Yamauchi says "Fuck you guys, I'm going home."

[schild]

After three years on the board, Yamauchi has decided that enough is enough, and will be leaving Nintendo for good. At the next shareholders meeting on June 29, the announcment that Yamauchi will be retiring from the company will be made. For the first time in 56 years, he will no longer have any direct input in the actions Nintendo as a company takes, although he will still own 10% of Nintendo stock and stay connected with Nintendo's dealings as a consultant.

Normally, retiring Nintendo board members are paid a retirement pension upon leaving the company. Yamauchi, being the nice guy that he is, has elected to decline this pension, stating that the money would be better suited to be put back into the company. The exact amount isn't really known, but GameSpot reports that the amount is rumored to be something around $9-14 million. That's not all that much compared to Nintendo's $7+ billion war chest, but Yamauchi stressed that cash is important to have in the games industry.

Wow. I don't know why anyone hasn't said the obvious - but the new system must suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

So Revolutionary, people abandon the ship just to see the train wreck.

[ahoythematey]

Eh, what's a zombie going to do with all that money when all they really crave is the taste of human flesh?  At least he is marginally considerate about the games.

[AOFanboi]

So Revolutionary, people abandon the ship just to see the train wreck.

Bah, people were probably predicting the death of the Gamecube - or Nintendo itrself - when Rare left to make Microsoft exclusives as well.

*Waits patiently for Nintendo to actually present the "Revolution"*

[WayAbvPar]

This has been coming down the pike for years. Yamauchi has been withdrawing from all his American interests little by little- he probably wants to enjoy his frail dotage with his money hat instead of sweating the details of the handheld or console market. Can't say I blame him.

[Rodent]

The horror(!) of a man withdrawing from the scene after 56 years.

[HaemishM]

Is this the asshead who thought online play was a fad and wasn't needed on consoles?

If so, yeah, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

[Margalis]

Is this the asshead who thought online play was a fad and wasn't needed on consoles?

If so, yeah, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

This is also the asshead who constantly states that games don't have enough innovation and basically founded the modern era of video games after the Atari crash of the 80s. And the guy who heads a company that is devoted to quality and easily has the best portfolio of any company on earth by a longshot.

[schild]

This is also the asshead who constantly states that games don't have enough innovation and basically founded the modern era of video games after the Atari crash of the 80s.

And in terms of games, they've been operating under the exact same platform for the last 20 years. Look how much of the market they have. Can we say "death moans?" Or maybe, 3-d.

And the guy who heads a company that is devoted to quality and easily has the best portfolio of any company on earth by a longshot.

Nintendo has the best and worst portfolio at the exact same time. The NGage is a more impressive piece of equipment than the Virtual Boy and ROB.

Basically, talking them up is stupid. We all know they made Metroid, Mario and Zelda. Yipee. They're still making the exact same games with little innovation. They're the Blizzard of Consoles. They shine games until they shine so brilliantly that you don't realize you've played all that before.

Edit: I'm not going out of my way to knock Nintendo here. I've spent more money on their shit than any other systems or hell, any two systems put together. But years of that will grate on a man who wants original IP.

[ahoythematey]

You realize you are talking about a ratchety old man?  They tend to be openly and unwaveringly opinionated about things that stopped being new decades prior.

[schild]

You realize you are talking about a ratchety old man?  They tend to be openly and unwaveringly opinionated about things that stopped being new decades prior.

Yes. They're easy targets.

[Margalis]

Basically, talking them up is stupid. We all know they made Metroid, Mario and Zelda. Yipee. They're still making the exact same games with little innovation. They're the Blizzard of Consoles. They shine games until they shine so brilliantly that you don't realize you've played all that before.

So, where exactly did you play Pikmin and Donkey Konga before?

[schild]

Taiko Drum master > Donky Konga.

Pikmin and Animal Crossing don't do it for me, no matter how much I want them to.

[Margalis]

Whether or not they do it for you, you have to admit they are different.

It's probably best to agree to disagree on this, but I see Blizzard and Nintendo to be a very weak comparison. The most innovative Blizzard game I can think of is Diablo, which sounds absurd. Nintendo has a ton of products so of course not all of them are incredibly new and exciting, but even in sequels they often manage to throw in some pretty new stuff. (For example the 4 player Four Swords or the graphical style and sailing of Wind Waker) In fact Nintendo has done quite a lot of visual innovation. (Paper Mario for example, and before that Yoshi's Island)

It's pretty hard to think of any aspect of any Blizzard game that's innovative at all. But, I'm not an originality fiend. Good, unoriginal games are fine with me too. They were one of the first companies to make a fairly balanced RTS that had more than 2 sides, but again that's just execution. (And it's easy to name games like Dark Reign that were far more innovative than Starcraft) And as far as WoW goes even the naming is horribly standard. ("Dagger of the Whale, Dagger of the Monkey, Dagger of the Muskrat"...)