games:

1. Steve Jobs
2. Gabe Newell (cofounder and managing director of Valve)
3. Shigeru Miyamoto (developer of Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda)
4. Tim Berners-Lee
5. Mark Zuckerberg

Top five products to have shaped video games:

1. Apple iPhone
2. Nintendo Wii
3. Microsoft Xbox Live
4. The original Sony PlayStation
5. Valve's Steam

Your humble Reg reporter has as much respect for Steve Jobs as the next guy – well, more, if some of the opinions of Reg commentards are any indication – but to rate Jobs' influence above that of Miyamoto and Berners-Lee seems a bit colored by the tsunami of adulation that has followed the Apple cofounder's recent untimely death.

And the iPhone being more influential than the original PlayStation? We'll have to rely on the expert judgment of those 1,000 gaming execs for that glowing assessment – although it must be admitted that the iPhone has, indeed, vaulted casual gaming into the limelight.

That said, your opinions are eagerly sought in the comments section.

And one final question: would you have placed either Sid Meier or Dave Jones above Mark Zuckerberg? ®

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