Today’s Geekly Review will be slightly different to the norm. Upon hearing the shocking and saddening news about Nintendo President Satoru Iwata’s passing away Will and I decided it only right to dedicate this weeks GR to the late Nintendo President.
This morning when taking a quick browse online before heading off for work I was saddened to see an article someone had shared on Facebook about the passing away of Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata. He had been battling illness and recovering from bile duct tumor for some time. There were initial reports that he was getting better, but his absence from E3 had people worried that his health may have deteriorated.
At first I thought I had misread it, or it was an incorrect name and picture. But without reading the article I went over to NeoGAF where I head for my gaming news and the thread there was already 122 pages long with 1000’s of comments paying their respect for a true icon in the gaming industry. The outpouring of tributes in that thread is incredible and his death has truly effected gaming fans the world over. It’s such a passionate business and despite rivalries between “fanboys” everyone came together to remember and salute his work. In the end everyone in the gaming industry are friends and it’s events like this that remind us.
You don’t have to be a Nintendo fan to appreciate how much of a loss this man will be to the gaming industry. Chances are that your favourite game has taken some form of inspiration from one of the many titles Satoru Iwata has worked on throughout his astonishing career.
Taking over as head of Nintendo in 2002, under Iwata’s leadership Nintendo went through a resurgence with the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii going on to become runaway successes. There were also lows during his time at the top with the WiiU not launching to the same fan fair as it’s predecessor. His final acts to ensure Nintendo’s future include a partnership with mobile company DeNA and input into Nintendo’s next console currently code-named NX.
For those of you that have been following this blog since inception you’ll probably have noticed when it comes to Nintendo news or coverage I often post it. Nintendo games and consoles have been a massive part of my childhood. I’ve been frustrated with them of course like all Nintendo fans have at some point. Sure sometimes we think we could run the company better and the numerous shouts of “just give us Metroid”. It’s so simple right? With the sad news about Satoru Iwata I now can’t help but feel guilty. I was frustrated with their E3 2015 show, I was frustrated with their output. But now thinking back that Iwata tweeted out apologizing for the show it makes me sad to know he was working as much as a month ago when ill. I can only hope that any negativity towards Nintendo during the time of E3 didn’t impact his health.
There isn’t much more to say, what can you? The gaming industry lost a great asset, Nintendo lost a great leader. The world lost a great human being. RIP Satoru Iwata.
Image Source: http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/
– Murr
