Margaret Robertson on how games and gamers are attracting more and more recognition.

Like many commuters, one of my milder vices is leafing through a free copy of Metro on the morning train. It rarely disappoints - cute animals rescued from improbable peril, TV stars revealed to be dieting hoaxers, lovelorn fugitives betrayed by sausage addiction - but it's rarely worth slowing down from a rapid flick.
Today, though, I was brought to a standstill, not by the enduringly inexplicable photo of Mike Tyson cab-sharing with Aisleyne from Big Brother, but by a mean and moody quarter-page shot of a middle aged Japanese man.

Suddenly, alongside Amy and Blake and Peaches and Lily, here was Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid, and one of the best known game developers in the world.
But while Kojima had made it into the paper he hadn't made it into the fashion column or the interview slot.
He was smouldering out from an HMV promo advertising a signing session for the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
What else would you expect? Game designers just aren't great gossip fodder.

Kojima's presence in the paper - albeit in a paid-for slot - is evidence of a trend that's been building for some time.

Game makers are gaining more and more recognition. In Britain they get OBEs, in France admittance to the Ordre des Artes et de Lettres. Game fans queue along Oxford Street to bag an autograph, and it's not unheard of for game studios to receive requests for candid developer calendars.
Nor are these emerging stars rubbing shoulders with an army of geeky nobodies.

Gaming is drawing celebrity to it like never before.