Feature: 'Quantum Leap Awards: Role-Playing Games'

For today's Gamasutra feature, with the results now in, we present the second Quantum Leap Award, as voted by the readership of game industry professionals, awarded to the role-playing game that represented the biggest 'quantum leap' in the genre over its entire history, with an additional look at the rest of the most important role-playing games of all time. As the introduction explains: "In September 2006, the editors of Gamasutra asked its readership of game industry professionals to chime in and vote for which game in the role-playing genre "brought the genre forward" in the biggest way - whether it be an early game that helped define the RPG, or a more recent one which took those core ideas and developed a more rewarding experience than before. Specifically, we asked: "Which role playing game over the entire history of the genre do you think has made the biggest 'quantum leap', and why?" On the following pages, we'll first present the "honorable mentions" - games that, while certainly innovative and important, did not receive enough votes to make it into the top echelon. Following this, we'll present the top five role-playing games voted for by our readers, in reverse order, ending with the overall recipient of Gamasutra's second Quantum Leap Award, which received the largest amount of votes from game professionals." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the topic, with industry commentary on 10 of the genre's most groundbreaking games, including one specially recognized series, and find out which took the elusive Quantum Leap prize (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).