me a compelling role running both their nascent Learning Group as well as launching their Videogame Group (they had been exclusively PC games)." Phillips in the mid 90s had been in discussions with Sega of America's CEO Tom Kalinske about joining former employer Nintendo's longtime rival as their new spokesperson. While initially interested, he decided not to join Sega. He then worked for THQ, Absolute Entertainment, and Splash Studios. In 1997, he was hired by Microsoft to be the playtest manager for the entertainment division. In 2009, he joined Chair Entertainment as a studio director. In 2012, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a new independent project, a mobile application called Know-It-All. It was inspired by the cognitive and learning sciences behind gaming, to help people to memorize and learn information. The project did not meet its fundraising goal. Phillips was hired as the head of game design and user experience for GameDuell in June 2015. Personal life Howard Phillips has a wife Dayna and two daughters, Alexandra and Katherine. His all-time favorite video game system is the NES. His favorite arcade games are Donkey Kong (1981) and Robotron: 2084 (1982). His favorite console games are Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and The Legend of Zeldathe latter being his single favorite because it made the game industry's historically biggest leap forward of "depth, progression, and surprises". Legacy Kotaku called Howard Phillips "one of the company's most high-profile and best-loved employees, his trademark red hair and bowtie making him as much a mascot of Nintendo's early success as any plumber or kid in a green tunic". Nintendo Power still functions as a podcast, having discontinued the multi-million-subscriber magazine format as an industry legacy. Phillips remains an industry luminarymaking event appearances, interviews, and showcasing his extensive vintage collections of Nintendo memorabilia. He has parted out some of this collection. He has pledged to donate part to the Video Game History Foundation, to which he recruits and facilitates other major collectors from his decades of substantial industry contacts. Some of the collection such as Nintendo brochures, advertisements, and internal memorandums, are photographed on his own Facebook display and in media articles, and some have been sold. In 2013, he sold his 1990 Nintendo World Championships package for on eBay, hoping to reach an enthusiastic collector. See also Tom Kalinske, spokesperson of the competing Sega References Living people Nintendo people Lakeside School alumni