Microsoft Visual Basic Honored as AIAS Technical Impact Award Recipient
11 February 2016 - 2:01AM
Business Wire
Tribute Presented by Academy of Interactive
Arts & Sciences at 19th D.I.C.E. Awards
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is pleased
to announce Microsoft’s Visual Basic as the recipient of this
year’s Technical Impact Award at the 19th D.I.C.E. Awards
(#DICEAwards) ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, at The Mandalay
Bay Convention Center. Microsoft’s Visual Basic first launched in
1991, and was immediately recognized by the computer science
engineering world as one of the most powerful programming languages
ever created. It is thanks to this simple and impactful tool that
burgeoning industries like the video game industry were able to
take advantage of its user-friendly interface and rapid application
development to experiment and develop game concepts quickly.
The Technical Impact Award celebrates unique innovations that
contribute to the ongoing progress of interactive media in all its
forms, and celebrates technical achievements that are expanding and
redefining our industry. Honorees are selected from various facets
of the industry, which may include software, hardware, and
community. The 2016 Technical Impact Award will be presented to
Microsoft Visual Basic by Rich Hilleman, member of the AIAS Board
of Directors and chief creative director at Electronic Arts. Scott
Ferguson, development lead and architect of the original Visual
Basic, will be accepting.
“The influence of Microsoft’s Visual Basic extends beyond the
programming and design features of this game-changing toolset,”
said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts &
Sciences. “Visual Basic inspired and spawned a new generation of
coders and programmers thanks to its simplicity, laying the
foundation for creative experimentation. Microsoft’s philosophy to
provide free access to all lowered the barriers of entry and
inspired some of the most successful platforms today to similarly
make their tools available without restrictions. It is this
mentality that allows our industry to flourish, and much of it can
be attributed to Microsoft Visual Basic.”
“Visual Basic had a huge impact on my early career as a
developer and has helped countless PC and video game creators
around the world bring their games to life,” said Phil Spencer,
head of Xbox. “I am incredibly proud the Academy of Interactive
Arts and Sciences is recognizing the Microsoft Visual Basic team
with the Technical Impact Award not only for their contribution to
the art and science of computer programing, but ultimately for
their significant impact on the gaming industry as a whole.”
Alan Cooper, often regarded as the Father of Visual Basic,
developed the drag-and-drop feature. His company, Tripod, was
approached by Microsoft and Bill Gates to expand that feature into
a form building application. Developed under the code name Ruby, it
did not include a programming language so Microsoft decided to
bundle it with the BASIC programming language. As a result, Visual
Basic was born. Games like Rattler Race and Rodent’s Revenge
exploded onto the scene, which laid the foundation for how games
are created and developed today. Similarly, the Visual Basic team
is humbled to see game engines like Unity and Unreal were inspired
by this platform.
After many successful iterations from Visual Basic 1.0 to 6.0,
Microsoft retired support in 2008 and in the meantime created the
successor to this popular program, Visual Basic .NET. This program
provided many enhancements, all ultimately focusing on what made
Visual Basic popular: the rapid application development platform.
In 2005 Microsoft also launched the Visual Basic 2005 Express which
offered the tool for free for the first time, geared towards
students, hobbyists and novices. Visual Basic in all its forms has
been used by tens of millions of people across the globe.
The Technical Impact Award’s previous and first inductee was the
Apple App Store.
On-site registration for the 19th D.I.C.E. Awards and 2016
D.I.C.E. Summit is available. More information on the conference
can be found here.
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Zebra PartnersSarah D. Fischer,
206-406-6463sarah@zebrapartners.net