Would Satoru Iwata Be For The New Nintendo Switch Console?

Posted on by Csharp202

This week’s blog is focused around the late Satoru Iwata, a Japanese game developer who before his death was the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) at the ever-popular Nintendo. But not only am I going to be talking about Iwata, I’ll also be going into detail about why I think (using my opinion and my research findings) Iwata was all for the upcoming Nintendo console: The Nintendo Switch, previously known as the Nintendo NX or Nintendo iNterior/eXterior.

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Satoru Iwata as stated before worked with Nintendo of America as their chief executive officer and president of the company but it didn’t start out this way. Iwata’s humble beginnings started with him programming into the first programmable calculator, the HP-65. He would go on to study computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and blazed through his studies and was said to write “-programs faster and more accurately than any of his [Tomohiki Uematsu, Iwata’s professors] other students” (Caruso, 2015). Iwata was a duteous student, both in and out of school but it wasn’t until 1982 after graduating, at the age of 22 that he had full-time work, the fifth member and only programmer at the time at HAL https://i0.wp.com/img.gamefaqs.net/screens/c/c/4/gfs_28117_1_2.jpgLaboratories, a video game developing company that would later go on to create the Kirby, Mother and Super Smash Bros series.

Satoru was a firm believer that consoles and handhelds were the future of Nintendo and had a certain distaste of smartphones and their gaming capabilities. After the extremely popular Nintendo DS stole Sony’s headline of “bestselling games platform of all time” and the highly regarded Nintendo Wii was released, Nintendo fell into financial downturns, “exacerbated by the companies poorly received Wii U game console” (Peckham, 2015). It was around this time that Iwata unveiled his plans to develop games for smartphones and tablets, “-tearing down the wall between the company’s heavily guarded iconic IP and non-Nintendo platforms.

Iwata was always in touch with Nintendo’s fan base and would reach out for feedback so that what Nintendo released was for the fans and their enjoyment. Iwata released a series called ‘Iwata Asks’ which gave viewers a look at the working lives of many development teams within Nintendo, a big success amongst fans and Nintendo’s employees alike. Iwata was a game developer and programmer, but he also “A gamer at heart” – Satoru Iwata, and after the Wii U didn’t quite stand up to its competition, Nintendo had to revise their plans. Recently those plans were announced in the form of the Nintendo Switch (Nintendo NX).

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There a whole lot known about the Nintendo Switch, but it is going to be something new and different to what we’ve seen before. The Wii and its incredible success was proof of the last time Nintendo shook things up so it’s understandable why fans are excited to see what the Nintendo has in store for them. Iwata was a big believer in bridging the gap between console and handheld, and I along with many other fans am sure that Satoru Iwata be happy to see the Switch enter us into a new era of gaming.

 

 

Bibliography

Anonymous Contributor (2014) GameFAQs Reader Screenshot [Digital Artwork/Screenshot]. Available at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/n64/250600-kirby-64-the-crystal-shards/images/22 (Accessed: 6 November 2016).
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (2015) ‘Satoru Iwata | Japanese business executive’, in Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Satoru-Iwata (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
Gaming Historian and Caruso, N. (2015) The life of Satoru Iwata – gaming historian. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4cJh2YgrKE (Accessed: 17 October 2016).
Kain, E. (2016) ‘Nintendo switch turns out to be everything we predicted’, Forbes, 20 October. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/10/20/nintendo-switch-turns-out-to-be-everything-we-predicted/#b7716226d1fb (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
Nintendo Marketing Team (2014) Nintendo Switch [Photograph/s]. Available at: http://lusipurr.com/2014/05/22/editorial-the-blue-ocean-myth/ (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
Peckham, M. (2015) ‘Why Nintendo president Satoru Iwata mattered’, TIME, 13 July. Available at: http://time.com/3954934/nintendo-satoru-iwata/ (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
Sanchez, D. (2016) Satoru Iwata Holding Bananas [Digital screenshot (Video)]. Available at: http://www.gamecrate.com/satoru-iwata-creator-dreams-maker-games/11267 (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
Sheridan, C. (2015) ‘Satoru Iwata’s life story plays out in this YouTube documentary’, gamesradar+, 25 November. Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/satoru-iwata-history/ (Accessed: 23 October 2016).

Citations, Quotes & Annotations

Anonymous Contributor (2014) GameFAQs Reader Screenshot [Digital Artwork/Screenshot]. Available at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/n64/250600-kirby-64-the-crystal-shards/images/22 (Accessed: 6 November 2016).
(Anonymous Contributor, 2014)
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (2015) ‘Satoru Iwata | Japanese business executive’, in Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Satoru-Iwata (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
(The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 2015)
Gaming Historian and Caruso, N. (2015) The life of Satoru Iwata – gaming historian. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4cJh2YgrKE (Accessed: 17 October 2016).
(Gaming Historian and Caruso, 2015)
Kain, E. (2016) ‘Nintendo switch turns out to be everything we predicted’, Forbes, 20 October. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/10/20/nintendo-switch-turns-out-to-be-everything-we-predicted/#b7716226d1fb (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
(Kain, 2016)
Nintendo Marketing Team (2014) Nintendo Switch [Photograph/s]. Available at: http://lusipurr.com/2014/05/22/editorial-the-blue-ocean-myth/ (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
(Nintendo Marketing Team, 2014)
Peckham, M. (2015) ‘Why Nintendo president Satoru Iwata mattered’, TIME, 13 July. Available at: http://time.com/3954934/nintendo-satoru-iwata/ (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
(Peckham, 2015)
Sanchez, D. (2016) Satoru Iwata Holding Bananas [Digital screenshot (Video)]. Available at: http://www.gamecrate.com/satoru-iwata-creator-dreams-maker-games/11267 (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
(Sanchez, 2016)
Sheridan, C. (2015) ‘Satoru Iwata’s life story plays out in this YouTube documentary’, gamesradar+, 25 November. Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/satoru-iwata-history/ (Accessed: 23 October 2016).
(Sheridan, 2015)

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