"It was only supposed to be a summer job"

Nintendo's joint position as the venerable grandfather of gaming and constant innovator is a combination of imagination, intelligence and experience, and the latter is something the company's guiding lights certainly are not short of.

Nintendo's annual general meeting is coming up next week, and the company will be electing ten directors, a slight slimming down from its current 11 directors. Nintendo has put together a quick summary of the candidates, and their wealth of experience at the company is incredible.

Between them, the directors have spent an enormous 285 years working at the company. The longest-serving director is General Manager of the Manufacturing Division Nobuo Nagai, who's been at Nintendo since March 1967, making Shigeru Miyamoto's joining date of 1977 look decidedly late to the party. Satoru Iwata, the youngest of the directors, is a novice by comparison, with just 11 years of service under his belt.

With such experience at its top level, is it any wonder Nintendo is still the biggest name in gaming?

Nintendo Directors

[source nintendo.co.jp]