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This is a bit of a stunner: Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo of Japan, passed away today at the age of 55 after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer. Iwata has been president of Nintendo for over 13 years, overseeing the Gamecube, Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems. He also produced a ton of games, programmed Earthbound, and was the face of the company in every Nintendo Direct, with his goofy mannerisms and Captain Kirk-esque english prose. He had to bow out of the last two E3s due to health concerns, and now it is clear that his health was much worse than previously thought. Amazingly he was still able to take investors' Q&As just last week. Just an incredible loss not just for the company but for the industry as well. RIP banana man The 7th Guest fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jul 13, 2015 |
# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:22 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 13:25 |
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Here's a video of him on GameCenter CX. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63mG4k-VIyY RIP Iwata.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:23 |
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ty for kanto, iwata-san
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:23 |
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I don't understand.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:23 |
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No more Directs with Iwata
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:25 |
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Legitimately shocking news. I had no idea he was so ill.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:26 |
it is a dark day for gaming
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:26 |
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That was unexpected to say the least. drat.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:28 |
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Iwata-san
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:28 |
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Kewpuh posted:it is a dark day for gaming basically gently caress cancer yet again
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:28 |
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I simply must pay my respects to this man. Such a huge part of what made Nintendo Directs great, and he had such a great mind for the legacy of not just Nintendo, but gaming in general. His loss will truly be felt by everyone who has ever hit their head on a box of bricks, or opened a treasure to find a rare item, or phoned home to cure their Homesick. Rest in Peace, Mr. Iwata.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:28 |
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I guess that's why he hasn't been making many public appearances lately.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:30 |
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Anime Curator posted:No more Directs with Iwata Not unless you have a This is really sad news though. He always struck me as a pretty nice guy, and he was still so young.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:30 |
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I genuinely felt this one. I imagine a good number of people haven't met him in person (myself included) but those Nintendo Directs certainly put a personal face on the company.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:31 |
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Holy poo poo what a huge blow to the industry, this guy was a cool innovator, a good president and an excellent marketer and presenter of his company, he will be remembered for quite a while for his contributions to the world at large. It's really sad, he died at least two decades too early, a good man gone too soon. RIP Iwata, here's hoping you go DIRECTLY to heaven.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:32 |
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Iwata was a direct influence of a lot of Nintendo's games, too - the code he wrote for Balloon Fight was used as a direct reference for Super Mario Bros. underwater physics, he saved Earthbound by rewriting the entire game in a year, he ported the Pokemon battle logic to N64 in 11 days and he wasn't even on the team, he compressed Pokemon Gold/Silver so much that they were able to fit a second region on the cart, he wrote the original prototype for Super Smash Bros. and was the one who got approval for every single character, and his first act as president was to assign himself to the Melee team for the final crunch to make sure the game was out during the launch window.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:33 |
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He was apparently a programming genius, considering he managed to compress Johto in Pokemon GSC so well that there was room for a whole other region. May God understand, Iwata-dono.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:33 |
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I think this is going to be the celebrity death that hurts the most for a while. Nintendo has been a big part of my life since I was a little kid playing NES, and he's made so many wonderful games possible over the years. While his decisions weren't always the best, Iwata made sure everyone knew gaming didn't always have to be about the best graphics or dark stories, but could be just amazing with colorful graphics and silly gameplay. It really felt like he always had "gaming should be fun" at the forefront of his policies, something we don't always see these days. He ran the company well, and was a great man with a great personality and passion for gaming. Rest easy, Satoru Iwata.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:34 |
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Holy poo poo this is depressing.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:35 |
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:36 |
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Funky Valentine posted:He was apparently a programming genius, considering he managed to compress Johto in Pokemon GSC so well that there was room for a whole other region.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:36 |
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Yikes, I had no idea he was even sick. This is a huge loss for Nintendo, if not the industry as a whole. He always seemed like such a cool dude too. Gone too soon
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:36 |
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Twitter's blowing up. This one got me.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:37 |
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It won't be the same seeing Reggie trying to banter with someone else over Nintendo video games coming out.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:38 |
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Commander Keenan posted:Twitter's blowing up. This one got me. Welp, now I'm crying. Thanks?
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:38 |
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Only 55? I knew about the cancer but drat... that ain't right.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:38 |
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Video game developers and industry vets are the only kind of celebrities I follow and I feel sad to know Iwata died... Gonna be a dark day in video games when Miyamoto dies too, assuming it's a troll news story or whatever at first also makes it a little sadder Well, thank you Mr. Iwata for all your work on some of my favourite video games
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:38 |
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Calling this a bummer doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm a bit worried about what's going to happen to Nintendo now since it really felt like he was the only one keeping it from going the way of other Japanese companies. Hopefully Miyamoto or someone else with a lot of pull will appoint someone worthy of the mantle.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:39 |
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Please fly your mushroom flags at half mast today in remembrance.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:40 |
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Commander Keenan posted:Twitter's blowing up. This one got me. holy gently caress this one got me.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:41 |
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iwata go back in time 1 hour and not read this news rip
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:41 |
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I think Alex from Giantbomb had this right when he said this was really our first "celebrity giant" death. This industry is young, small, and still growing. And Iwata has been their since it's inception, pushing hard to make it something anybody and everybody could get into. And now he isn't there anymore. And that's a really hard thing to think about and grasp. You may not like Nintendo or it's games, but you have to at least respect what they've done in the industry. And a lot of that was Iwata. This is a massive loss.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:42 |
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Commander Keenan posted:Twitter's blowing up. This one got me. Sure is rainy in my apartment today. I didn't know any of that about his programming skill, that's ridiculously impressive. At least we still have muppet Iwata. I hope Reggie can get through this.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:42 |
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Rookersh posted:I think Alex from Giantbomb had this right when he said this was really our first "celebrity giant" death.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:43 |
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He was only 55? For some reason I thought he was way older than that. At least he accomplished a hell of a lot with his life pushing this industry forward.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:43 |
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Endorph posted:Eh, I think Gunpei Yokoi would also qualify. but that was a hit for not keeping quiet after saddling him with the vb failure.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:44 |
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Davinci posted:Calling this a bummer doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm a bit worried about what's going to happen to Nintendo now since it really felt like he was the only one keeping it from going the way of other Japanese companies. Hopefully Miyamoto or someone else with a lot of pull will appoint someone worthy of the mantle.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:44 |
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Rookersh posted:I think Alex from Giantbomb had this right when he said this was really our first "celebrity giant" death.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:45 |
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Endorph posted:he also programmed pokemon stadium by himself in like a week I'm seriously wondering how worse off Nintendo is without him now. Not just as a face, but as a company as well.
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:45 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 13:25 |
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Goddamn. This is terrible. What is bile duct growth and how can it kill you?
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# ? Jul 13, 2015 01:45 |