Former President of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi has died in the age of 85
16 replies, posted
[url]http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASHD1901A_Z10C13A9000000/[/url]
[quote]Rough Translation: The 19th, Nintendo has announced Yamauchi, Hiroshi former president of Nintendo has died.[/quote]
That sucks. That's the guy who is basically directly responsible for bringing back the gaming industry with the NES and who saw a lot of potential in Gunpei Yokoi and Shigeru Miyamoto which paid off a lot for us fans.
Also from his Wikipedia page:
[quote]Yamauchi also refused to accept his retirement pension, which was reported to be around $9 million to $14 million, feeling that Nintendo could put it to better use. He is also Nintendo's largest shareholder despite stepping down. He still retains a 10% share in Nintendo as of 2008.[12] He is currently the 12th richest man in Japan[1] due to his shares in Nintendo since their success with the Wii and Nintendo DS consoles.[citation needed] He donated the majority of the 7.5 billion yen used to build a new cancer treatment center in Kyoto.[13][/quote]
That stuff makes me respect the guy even more.
here's another source
for those who don't want to bother translating
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24160150#TWEET895043"]BBC[/URL]
About 2 weeks ago I did [URL="http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/09/interview_exploring_the_centre_for_computing_history_cambridge"]an interview with Nintendo Life[/URL] about the museum I do work at, and I talked about how great Yamauchi was. Without him Nintendo would've never been a games company, gaming would've made it past just single board arcade games much later and it wouldn't be as rich and diverse as it is now.
He was a great man, with a great scene of what would be popular. It's a loss, but another thing to remember is he spent his entire life working at Nintendo, making it one of the greatest companies in the world. A man of dedication, humility and someone who deserves the gaming communities respect. Not enough people know of his existence, and his life is a story which should be told because its important.
Rest in peace.
According to the BBC article, he died of pneumonia:
[quote]He died of pneumonia at a hospital in central Japan, the company said, adding that a funeral will take place on Sunday.
[/quote]
ah damn, you beat me.
[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1308773[/url]
[editline]19th September 2013[/editline]
Also this will also give some more insight on some of the stuff he did at Nintendo.
[when Iwata succeeded him]
When somewhat bluntly asked why Iwata was chosen for the job Yamauchi, speaking as freely as ever, told all. “The reason for Iwata-san's selection comes down to his knowledge and understanding of Nintendo's hardware and software. An executive, regardless of his vast successes, is fundamentally an executive, who doesn't intimately understand our products.” Yamauchi continues, “Within our industry there are those who believe that they will succeed simply because of their successes in other ventures or their wealth, but that doesn't guarantee success. Looking at their experiences since entering the gaming world, it's apparent that our competitors have yielded far more failures than successes. It's been said that Sony is the current winner in the gaming world. However, when considering their ‘victory’, you should remember that their success is only a very recent development. Though Sony is widely held to be the strongest in the market, their fortunes may change. Tomorrow, they could lose that strength, as reversals of fortune are part of this business. Taking into account the things I've encountered in my experiences as Nintendo president, I have come to the conclusion that it requires a special talent to manage a company in this industry. I selected Iwata-san based on that criteria. Over the long-term I don't know whether Iwata-san will maintain Nintendo's position or lead the company to even greater heights of success. At the very least, I believe him to be the best person for the job.”
In his late thirties, Yamauchi was suavely handsome, a cigarette always dangling from the corner of his mouth. Even after he sold his love hotel, he was a familiar face among the Kyoto demimonde. Michiko [his wife] said nothing, but the children resented him bitterly.
In 1970, on her twentieth birthday, Yamauchi shocked Yoko [his daughter] when he announced that she was going out on the town with him. She dressed up and accompanied him to a cabaret, a sikake, where five geishas attended them, serving drinks. The women obviously knew him very well. Hiroshi toasted Yoko's coming of age, but when it got late, he sent her home in a taxi. He didn't come home until dawn.
Dressed in a conservative suit, [Minoru Arakawa] arrived at the Yamauchis'. After the introductions were made, he joined the family at the low dining table, where Michiko and Yoko served the meal. Hiroshi sat back in his chair and studied his daughter's suitor.
The evening wore on and Yamauchi fired questions at Minoru as if he were conducting a job interview. He had to be convinced that Minoru was not a heaver drinker or a playboy.
"You went to Harvard, eh?" Yamauchi asked. "That is a good school."
Mino politely explained that he had gone to MIT.
"I have never heard of it," Yamauchi said.
Yoko and Mino had to convince him that MIT was okay too.
After the meal, the family withdrew to the living room for tea. There, Yamauchi looked at Arakawa and said, without emotion, "If you are going to marry my daughter, you should marry quickly."
Yoko and Minoru exchanged glances, and the young man nodded politely. "Yes, sir," he said.
Hiroshi ribbed Arakawa, saying he was a good choice because a woman shouldn't marry a man who was too good-looking. "If you have a nice-looking man, the girls won't leave him alone," he told his daughter.
Arakawa pleaded with Yamauchi until his father-in-law finally put someone on the project. The chairman told Gunpei Yokoi to oversee the work of the young apprentice he had asked to come up with something. "But he knows nothing about video games," Yokoi said.
Yamauchi responded that there was no one else available.
The young man Yamauchi had chosen wasn't from any of the engineering groups; in fact, he wasn't even an engineer, but he had enthusiasm and some interesting ideas about the ways video games should be designed.
When Yamauchi so informed Arakawa, his son-in-law fumed. He needed a superior game to save the business and Yamauchi had put an inexperienced apprentice on the job! Why had Yamauchi seduced him into going to America if he was going to sabotage the operation? But there was nothing Mino could do, and he weakly asked his father-in-law, "What is this apprentice's name?"
Yamauchi answred, "Shigeru Miyamoto."
One day a courier delivered a package that had arrived by air from Kyoto. Don James signed for it and delivered the small box to Arakawa. He opened it and saw the board that contained the new game's program. As the service technician installed it in a console, Arakawa called in Judy and Stone. They watched as the power was turned on. The opening screen announced the game: "DONKEY KONG."
They looked at one another. Stone swore. He and Judy tried the game and concluded that it was a disaster. Two thousand "Donkey Kongs" were worse than two thousand "Radarscopes." Al Stone walked out. "It's over," he said.
Arakawa worriedly complained to Yamauchi, who was thoroughly unsympathetic. He implored Yamauchi to at least change the name, but Yamauchi refused. "It's a good game," he said.
...
Sixty thousand more "Donkey Kongs" were sold, and Nintendo of America's second year ended with more than $100 million in sales.
Donkey Kong appears on the Adam Computer without Nintendo's say:
Originally Posted by Game Over:
Yamauchi entered the room abruptly and, without addressing anyone, stood at the end of the table. He became, as one of those present put it, "unglued."
He began with a breathy, high-pitched tirade in a Marlon Brando monotone and quickly became loud and abusive. with a piercing cry, he swung his arm in an arc in front of him, shooting his outstretched index finger toward Greenberg.
Yamauchi's diatribe, all in Japanese, completely stunned everyone in the room with the possible exception of the Arakawas. Howard Lincoln said, "It scared the hell out of me."
The Coleco people weren't aware that they had messed up Nintendo's lucrative Atari deal- millions of dollars were in the balance- but they could see that they had somehow incurred Yamauchi's unfathomable wrath. When Greenberg tuned to Arakawa for help, he was met with a cold stare. By the time Yamauchi wound down, no one in the room said a word.
The translator finally began to speak. "Mr. Yamauchi is very upset," the man said.
...
Yamauchi spoke again, never wavering. He made it clear that there was nothing else to be said. No excuses would be listened to. Coleco had to refrain from selling "Donkey Kong" on Adam and announce the mistake, or there would be a lawsuit that would leave nothing of the company. There was no doubt that he meant it.
Greenberg and his colleagues retreated from the suite, shaken. Afterward, at dinner in the hotel's Japanese restaurant, Yamauchi, his tie loosened, turned to Howard Lincoln, who was still in a state of shock and said, "Sometimes this is the way you have to handle people, Mr. Lincoln. What did you think about that performance?"
[editline]19th September 2013[/editline]
some of his more controversial quotes are here.
[QUOTE]On Leaving Nintendo: "Coincidental to my leaving the company, I would like to make one request: that Nintendo give birth to wholly new ideas and create hardware which reflects that ideal. And make software that adheres to that same standard. Furthermore, this software should attract consumers as new and interesting. Lastly, and of equal importance, is completing these products quickly and at a cost comparable to today's current market. I imagine most people question the feasibility of my request, but Nintendo has always pursued those objectives. I'd ask that the company continue to follow this goal as my final and only request to the new management staff. I can't say what these new types of software will be, but I'm sure they'll release it during my lifetime."
"[RPG players] are depressed gamers who like to sit alone in their dark rooms and play slow games."
"I have been saying this for some time, but customers are not interested in grand games with higher-quality graphics and sound and epic stories. Only people who do not know the video game business would advocate the release of next-generation machines when people are not interested in cutting-edge technologies."
Comments on Microsoft:"There are many people in the industry that know nothing about games. In particular, a large American company is trying to do engulf software houses with money, but I don't believe that will go well. It looks like they'll sell their game system next year, but we'll see the answer to that the following year."[/QUOTE]
[editline]19th September 2013[/editline]
Replying to this since it was in the thread I made which I requested be locked.
[QUOTE=-Rusty-;42243023]It's going to be a sadder day when Miyamoto dies.[/QUOTE]
Even worse because he's the last of the "Nintendo Trio" who's still alive. Yokoi died in 1997, Yamauchi now, and who knows about Miyamoto.
Unbelievable that Nintendo has been around since 1889.
Rest in peace.
I like how this is top headline on the BBC Technology News section [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology/[/url]
[quote]At the age of 70, Fusajiro finally retired, leaving his son-in-law Sekiryo Kaneda (whose name had changed to Sekiryo Yamauchi). For the next eleven years Fusajiro remained out of the business until his death in 1940.[1] The cause of his death is still unknown, or at least to the public. The only documented information available is that he died just before World War II, and [B]the remains are buried in the basement of Nintendo's original headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.[/B][/quote]
They're having Hiroshi's funeral at Nintendo HQ as well.
The gaming industry lost one of its greatest titans today. A true pioneer of electronic entertainment. I'm suprised of how many people didn't know who Yamauchi was.
[QUOTE=ejonkou;42246748]The gaming industry lost one of its greatest titans today. A true pioneer of electronic entertainment. I'm suprised of how many people didn't know who Yamauchi was.[/QUOTE]
to be fair most people who were gaming in the 90s most likely didnt pay much attention to what was going on in the game industry and who each person was. i know i didn't.
video games in heaven, how wonderful
Posted on the Seattle Mariners twitter feed:
[img]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/Starmenclock/MarinersHiroshiYamauchi_zps3fc39117.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=SCopE5000;42243773]Unbelievable that Nintendo has been around since 1889.[/QUOTE]
Not really, trading cards have been around for a really long time.
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