Most widely recognized gaming symbol

[zfactor]

It's the triforce... you know... from Zelda

Never played any Zelda games so, no, no bells. Should I be activating a flame shield?

*grabs flamethrower*

Yes.

 

[Nikokvaj]

I won't bother to quote the three people who assumed my position is completely mired in the existence of the Wii. Although the Wii is a good example of Nintendo attempting to win by reverse-innovation, or did you want to continue to try and convince me that the Wiimote is not essentially 90% similar to the Power Glove?

But you really have to look at the body of decisions made by Nintendo over the course of it's involvement in the console business. Obviously their decision to avoid Sega's habit of making add-ons was smart, which is confusing since they keep making add-ons for the Wii now in the form of bathroom scales and steering wheels. Many questionable decisions made with the N64 got them knocked off the hill, most notably the decision to stick with outdated cartridge format. They stuck to their "censorship guns" for a pretty long time in the Mortal Kombat controversy, but eventually yielded because they started to lose ground to the Genesis. The Gamecube is mired in horrible design choices, most notably the "mini-cds". And every post SNES system has followed a stringent philosophy of having Nintendo crankout 95% of the 4 or 5 AAA titles, while treating third parties like crap and having the majority of it's third party library be shovelware, because only shovelware developers will put up with Nintendo's policies. Of course, Nintendo has always been notoriously heavy-handed towards third party developers, and that goes all the way back to the NES.

Nintendo has made some good games, no one is denying that. But when I think of innovation and industry ingenuity, I really don't think of Nintendo. When I think of marketing, then I think Nintendo.

I find it ironic that "western" developers are the innovative ones while "eastern" developers stick to what they know and beat the same dead horse till everyone has long passed them.

Sure is different for a change

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

But best known? Just Mario in general, really.

Talk about an obscure symbol, I had to look that one up -- and I love The Elder Scrolls, it's just that Morrowind is the only main series game I don't own, and therefore the one I've spent the least time with. I even have an on-disc copy of Daggerfall. If I didn't recognize the symbol, I'd say it's safe to say you pulled a really obscure one for the public at large.

OT:

Spoiler: The most recognizable symbol has got to be one of these.

 

[XzarTheMad]

I mean cmon, who hasn't played a Zelda game in your life, even if you didn't like it

Me.

I vote for the Lambda of Half Life as one of the most iconic ones. Or Mario's red M.

 

[blankedboy]

Yyyyyeeeeeessssssss.

It's also the Turkish national flag, for a bit of trivia... almost. Their star is five-pointed.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

Seeing as how many times they've been in the news, either the GTA logo or the Halo logo.

 

[Ranorak]

Probably mario though.

 

[Afterglow-]

Uhhh...what is that...exactly?

You're joking, right? ...right?

Actually no. I genuinely don't know what that is.

I mean cmon, who hasn't played a Zelda game in your life, even if you didn't like it

Me.

I vote for the Lambda of Half Life as one of the most iconic ones. Or Mario's red M.

Me neither. I mean, I was born in 1995, you know. We weren't a rich family, just getting by. And when we do have enough cash for a console, it's the start of the new generation and I don't play Wii's.

I've never played a Mario game either. Ahh! No, wait, I have. Mario Kart and Mario Party on the DS. I had a great time now that I think back.

I mean, if they put these games on something that's not the DS or the Wii I would play it a lot more!

Here are my votes:

Spoiler: Mario

Spoiler: Legend of Zelda

Spoiler: Half-Life

Spoiler: PacMan

Spoiler: The Sims

 

[slipknot4]

What I think most people recognize would have to be the humble Triforce, I mean cmon, who hasn't played a Zelda game in your life, even if you didn't like it

I have not, and I hope that I'll never get to it.

 

[DustyDrB]

The most well-known? The powerup mushroom from Mario. No question, unless you count Mario himself.

My favorite?

I'd say that.

This one. There are few others that I can really think of. Assassin's Creed's (ugh! Two possessives in a row, blech!), A Donkey Kong Barrel. A gold ring from Sonic (though if you see a gold ring, you're more likely to just think its a...gold ring). I can't even think of one for Mass Effect. The N7 logo isn't too memorable. Actually, when I think of Mass Effect, I think of the head of a geth. Enslaved had the masks, which were pretty cool-looking.

I've never done anything with Pokemon, but I know the Pokeball (was that a game first, or a cartoon?). Fallout has Vault Boy.

Thats all I can come up with.

 

[CleverCover]

Favorite one is the title screen for Sonic the Hedgehog 1991, just cuz it holds so much nostalgia.

Most known one is Pac-man. Because my friend who has no interest in videogames at all knows what that is.