Satoru Iwata passes away

Very sad news today, I'm just as shaken as I was when I found out about Yamauchi's death.

A man that deserves all the respect he got, I hope his family and closest friends at and outside of Nintendo are okay. I will always remember Iwata for leading Nintendo back on the right path again, where it would battle disinterest surrounding video games, rather than engage in close competition with competitors.

Really sad news. The man led Nintendo through a very tumultuous period in their history as well as leading them to new heights during the Wii's heyday. I've a lot of respect for what he did for Nintendo over the past decade. This came out of nowhere really... shocked.

I saw you retweeted this Fronk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63mG4k-VIyY
Well worth a watch - Iwata's passion for games really shines through. The gaming world's lost a real treasure today.

I heard about this earlier and my first reaction when I saw it was to double take. I just didn't think it could be real, that it was some sort of exaggeration or bad joke. I was honestly speechless. Genuinely shocked and saddened by this news, a sad day for his family, Nintendo, and a gaming. Rest in peace, you will be missed and remembered fondly.

https://youtu.be/Ou_VnbP7KZg

I can't quite believe that he's gone, really sad news to hear of such an inspirational figure passing on. He was a great programmer, developer and businessman.
I will hold bananas later today as an act of remembrance.

As a side note, can I get my name changed back to NintenDUCK? I don't fancy leaving my username the way it is given the topic.

Woke up to numerous tweets and a text from my mum. Awful news; a wonderful man who kept Nintendo alive through difficult times and always put the fans, the creators and the games before money. I hope, against all the odds, Nintendo can find someone else as strong and full of joy as him but I doubt we'll see his like again. Rest in peace Mr Iwata.

I woke up late this morning to see have some messages about this. It is very sad news indeed.

Rest in peace Mr Iwata

Got home late last night, gut punched in appalling fashion. Rest in peace, Mr. Iwata - you did very good work.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I hope, against all the odds, Nintendo can find someone else as strong and full of joy as him but I doubt we'll see his like again

I read that Shigsy is taking on a role as acting director, which can't have been something he ever wanted to do.

https://twitter.com/MitsuReiji/status/620479316447461376/photo/1

JayMoyles wrote:

I read that Shigsy is taking on a role as acting director, which can't have been something he ever wanted to do.

At least if it's him, he'll keep alive iwatas angle of running the company from a creative interest rather than a purely financial one.

Oh, absolutely. Of course, he's only acting director, but at least we can be sure that Shigsy will find a worthy successor for Iwata.

I still can't quite believe this after hearing it late last night, with all the out pour of thoughts and memories I've seen people share of Mr Iwata it tells you one thing and that is he was truly one of a kind.

Thanks for making me smile and laugh and have above all have fun.

Rest in Peace.

Balladeer wrote:

https://youtu.be/Ou_VnbP7KZg

Just got around to watching this. Good stuff from Sterling - a great eulogy of sorts for a great man.

It was very sad news to wake up to this morning. Where the GameCube "hindered innovation", Iwata's vision for Wii - with the emphasis on fun, totally unique and wholly inclusive gameplay - did so much to open my eyes to the sheer potential of videogames after I thought they had peaked in the early 2000s. I fell out of love with gaming in the mid 2000s, but it was Iwata's direction as Nintendo's CEO that's brought me to contemporarily and retrospectively enjoy the dozens upon dozens of gaming classics that he helped create. Looking back, it's fair to say that the man's CV is mind-boggling, so brilliant.

I love the strange, and I love the different; I hope Nintendo continue to "surprise and delight it's fans" like it has done countless times over the last fifteen years.

It's nice to hear everyone say the same thing - it was nice having a big boss who was also one of the fans.

Chris Scullion on BBC World News (just ignore the presenter gaffes, it doesn't matter)
GamesRadar (and occasional NGamerite) David Houghton's thoughts

Don't worry about Nintendo's immediate future - Any of the team heads can steer the ship in the same direction it was going. But it does feel like there's a big hole in the world.

Lots of great videos and bits of writing coming from the gaming community. Obviously this is a tragedy but it is nice to have the whole internet agree on something and be nice for once.

Really nice piece by Rab Florence, for example. To a market that too often demands a version of maturity that is actually juvenile, he spoke of the most grown-up thing in the world – childlike play.

I have, stupidly, spent the entire bloody day reading every single bit of material I can about the man. Looking up every tribute post, every picture, every video, almost every comment. And that has made me really, really teary and emotional.

I guess I'm doing it because everyone in the online gaming community seems to be in agreement with this one thing (well, almost everyone - this is the Internet), and that's nice, and it's good to know that I'm not alone feeling miserable about this. It seems so odd that my colleagues at work, my online acquaintances, even my family, just... don't get it. Like today, there's been a wall between me and them.

I just wish they'd...




...please understand.

B'-)

I said today in work and even (dudebro's) gamers didn't get it at all but I guess it would be the same if someone they knew passed away and we had no idea who it was.

We've had two articles on Gintendo this one from Muss and this one from Drunka.

People outside ones interests rarely get the appeal and vested interest others have in those hobbies and interests.  It's not uncommon that when someone has a complete disinterest in something they not only don't have empathy for others, they honestly don't give a crap about it, or even outright throw vitriol on it.  I'm not innocent of doing just that, but it's because I do it I know how it can slant ones views on something and why they simply can't get something.  

Thankfully the people I know, while they didn't grasp the magnitude of this as none of them are Nintendo fans, were able to understand it by comparisons to major people they themselves like.  For Nintendo fans this is every bit as sad and shocking as the deaths of some of the big names in recent times, it's a sad tragedy where someone truly special has departed from the world never to return.  It's the end of a life, a legacy, an era all at once, and while life will go on for those who were touched by Iwata either personally or through his input at the company life will never be quiet the same.  

I don't think it's too soon any more to start worrying who's going to take over after Shigsy, and in what direction they'll drag things. I know that Iwata was a big opponent of mobile gaming, for example, and probably had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the DeNA agreement. I'm concerned as to what will happen to that, and other things, if somebody more "financially minded" takes over. MICROTRANSACTIONS FOR ALL!

Hopefully we'll get another ex-programmer, not a businessman.

What about Sakuri as he always yes the last game he did was his last game and now SMASH is out and there only only doing DLC he could be a good candidate, if it really is his last game, he has to do something.

Such sad news, i'm genuinely gutted by this.


Nintendo should release an Iwata Mii Amiibo in his honour. With the proceeds going to a cancer charity or something.

As long as there's no financial gain whatsoever in an Iwata Mii amiibo, I'm all for it.

That's a grand idea, DL. Apart from the inevitable scalper nonsense...

Today's hardest Iwata moment to bear was a post reminding me about his apologising for E3. His final shot in gaming was met by derision, anger, and a petition to cancel one of Nintendo's games.