Bethesda’s Todd Howard Receives LARA of Honor

Bethesda’s official blog is understandably keen to note that Bethesda Game Studios’ director Todd Howard will be awarded a “LARA of Honor” at the German Games Award, which will be held on May 15th. The award recognizes the mark left on videogame’s history by the person that receives it, and was previously given to personalities such as Nolan Bushnell and Richard Garriott. Here’s the full press release from Bethesda:

LARA of Honor goes to Todd Howard

On May 15thin Munich the LARA The German Games Award, will be awarded in a joint ceremony together with the German Computer Game Awards. The absolute highlight of the LARAs is the awarding of the LARA of Honor, which this year goes to Todd Howard, Game Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios.

On the evening of May 15th, a joint celebratory gala event in the Munich Postpalast, will see the presentation of the LARA The German Games Award together with the German Computer Game Awards. The LARA is awarded in the following categories: ‘˜Best International Computer Game’, ‘˜Best International Console Game’, ‘˜Best International Mobile Game’, ‘˜The LARA Audience Prize’ and the ‘˜LARA of Honor’.

This year’s ‘˜LARA of Honor’ winner is Todd Howard, Game Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios. Upon graduation from The College of William and Mary, he followed a passion he had nurtured since his earliest childhood: Games. He joined Bethesda in 1994 and has designed and developed games as part of the studio known as Bethesda Game Studios.

Todd Howard is considered one of the pioneers of ‘˜open world’ games. Over the years his developments have written history and are some of the most globally successful computer games ever produced. As the years have gone by he has also been bestowed with countless awards. The US games magazine ‘˜GamePro’ rated him as one of the most influential people in the games industry of the last 20 years. IGN counts him as one of the top game developers of all time. Two years ago he had a great honor bestowed upon him: The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) named Howard ‘˜Best Game Director’. Furthermore Todd Howard is one of the very few creatives in this global industry who has seen each of their last three published games granted ‘˜Game of the Year’ award status. ‘˜The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’, ‘˜Fallout 3’ and ‘˜The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’.

Harald Hesse, Editor in Chief of Gamesmarkt and spokesman for the LARA jury commented: (We are delighted and proud that Todd Howard is doing us the honor of coming in person to receive the LARA of Honor on May 15th. Without doubt, with all of his inventive work to date he counts as one of the most outstanding personalities in this creative industry.)

The LARA of Honor has been awarded within the LARA The German Games Award framework since 2007. Receiving this award marks the recipient as someone whose work has made a real impression in the history of computer and video games. The LARA of Honor award winner also earns a place in the Hall of Fame through receiving the award. Previous recipients of the LARA of Honor are: Ralph H Baer (2007), Allan Alcorn (2007), Jürgen Goeldner (2008), Alexej Pajitnov (2009), Nolan Bushnell (2010), Yves Guillemot (2011), Will Wright (2012) and Richard Garriott (2013).