The news magazine includes him on the list of influential people; readers voted him ninth.
TIME magazine released its official list of 2006's most influential people, and thanks to the success of Wii, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto ranked in. Writing for the magazine, pro gamer Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel explained why Shiggy was such an influence to him personally.
"By making video gaming accessible and fun for people like my grandma, Shigeru Miyamoto, 54, head of the Wii design team, has opened the world I live in every day to people who never even wanted to visit it before. He showed us that video games are for everyone, something social and active that brings people together. I'm hopeful that competitive video gaming will rightfully be considered a pro sport like any other, and I will spend the rest of my life championing video gaming as an equal to pro football or basketball. That job is a little easier thanks to Miyamoto-san and his ingenious team at Nintendo."
Readers voting at TIME's website put him close to the top, in ninth place. He had the fifth most amount of votes in the poll, and was one of six to have more than 100,000 votes. Readers (probably Korean readers) voted Korean R&B star Rain as the runaway favorite in the online poll.