I don't believe this is fake:

http://kotaku.com/nintendos-president-h … 1717386412

Didn't Yamaguchi pass away a year or two ago as well?

Not fake, no.

The writing was on the wall though. I think it was already known he wasn't doing well, he lost a LOT of weight over the years (look at some of the earlier Directs and then some of the more recent ones), and when he announced someone else was going to take over the Directs entirely, I knew it was serious.

And yeah, Yamauchi also passed away 2 years ago, but he was actually old.

Very sad news though. He will be missed.

Nintendo's own statement is the source; it's true.

I can’t say I feel as intimately connected with his work like I do, say, Miyamoto, but it’s sad to see him go, as his enthusiasm for and dedication to his industry and his company (and its fans) was evident. Not to mention how young he was...

Damn, I wanted the guy to be fired or forced to resign, not die. That was unexpected.

RIP.

Iwata was one of the greatest. Say what you will about some of the decisions he made as CEO, but he truly believed in video games. He wasn't out to suck up to shareholders. He wanted to bring joy to the world, and he did. This is a great loss for the industry.

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/goodbye … s-a-legend

http://kotaku.com/the-video-game-commun … 1717397315

He was way too young to go, but in his short years, he achieved so much...

In Pictures: The Captivating Career of Satoru Iwata

http://www.gamespot.com/gallery/in-pict … /2900-251/

Hey now...that's a little cold, given the timing ;-)...But could you elaborate?  Are you commenting on his direction to steer Nintendo towards 'gimmicks' (i.e. the Wii motion control), or just a general gaming development malaise?

Also - I'd like to know, what's the relationship of Nintendo and HAL? (Iwata was from Hal Lab's...right?) I thought Hal was a 3'rd party NES/Famicom developer with a relative low-key game output..didn't they make an RPG that was also on Genesis/Megadrive?

To be honest I don't think Goldfish means any ill will from this... but I'm probably saying that because on some of the threads over at GameFAQs there are posters who are basically saying that those who wanted Iwata to step down or forced to resign essentially wanted him to die when that's a pretty big (and horrible) leap in interpretation. I mean you can disagree with the direction he took Nintendo in and still morn the loss...

Also, I think saying that the backlash Nintendo got at E3 contributed to his untimely death is also absurd, but I guess I shouldn't anything past some of the the dolts on the message boards over there.

Gamespot had a feature that explains Iwata's rise to CEO:

http://www.gamespot.com/gallery/in-pict … /2900-251/

This might have the info your looking for.

Thankyou Mr. Iwata for all that you have brought to my life. Rest in Peace

HAL is in Tokyo and Nintendo in Kyoto. Iwata joined/co-founded HAL during his study and once he finished it he was the 5th full time employee. There he was the primary guy for Nintendo system from early on (HAL also did games for systems like MSX) and the way he realized Balloon Fight for NES in 1984 was of interest for Nintendo (they didn't really have programming knowledge at that time, relying on external help) as it introduced side scrolling and pixel independent movement physics (both which lead to SMB1, water levels essentially directly use the Balloon Fight physics). In early 1990s HAL amassed pretty big debts risking bankruptcy, Iwata suggested closer cooperation with Nintendo who'd help them secure financing, Yamauchi in return asked Iwata to be HAL's president which he became in 1993. By 1999 HAL paid off all debts, and in 2000 Iwata moved to Nintendo to become general manager.

Technically HAL is still completely independent even today.

I'm well known here for being a skeptic of Nintendo's guidance and leadership under Iwata. I don't doubt his commitment to gaming, but I feel he's made a lot of questionable moves over the last 10-11 years and things like the Wii, Wii U and the DS/3DS have all succeeded in spite of their trademark gimmicks, as opposed to because of them. That said, him DYING out of the blue was totally unexpected.

I guess ultimately, my impression of him is that he was better as a game designer than an executive.

I can see that... but at least he seemed more personable than Yamaguchi did.

I remember reading in the paper when Yamaguchi died thinking "he was kind of an ass" and his mistakes seemed  much more gaping to me honestly.

It wasn't that out of the blue though. Like I said, it was obvious that he had lost a LOT of weight recently, and he didn't look like he was healthy at all, and then he announced he was handing over the presentation of the Directs to someone else, so the writing really was on the wall. I've seen several people around me die of cancer, and all the telltale signs were there.

I think he was pretty damn good at both, even if they made some dumb moves (but which first party hasn't?).
But it's like Ashley said: he was an amicable person and one of the very few people in the industry (and a CEO at that) that was genuinely likable and very obviously cared about what he did.

Compare that to people like Kaz Hirai or Ken Kutaragi who are pretty much universally ridiculed (not even touching on the MS executives) and you might start to get some appreciation for the fact that this was a man in charge of one of the biggest multinationals in the world, and yet he came across as friendly, passionate, and playful.
The only other person I can think of that even comes close at other companies is Shuhei Yoshida.

Oh, I remember the people behind the very first Xbox trying to convince people they were gamers (including trying to convince people their focus groups all said the original controller was the best they could come up with) and I wanted to reach out and slap the taste out of their mouths with every word, because they were so phony. I feel you on that...most videogame execs are complete dicks (okay, most execs PERIOD are complete dicks).

But again, nice guy or no, gamer or no, he helmed some of the leanest years and worst ideas to come out of Nintendo over the past ten years, again ones that succeeded despite themselves, not because of them. Kutaragi, prior to his subsequent meltdown, oversaw a very successful period for Sony. Yamauchi left a legacy of ruling with an iron first and basically being an aggressive asshole, but he helmed the period where Nintendo was THE videogame company for most people.

https://youtu.be/TnyVKezvlCI

https://soundcloud.com/hip_tanaka/dedic … toru-iwata