14 ms·

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has died [pdf]

937 points by hkmurakami 11y ago

hkmurakami 11y ago
As per the IR announcement, "bile duct growth" is cited as the cause of death. The Japanese announcement says 胆管腫瘍. Just when Nintendo has started having some bright spots in their business. RIP.
- lamontcg 11y ago
  Cancer of the bile duct? If so, its nearly always fatal. By the time the lump is big enough for someone to go to the doctor to get it checked out, its always stage 4, terminal and inoperable. Only way it turns out differently is when a surgeon is poking around in there for some other reason and stumbles across it. Mostly kills people in their 70s and 80s or older so there's not much research done on it.
  - pdknsk 11y ago
    This is the announcement of the diagnosis. He only survived a year. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/140627/ http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/140627/
    - lamontcg 11y ago
      Same as a friend of mine lasted. Doc gave him 9 months. EDIT: and I think he was lying a bit about the diagnosis in that letter, or else his docs were lying a bit to him. That may have been what he wanted to believe. If it was discovered "routinely" outside of surgery it was stage 4 to begin with, and there wasn't any hope, and it was probably inoperable (the fact that he got an operation and only lasted 12 months suggests the op didn't do any good). Not really casting aspersions on him, though, just cancer is really shitty, and this one particularly bad.
gkoberger 11y ago
Wow, he was only 55. He had been sick for a while, but this was unexpected.
fourstar 11y ago
He was still relatively young. RIP.
jtchang 11y ago
It is always amazing for me to read about Nintendo's history, especially during the 80s and when they released the NES. It is even more amazing when you think about everything that has changed about gaming since then. It is kind of sad to me that the newer generation does not get to grow up playing old school games like Final Fantasy and Zelda. Some of the games these days really focus too much on graphics and not gameplay. I felt a lot of games back then were much harder and more unforgiving than games today.
- zobzu 11y ago
  i find graphics and environment are actually much nicer in games with "no 3d engine". they're not nearly as detailed, but they're just more artistic/pleasant, as if more time was spent in that direction to "compensate" for the lack of detail
  - digi_owl 11y ago
    the whole 3D thing also seems to complicate controls to all hell.
    - agumonkey 11y ago
      Part of the reason Nintendo was not hungry to jump on the 3D bandwagon. Most of the 3D games on PS1 launch were very hazardous, messy and bland. If it wasn't for the technology prowess of the day nobody would have bought them.
      - hartator 11y ago
        Mario Kart N64, Super Mario N64 and Goldeneye N64? All 3D game not made by sony at the time of the PS1? Maybe the best in the world? 3D is awesome when made correctly and not trying to reproduce a movie.
        agumonkey 11y ago
        Come on the N64 came far later, and that was my point. And it was all over the place how Mario 64 gameplay was tailored, camera viewpoint and everything. Many games at the PS1 launch had the cam lost in translation somewhere between polygons, or just point at a weird angle.
johladam 11y ago
It's really painful to hear something like this, Mario and Zelda was my childhood, and I play the most recent Animal Crossing on my 3DS still. I hope his family understands how many childhoods he impacted. Funny picture, when asked to draw Kirby. Artists vs Programmers. Miyamoto, Sakurai and Iwata I believe. http://i.imgur.com/S5Cq9lT.jpg http://i.imgur.com/S5Cq9lT.jpg
- Gigablah 11y ago
  Sakurai is left, Miyamoto is middle.
- Figs 11y ago
  It's really hard to read the text in that picture because of the JPG compression artifacts, but I did my best to try to transcribe and translate it. I'm not a native speaker of Japanese though, so if anyone sees a mistake, please correct me! From left to right: 桜井政博さん Sakurai Masahiro-san 「星のカービイ」を考えましたスゴイ人！開発スタッフの中ではいちばん若いけど、おもしろいゲームを作ることなら、だれにもまけない。口数の少ないアイデアマン。 The amazing person who thought up Kirby's Dream Land! Although he's the youngest of the development staff, when it comes to making interesting games, he won't lose to anyone. An idea man of few words. 宮本茂さん Miyamoto Shigeru-san 「スーパーマリオ」や「ゼルダの伝説」シリーズなどを作った。有名な人！みんなもよく知ってるよね？今回の「カービイ」でもプロデューサーを担当。 He made series such as Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. He's famous! But you already knew that, right? For this Kirby, he took on the roll of producer. 岩田聡さん Iwata Satoru-san 任天堂から発売されたゴルフゲームの、ほとんどを作ったエライ人！「カービィ」では、みんなを明るくはげましなから、プログラムもやってしまうプロデューサー。 He's the great person who practically made Nintendo's golf game! Due to everyone's enthusiastic encouragement, he was both a programmer and a producer for Kibry.
  - Camillo 11y ago
    Last one should be: "The amazing guy who wrote pretty much the entirety of Nintendo's golf game. For Kirby, on top of cheering everyone on as a producer, he ended up doing programming too."
    - Figs 11y ago
      Thank you for the correction. If you don't mind, could you please explain the grammar of "はげましなから" since it seems I was mistaken in interpreting that construction? (I thought it was "because of encouragement".) In particular, that な is confusing me now.
slater 11y ago
RIP.
allsystemsgo 11y ago
Haven't been following Nintendo very much. If he was so ill why was he still CEO? Not saying he wasn't capable but, if I were that sick, not sure I would want to be running a company.
- sylv3r 11y ago
  Steve Jobs?
- michaelpinto 11y ago
  There are some people who love their job more than many other things in this life. The CEO in question was a true gamer at heart, and i suspect that many other gamers if given the job of being CEO of Nintendo would do that their last day.
nness 11y ago
Vale Satoru Iwata.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
renegadesensei 11y ago
Amazingly depressing. May the way of the hero lead to the triforce, my friend. Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk
dhfromkorea 11y ago
I feel so sorry to hear this. I have been a long time fan of Nintendo. RIP Iwata san. We will miss you so much. The rest of crew at the company will continue to carry the torch.
- cmollis 11y ago
  True. RIP.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Mahn 11y ago
This is incredibly depressing. Nobody should ever have to die that young. May he rest in peace.
pdknsk 11y ago
Very sad news. A true hacker. Started programming on a programmable calculator, with which he made games for his classmates. After he got himself a Commodore PET, he went to Nintendo claiming he can make games for them, and so he did. Edit: I found a PET quote from Iwata Asks. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/4/0 http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/4/0 > Iwata: Disassembling! Wow, that really brings back memories. I remember getting my first computer, which was a PET, and disassembling it to try and analyze it. We didn't have printers at the time, so I wrote everything on the screen by hand. I really can't believe I did that. (laughs) That's how I found out what was going on inside. > Iwata: It just so happens that a computer and the Famicom system had a similar CPU. That's why when I started working with Nintendo, I knew about the 6502 better than anybody else in the company.
- Tiktaalik 11y ago
  Iwata was apparently a legendary programmer. We've learned bits and pieces of his prowess in translated interviews over the years. Iwata was a lead programmer on Earthbound/Mother 2 (my favourite game of all time). The game went through a troubled development and if you trust the impressions of Itoi, the lead designer, Iwata's incredible skills saved the game from cancellation. An Earthbound fan translated a Famitsu interview from Mother 2's initial release where he talks about programming a bit. https://yomuka.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/weekly-famitsu-september-9-1994-2/ https://yomuka.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/weekly-famitsu-septe... EDIT: More here: http://earthboundcentral.com/2013/03/itoi-iwata-discuss-mother-2-before-virtual-console-release/ http://earthboundcentral.com/2013/03/itoi-iwata-discuss-moth... Incredibly, Iwata was still doing some programming work during the Gamecube era in the 2000s. http://nintendoeverything.com/iwata-on-his-super-programmer-days-helped-get-smash-bros-melee-out-on-time/ http://nintendoeverything.com/iwata-on-his-super-programmer-...
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    First time I take a look at Earthbound. Fine pixel art.
    - 11y ago
corndoge 11y ago
Farewell o7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqf1Fztvr8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqf1Fztvr8
soldergenie 11y ago
In addition to being CEO, one of his many other accomplishments was that he was the main programmer for Earthbound, a game close to my heart. A death like this always tragic, but the death of a fellow programmer makes it feel closer to home.
antonmaju 11y ago
Iwata during GDC 2005: "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer."
- FrankenPC 11y ago
  I love that. All that corporate maturity and yet the young gamer lived on. He was the perfect Nintendo president. How are they going to fill those shoes?
  - ekianjo 11y ago
    > perfect Nintendo president Not talking about him as a human being, but his decisions in the past few years have put Nintendo in trouble, actually.
    - flycaliguy 11y ago
      The man was the perfect "Nintendo president".
    - agumonkey 11y ago
      It's hard to understand Nintendo state, money wise they're doing better than others, but on the game/machine level they're a bit off.
      - robotpony 11y ago
        I'm not so sure. I spent the last few nights with my 14 and 16 year old kids, playing Mario Cart, Mario Party, and Mario Bros, and loved every second. Maybe it's our expectations that are off.
        daeken 11y ago
        I agree. Mario Kart 8 is absolutely, hands-down one of the best games ever made. The controls are perfect, it has an insanely high replay value, the challenges are well-balanced, and it's absolutely gorgeous. They did a fantastic job.
Tiktaalik 11y ago
There's a long running series of interviews called "Iwata Asks" where Iwata would interview various Nintendo game developers around the time of their latest game release. Iwata certainly doesn't ask very hard hitting questions, but nonetheless they're interesting looks behind the scenes of Nintendo development and well worth reading. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com http://iwataasks.nintendo.com
interesting_att 11y ago
Such sad news. Iwata's influence has been enormous on my childhood as well as many others. Gaming is becoming a legitimate hobby, in no small part to people like him. He truly cared about the company, the products, and the consumer. RIP
ilamont 11y ago
This is terrible news. My sincere condolences to his family. Five years ago, I read (and saved) a series of fascinating interviews about the development of the Wii. Some of them were on the Nintendo corporate sites (see https://web.archive.org/web/20100612175931/http://wii.nintendo-europe.com/163.html https://web.archive.org/web/20100612175931/http://wii.ninten...) while others were from Japanese magazines that a colleague translated. It was really a remarkable tale — Iwata was a CEO who loved to work with his engineers and designers, and in the case of the Wii, they created something that was truly innovative, and not just in an engineering sense. The following excerpt discusses the creation of the Wii remote/nunchuck: Iwata: I still remember the first time I saw the pointer demo in one of the conference rooms. From the moment I picked it up, it just felt right. I had handled other pointer devices before, but they are not normally responsive and leave you feeling more frustrated than relaxed. The pointer idea itself was also good, but in this case it was the sense of control, the finish of the product, that was particularly good. I suppose that was the result of the technology brought in by Mr Takeda. Ashida: Well, it was because the main controller was just a rod. (laughs) It clearly couldn't be used to control existing games. Since Wii is compatible with GameCube games, and we also had the concept of the Virtual Console, we had to make it possible to play games from the NES days, too. On top of that, we also had to consider FPS (first person shooter) games for the overseas market. These factors ultimately gave birth to the idea of combining various controllers to the main controller with an extension connector. Miyamoto: The idea of connecting controllers spread very quickly, but the Nunchuk, which had such a strong impact when it was announced, was done much later. Ashida: I first heard about the idea for the Nunchuk from Takeda-san. He said, “can you try to make something like this?” There were also requests from the development teams for Metroid and other software titles asking for a new kind of controller that uses both hands, that can offer a new type of gameplay. And so, yet again, we started out by moulding another clay model. (laughs) Takeda: This idea originally came from one of the young developers involved in the project I mentioned earlier, the one aimed at selling packaged peripherals with GameCube games. Iwata: I can still vividly recall the look of anxiety on Mr Ashida's face when he showed me the Nunchuk. What was running through your mind at that time? Ashida: Well, I thought it wouldn't fit well with the streamlined designs of the console and controller. At first, I also considered a design similar to that of the remote. But since it was so obvious that the right and left hands are used differently, I realized that making the designs similar would just make it harder to control. When I asked for Mr Takeda's advice, he reassured me that it was fine for them to be different since they would be used separately. Ikeda: we used to call the Wii Remote the Core Controller, or alternatively the Core Unit, because peripherals were attached to its extension connecter. Miyamoto: Oh, that's right, we called it the Core, didn't we? But the term Core Unit doesn't sound very accessible, even though that's what we were aiming for all along! (laughs) It was Mr Iwata who insisted that the main controller be called a remote, wasn't it? Iwata: Yes, that was something that I was unusually stubborn about. The TV remote is something always sits within reach and is picked up and used by everyone all the time. Since I wanted the controller to be used in the same way, and since it ended up looking like one in the end, I strongly believed that it should be called a remote. And also because one of the most fundamental questions behind Wii's development was why some people use the TV remote all the time, but hesitate to pick up a game controller. So I really insisted that it be called a remote. Ikeda: n the early stages of development we ran into a number of problems that we hadn't anticipated, like the fact that the controller would react to fluorescent light, for example. Creating a mechanism that prevents the controller from responding to fluorescent light and sunlight may not sound overly difficult, but it still caused us a good deal of trouble. Iwata: So, that's how the specifications of the Wii controller were decided. However, it wasn't until the Tokyo Game Show last year that it was unveiled to the general public. I was up on stage at that event, and I still vividly remember the silence that followed the video that introduced the controller. It felt like time was standing still... It was as though the audience didn't know how to react. Given that you'd all worked so hard on the controller, what did you think of that reaction? Miyamoto: Like Mr Takeda, I too was very much on edge. I was certain that they wouldn't understand Wii unless they actually tried it out for themselves, and so I was unsure how convincing the presentation alone would be. Everyone was clapping, but I couldn't help but wonder whether our message had gotten across, or whether people thought it was too unconventional. However, looking at the other unveilings at the Tokyo Game Show that day, I was very much relieved by the fact that Nintendo was the only one doing something new. Everyone else seemed to be just polishing up something that everyone had already seen before. Ashida, when asked about reax from developers: For the most part, their feedback was very positive, which was a great relief. Needless to say, there were a few cries of dissent, but most people were left with a favourable impression. Ikeda: I was often left in charge of explaining the controller's functions, but it was only when they actually got their hands on the controller that their faces would light up. Seeing this, I really felt as though we'd scored a hit. And then, immediately after they had a go on Wii, they started coming up with ideas. Right there and then they were already discussing what they could do and how they could do it! I was amazed by the speed of this. Iwata: Producers are more likely to pick up the controller and start thinking about its limitations. Creators, on the other hand, are more likely to look at what is possible, come up with ideas and ask a lot of questions. They'll go home with smiles on their faces, won't they? Iwata: In bringing Wii to the world, we've filled up countless boxes with mock-ups, prototypes, trial software, and so on. But I truly feel that none of our efforts were wasted. These concepts came and went at a remarkable pace, until we came across those special technologies that solved all of our problems at once. Nowadays, nobody has any doubts about the "d-pad with two main buttons" interface. But twenty years ago many people wondered whether such a controller could really be used to play games. So, if we continue to do what we know has to be done, our controller, which now appears quite unusual, may very well become the new standard. As someone who has made it their life’s work to make innovative products, I feel very lucky to have had the chance to witness this story from beginning to end. Everyone, thank you very much. Japanese companies are sometimes portrayed as being too conservative. However, I have found that there is a creative/innovative streak in certain firms that can lead to truly innovative products that push the engineering and creative envelopes, open up new markets, and force everyone to realize new possibilities. Satoru Iwata deserves much credit for what happened at Nintendo.
marcelocamanho 11y ago
It's hard to understand, Mr. Iwata. RIP From the stories, it seems he was a great programmer, and really loved what he did.
philliphaydon 11y ago
:( Sad news.
DiabloD3 11y ago
I grew up with a NES and SNES. He worked on many games that I enjoyed (during his time at HAL), the most notable of my collection being Earthbound (of which, I still have to play every few years just because of how good it is). I'm sad to see him finally leave us.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
abbabon 11y ago
Truly a sad day. Leave luck to heaven :'(
Tycho 11y ago
What a loss. I wonder if the Wii and the DS are used as case studies in business schools. Smaller company playing a disruptive strategy against giant competitors. I also think it's equally impressive how Nintendo always lived to fight another day... seems so many technology firms have one or two hits then get wiped out when a new product under-performs.
- scholia 11y ago
  > Smaller company playing a disruptive strategy against giant competitors. Although before that, Nintendo owned the games console industry, so it wasn't exactly a small startup. It had market-leading software franchises to sell its hardware. > seems so many technology firms have one or two hits then get wiped out when a new product under-performs. Absolutely true. It's one of the main reasons why the IBM PC (running DOS) and then openly-licensed Windows came to dominate the PC market rather than Acorn, Apple, Commodore (Amiga), Sinclair and hundreds of other proprietary manufacturers. That was never a viable strategy in the games console market because most consoles were sold at a loss, ie software sales subsidized hardware sales.
- andrepd 11y ago
  Hardly. Nintendo was already one of the (if not the) major video game companies. Mario was a household name, they had hundreds of millions of games shipped, they made such massive hits as the NES, SNES, Game Boy, not to mention making literally dozens of celebrated timeless games. It's a bit ridiculous to try to paint the picture of a small company upsetting the balance and applying the "disruptive" buzzword to 2000s Nintendo. As for living to fight another day, well, that's the price of innovation. For every Wii, there is a Virtual Boy. For every Ocarina of Time there is a Phantom Hourglass. Not every bold move pays off, not every innovation is well received. Fortunately for Nintendo they never stopped innovating and taking risks. The times it paid comfortable offset the times it didn't (like the current gen Wii U). Besides that, they have extremely valuable IP they can cash on (Mario, Pokémon, etc).
  - Tycho 11y ago
    1.Nintendo was a much 'smaller' company than Sony and Microsoft, who had many other businesses besides video games. The video games industry in the 2000s was far bigger than it was when Nintendo dominated it in the 80s and 90s. 2. The Wii is practically the definition of a 'disruptive strategy.' They stopped trying to compete on what was previously considered key (specs, AAA games) and instead focussed on adding a radical new dimension to gaming (motion sense controller).
lordvadur 11y ago
I'm not a conspiracy person but the parallels are eerie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi nintendo executive mid 50s latest console was not well received dies suddenly

937 points by hkmurakami 11y ago

As per the IR announcement, "bile duct growth" is cited as the cause of death. The Japanese announcement says 胆管腫瘍. Just when Nintendo has started having some bright spots in their business. RIP.

lamontcg 11y ago
Cancer of the bile duct? If so, its nearly always fatal. By the time the lump is big enough for someone to go to the doctor to get it checked out, its always stage 4, terminal and inoperable. Only way it turns out differently is when a surgeon is poking around in there for some other reason and stumbles across it. Mostly kills people in their 70s and 80s or older so there's not much research done on it.
- pdknsk 11y ago
  This is the announcement of the diagnosis. He only survived a year. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/140627/ http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/140627/
  - lamontcg 11y ago
    Same as a friend of mine lasted. Doc gave him 9 months. EDIT: and I think he was lying a bit about the diagnosis in that letter, or else his docs were lying a bit to him. That may have been what he wanted to believe. If it was discovered "routinely" outside of surgery it was stage 4 to begin with, and there wasn't any hope, and it was probably inoperable (the fact that he got an operation and only lasted 12 months suggests the op didn't do any good). Not really casting aspersions on him, though, just cancer is really shitty, and this one particularly bad.

gkoberger 11y ago

Wow, he was only 55. He had been sick for a while, but this was unexpected.

fourstar 11y ago

He was still relatively young. RIP.

jtchang 11y ago

It is always amazing for me to read about Nintendo's history, especially during the 80s and when they released the NES. It is even more amazing when you think about everything that has changed about gaming since then. It is kind of sad to me that the newer generation does not get to grow up playing old school games like Final Fantasy and Zelda. Some of the games these days really focus too much on graphics and not gameplay. I felt a lot of games back then were much harder and more unforgiving than games today.

zobzu 11y ago
i find graphics and environment are actually much nicer in games with "no 3d engine". they're not nearly as detailed, but they're just more artistic/pleasant, as if more time was spent in that direction to "compensate" for the lack of detail
- digi_owl 11y ago
  the whole 3D thing also seems to complicate controls to all hell.
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    Part of the reason Nintendo was not hungry to jump on the 3D bandwagon. Most of the 3D games on PS1 launch were very hazardous, messy and bland. If it wasn't for the technology prowess of the day nobody would have bought them.
    - hartator 11y ago
      Mario Kart N64, Super Mario N64 and Goldeneye N64? All 3D game not made by sony at the time of the PS1? Maybe the best in the world? 3D is awesome when made correctly and not trying to reproduce a movie.
      - agumonkey 11y ago
        Come on the N64 came far later, and that was my point. And it was all over the place how Mario 64 gameplay was tailored, camera viewpoint and everything. Many games at the PS1 launch had the cam lost in translation somewhere between polygons, or just point at a weird angle.

johladam 11y ago

It's really painful to hear something like this, Mario and Zelda was my childhood, and I play the most recent Animal Crossing on my 3DS still. I hope his family understands how many childhoods he impacted. Funny picture, when asked to draw Kirby. Artists vs Programmers. Miyamoto, Sakurai and Iwata I believe. http://i.imgur.com/S5Cq9lT.jpg http://i.imgur.com/S5Cq9lT.jpg

Gigablah 11y ago
Sakurai is left, Miyamoto is middle.
Figs 11y ago
It's really hard to read the text in that picture because of the JPG compression artifacts, but I did my best to try to transcribe and translate it. I'm not a native speaker of Japanese though, so if anyone sees a mistake, please correct me! From left to right: 桜井政博さん Sakurai Masahiro-san 「星のカービイ」を考えましたスゴイ人！開発スタッフの中ではいちばん若いけど、おもしろいゲームを作ることなら、だれにもまけない。口数の少ないアイデアマン。 The amazing person who thought up Kirby's Dream Land! Although he's the youngest of the development staff, when it comes to making interesting games, he won't lose to anyone. An idea man of few words. 宮本茂さん Miyamoto Shigeru-san 「スーパーマリオ」や「ゼルダの伝説」シリーズなどを作った。有名な人！みんなもよく知ってるよね？今回の「カービイ」でもプロデューサーを担当。 He made series such as Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. He's famous! But you already knew that, right? For this Kirby, he took on the roll of producer. 岩田聡さん Iwata Satoru-san 任天堂から発売されたゴルフゲームの、ほとんどを作ったエライ人！「カービィ」では、みんなを明るくはげましなから、プログラムもやってしまうプロデューサー。 He's the great person who practically made Nintendo's golf game! Due to everyone's enthusiastic encouragement, he was both a programmer and a producer for Kibry.
- Camillo 11y ago
  Last one should be: "The amazing guy who wrote pretty much the entirety of Nintendo's golf game. For Kirby, on top of cheering everyone on as a producer, he ended up doing programming too."
  - Figs 11y ago
    Thank you for the correction. If you don't mind, could you please explain the grammar of "はげましなから" since it seems I was mistaken in interpreting that construction? (I thought it was "because of encouragement".) In particular, that な is confusing me now.

slater 11y ago

RIP.

allsystemsgo 11y ago

Haven't been following Nintendo very much. If he was so ill why was he still CEO? Not saying he wasn't capable but, if I were that sick, not sure I would want to be running a company.

sylv3r 11y ago
Steve Jobs?
michaelpinto 11y ago
There are some people who love their job more than many other things in this life. The CEO in question was a true gamer at heart, and i suspect that many other gamers if given the job of being CEO of Nintendo would do that their last day.

nness 11y ago

Vale Satoru Iwata.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

renegadesensei 11y ago

Amazingly depressing. May the way of the hero lead to the triforce, my friend. Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk

dhfromkorea 11y ago

I feel so sorry to hear this. I have been a long time fan of Nintendo. RIP Iwata san. We will miss you so much. The rest of crew at the company will continue to carry the torch.

cmollis 11y ago
True. RIP.

deleted 11y ago

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Mahn 11y ago

This is incredibly depressing. Nobody should ever have to die that young. May he rest in peace.

pdknsk 11y ago

Very sad news. A true hacker. Started programming on a programmable calculator, with which he made games for his classmates. After he got himself a Commodore PET, he went to Nintendo claiming he can make games for them, and so he did. Edit: I found a PET quote from Iwata Asks. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/4/0 http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/4/0 > Iwata: Disassembling! Wow, that really brings back memories. I remember getting my first computer, which was a PET, and disassembling it to try and analyze it. We didn't have printers at the time, so I wrote everything on the screen by hand. I really can't believe I did that. (laughs) That's how I found out what was going on inside. > Iwata: It just so happens that a computer and the Famicom system had a similar CPU. That's why when I started working with Nintendo, I knew about the 6502 better than anybody else in the company.

Tiktaalik 11y ago
Iwata was apparently a legendary programmer. We've learned bits and pieces of his prowess in translated interviews over the years. Iwata was a lead programmer on Earthbound/Mother 2 (my favourite game of all time). The game went through a troubled development and if you trust the impressions of Itoi, the lead designer, Iwata's incredible skills saved the game from cancellation. An Earthbound fan translated a Famitsu interview from Mother 2's initial release where he talks about programming a bit. https://yomuka.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/weekly-famitsu-september-9-1994-2/ https://yomuka.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/weekly-famitsu-septe... EDIT: More here: http://earthboundcentral.com/2013/03/itoi-iwata-discuss-mother-2-before-virtual-console-release/ http://earthboundcentral.com/2013/03/itoi-iwata-discuss-moth... Incredibly, Iwata was still doing some programming work during the Gamecube era in the 2000s. http://nintendoeverything.com/iwata-on-his-super-programmer-days-helped-get-smash-bros-melee-out-on-time/ http://nintendoeverything.com/iwata-on-his-super-programmer-...
- agumonkey 11y ago
  First time I take a look at Earthbound. Fine pixel art.
  - 11y ago

corndoge 11y ago

Farewell o7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqf1Fztvr8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqf1Fztvr8

soldergenie 11y ago

In addition to being CEO, one of his many other accomplishments was that he was the main programmer for Earthbound, a game close to my heart. A death like this always tragic, but the death of a fellow programmer makes it feel closer to home.

antonmaju 11y ago

Iwata during GDC 2005: "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer."

FrankenPC 11y ago
I love that. All that corporate maturity and yet the young gamer lived on. He was the perfect Nintendo president. How are they going to fill those shoes?
- ekianjo 11y ago
  > perfect Nintendo president Not talking about him as a human being, but his decisions in the past few years have put Nintendo in trouble, actually.
  - flycaliguy 11y ago
    The man was the perfect "Nintendo president".
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    It's hard to understand Nintendo state, money wise they're doing better than others, but on the game/machine level they're a bit off.
    - robotpony 11y ago
      I'm not so sure. I spent the last few nights with my 14 and 16 year old kids, playing Mario Cart, Mario Party, and Mario Bros, and loved every second. Maybe it's our expectations that are off.
      - daeken 11y ago
        I agree. Mario Kart 8 is absolutely, hands-down one of the best games ever made. The controls are perfect, it has an insanely high replay value, the challenges are well-balanced, and it's absolutely gorgeous. They did a fantastic job.

Tiktaalik 11y ago

There's a long running series of interviews called "Iwata Asks" where Iwata would interview various Nintendo game developers around the time of their latest game release. Iwata certainly doesn't ask very hard hitting questions, but nonetheless they're interesting looks behind the scenes of Nintendo development and well worth reading. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com http://iwataasks.nintendo.com

interesting_att 11y ago

Such sad news. Iwata's influence has been enormous on my childhood as well as many others. Gaming is becoming a legitimate hobby, in no small part to people like him. He truly cared about the company, the products, and the consumer. RIP

ilamont 11y ago

This is terrible news. My sincere condolences to his family. Five years ago, I read (and saved) a series of fascinating interviews about the development of the Wii. Some of them were on the Nintendo corporate sites (see https://web.archive.org/web/20100612175931/http://wii.nintendo-europe.com/163.html https://web.archive.org/web/20100612175931/http://wii.ninten...) while others were from Japanese magazines that a colleague translated. It was really a remarkable tale — Iwata was a CEO who loved to work with his engineers and designers, and in the case of the Wii, they created something that was truly innovative, and not just in an engineering sense. The following excerpt discusses the creation of the Wii remote/nunchuck: Iwata: I still remember the first time I saw the pointer demo in one of the conference rooms. From the moment I picked it up, it just felt right. I had handled other pointer devices before, but they are not normally responsive and leave you feeling more frustrated than relaxed. The pointer idea itself was also good, but in this case it was the sense of control, the finish of the product, that was particularly good. I suppose that was the result of the technology brought in by Mr Takeda. Ashida: Well, it was because the main controller was just a rod. (laughs) It clearly couldn't be used to control existing games. Since Wii is compatible with GameCube games, and we also had the concept of the Virtual Console, we had to make it possible to play games from the NES days, too. On top of that, we also had to consider FPS (first person shooter) games for the overseas market. These factors ultimately gave birth to the idea of combining various controllers to the main controller with an extension connector. Miyamoto: The idea of connecting controllers spread very quickly, but the Nunchuk, which had such a strong impact when it was announced, was done much later. Ashida: I first heard about the idea for the Nunchuk from Takeda-san. He said, “can you try to make something like this?” There were also requests from the development teams for Metroid and other software titles asking for a new kind of controller that uses both hands, that can offer a new type of gameplay. And so, yet again, we started out by moulding another clay model. (laughs) Takeda: This idea originally came from one of the young developers involved in the project I mentioned earlier, the one aimed at selling packaged peripherals with GameCube games. Iwata: I can still vividly recall the look of anxiety on Mr Ashida's face when he showed me the Nunchuk. What was running through your mind at that time? Ashida: Well, I thought it wouldn't fit well with the streamlined designs of the console and controller. At first, I also considered a design similar to that of the remote. But since it was so obvious that the right and left hands are used differently, I realized that making the designs similar would just make it harder to control. When I asked for Mr Takeda's advice, he reassured me that it was fine for them to be different since they would be used separately. Ikeda: we used to call the Wii Remote the Core Controller, or alternatively the Core Unit, because peripherals were attached to its extension connecter. Miyamoto: Oh, that's right, we called it the Core, didn't we? But the term Core Unit doesn't sound very accessible, even though that's what we were aiming for all along! (laughs) It was Mr Iwata who insisted that the main controller be called a remote, wasn't it? Iwata: Yes, that was something that I was unusually stubborn about. The TV remote is something always sits within reach and is picked up and used by everyone all the time. Since I wanted the controller to be used in the same way, and since it ended up looking like one in the end, I strongly believed that it should be called a remote. And also because one of the most fundamental questions behind Wii's development was why some people use the TV remote all the time, but hesitate to pick up a game controller. So I really insisted that it be called a remote. Ikeda: n the early stages of development we ran into a number of problems that we hadn't anticipated, like the fact that the controller would react to fluorescent light, for example. Creating a mechanism that prevents the controller from responding to fluorescent light and sunlight may not sound overly difficult, but it still caused us a good deal of trouble. Iwata: So, that's how the specifications of the Wii controller were decided. However, it wasn't until the Tokyo Game Show last year that it was unveiled to the general public. I was up on stage at that event, and I still vividly remember the silence that followed the video that introduced the controller. It felt like time was standing still... It was as though the audience didn't know how to react. Given that you'd all worked so hard on the controller, what did you think of that reaction? Miyamoto: Like Mr Takeda, I too was very much on edge. I was certain that they wouldn't understand Wii unless they actually tried it out for themselves, and so I was unsure how convincing the presentation alone would be. Everyone was clapping, but I couldn't help but wonder whether our message had gotten across, or whether people thought it was too unconventional. However, looking at the other unveilings at the Tokyo Game Show that day, I was very much relieved by the fact that Nintendo was the only one doing something new. Everyone else seemed to be just polishing up something that everyone had already seen before. Ashida, when asked about reax from developers: For the most part, their feedback was very positive, which was a great relief. Needless to say, there were a few cries of dissent, but most people were left with a favourable impression. Ikeda: I was often left in charge of explaining the controller's functions, but it was only when they actually got their hands on the controller that their faces would light up. Seeing this, I really felt as though we'd scored a hit. And then, immediately after they had a go on Wii, they started coming up with ideas. Right there and then they were already discussing what they could do and how they could do it! I was amazed by the speed of this. Iwata: Producers are more likely to pick up the controller and start thinking about its limitations. Creators, on the other hand, are more likely to look at what is possible, come up with ideas and ask a lot of questions. They'll go home with smiles on their faces, won't they? Iwata: In bringing Wii to the world, we've filled up countless boxes with mock-ups, prototypes, trial software, and so on. But I truly feel that none of our efforts were wasted. These concepts came and went at a remarkable pace, until we came across those special technologies that solved all of our problems at once. Nowadays, nobody has any doubts about the "d-pad with two main buttons" interface. But twenty years ago many people wondered whether such a controller could really be used to play games. So, if we continue to do what we know has to be done, our controller, which now appears quite unusual, may very well become the new standard. As someone who has made it their life’s work to make innovative products, I feel very lucky to have had the chance to witness this story from beginning to end. Everyone, thank you very much. Japanese companies are sometimes portrayed as being too conservative. However, I have found that there is a creative/innovative streak in certain firms that can lead to truly innovative products that push the engineering and creative envelopes, open up new markets, and force everyone to realize new possibilities. Satoru Iwata deserves much credit for what happened at Nintendo.

marcelocamanho 11y ago

It's hard to understand, Mr. Iwata. RIP From the stories, it seems he was a great programmer, and really loved what he did.

philliphaydon 11y ago

:( Sad news.

DiabloD3 11y ago

I grew up with a NES and SNES. He worked on many games that I enjoyed (during his time at HAL), the most notable of my collection being Earthbound (of which, I still have to play every few years just because of how good it is). I'm sad to see him finally leave us.

deleted 11y ago

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abbabon 11y ago

Truly a sad day. Leave luck to heaven :'(

Tycho 11y ago

What a loss. I wonder if the Wii and the DS are used as case studies in business schools. Smaller company playing a disruptive strategy against giant competitors. I also think it's equally impressive how Nintendo always lived to fight another day... seems so many technology firms have one or two hits then get wiped out when a new product under-performs.

scholia 11y ago
> Smaller company playing a disruptive strategy against giant competitors. Although before that, Nintendo owned the games console industry, so it wasn't exactly a small startup. It had market-leading software franchises to sell its hardware. > seems so many technology firms have one or two hits then get wiped out when a new product under-performs. Absolutely true. It's one of the main reasons why the IBM PC (running DOS) and then openly-licensed Windows came to dominate the PC market rather than Acorn, Apple, Commodore (Amiga), Sinclair and hundreds of other proprietary manufacturers. That was never a viable strategy in the games console market because most consoles were sold at a loss, ie software sales subsidized hardware sales.
andrepd 11y ago
Hardly. Nintendo was already one of the (if not the) major video game companies. Mario was a household name, they had hundreds of millions of games shipped, they made such massive hits as the NES, SNES, Game Boy, not to mention making literally dozens of celebrated timeless games. It's a bit ridiculous to try to paint the picture of a small company upsetting the balance and applying the "disruptive" buzzword to 2000s Nintendo. As for living to fight another day, well, that's the price of innovation. For every Wii, there is a Virtual Boy. For every Ocarina of Time there is a Phantom Hourglass. Not every bold move pays off, not every innovation is well received. Fortunately for Nintendo they never stopped innovating and taking risks. The times it paid comfortable offset the times it didn't (like the current gen Wii U). Besides that, they have extremely valuable IP they can cash on (Mario, Pokémon, etc).
- Tycho 11y ago
  1.Nintendo was a much 'smaller' company than Sony and Microsoft, who had many other businesses besides video games. The video games industry in the 2000s was far bigger than it was when Nintendo dominated it in the 80s and 90s. 2. The Wii is practically the definition of a 'disruptive strategy.' They stopped trying to compete on what was previously considered key (specs, AAA games) and instead focussed on adding a radical new dimension to gaming (motion sense controller).

lordvadur 11y ago

I'm not a conspiracy person but the parallels are eerie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi nintendo executive mid 50s latest console was not well received dies suddenly