Update:
This bizarre bit of trolling from Bill Trinen makes sense in light of the E3 reveals - check out all the details of Nintendo's E3 plans here.
Original Article:
News has just broken that Bill Trinen - one of video gaming's most recognisable faces and the man so often seen at Shigeru Miyamoto's side - has apparently left Nintendo of America. Or has he?
Trinen made the announcement with a simple tweet, and has updated his Twitter profile with the words "Used to work at Nintendo".
Trinen had been employed as Senior Product Marketing Manager at Nintendo of America, and joined the company back in the '90s. His first project was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
He later joined Nintendo's Treehouse division, and in more recent years has presented Nintendo Direct broadcasts as well as appearing on stage at E3 events, translating Miyamoto's comments.
Almost as soon as the tweet was live, Trinen posted this and changed his profile to read "I still work at Nintendo":
Just what the heck is happening?!
Is Bill merely pulling our collective legs? Or has he really left the company he has done so much to define and humanise, perhaps to explore other areas while doing some work for Nintendo? Share your thoughts below.
UPDATE: It as all a big joke!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 79
His profile now says "Still works at Nintendo."
He's living up to his nickname of the Trintroll.
I wouldn't be surprised since they also axed Adelmann.
Oh, Nintendo...
Stab in the dark. Reggie has left and Bill is his replacement. #trintroll
I cannot WAIT to see where this goes. Nintendo's cast of real-life characters is the best.
"It's not 9am yet..." - So he's announcing his exit then. Damn you Tritroll don't play with my heart like this. It was bad enough when Adelman left.
What the Efff!?!
How else are you gonna drum up publicity for the upcoming Nintendo E3 announcement later today? Controversy builds momentum and grabs people's attention, even if they have the attention span of a gnat!
He's joking people. Relax ...
@Unit_DTH It is a weird way to get publicity though. very un-nintendo.
This better be a troll move.
Hes trolling
Isn't 9 AM PST the time when Nintendo shows their E3 plans?
@AyeHaley I think at the moment, for Nintendo at least, any publicity(stunt) is good publicity. I know it seems like a strange way to garner publicity, but think about how many people will now be following his movement for the rest of the day due to this status update... now, think about how many views Nintendo's post about it's E3 plans will get due to this little "stunt". It's pretty brilliant if you think about it that way, but in all honesty, he's probably just trolling like always.
@AyeHaley Also, could you elaborate on what wouldn't be "un-nintendo"? Would it be something along the lines of following all the norms of the industry that they are so deeply ingrained in? Or perhaps making a console that is right in line with the specs of all the other consoles available? I've noticed that they don't quite do things the way we think they should, so this thing isn't any surprise to me. Heck, have you seen the completely 90's themed US video ads for Splatoon?
Not the most funny or tasteful joke, though...
Like Nintyman said, I imagine there's a video upcoming that's similar to the Fils-a-mech video, or whatever it was. And he's teasing it.
I'm guessing that this was meant to tie into some goofy skit in the E3 announcement video and Bill posted a little early. Kind of like if it was a year ago and people were scratching there heads because Bill posted something about wishing Reggie would stop shooting laser beams around the office while he was trying to work.
It's official. Nintendo is changing it's name to New Console and Video Game Development Company Inc. U
@AyeHaley
They didn't axe anyone. He left to pursue other things.
Bold prediction: Bill left Nintendo of America to work at Nintendo of Japan.
@AyeHaley he left on his own since his and Nintendo's views are different. It happens.
I'm gonna sit back and wait for this to unravel more...
As much as I don't particularly care for Bill or that cheesy false grin, I hope he hasn't lost his job or anything bad like that.
@ROBLOGNICK We're not that lucky.
It is obviously a tie in to the E3 announcement.......bet he is "leaving" Nintendo to pursue a boxing career and will be training in pink sweats
@Rin-go but..but..they cut off his head! >_>
I'm pretty sure he didn't actually leave - he's trolling. Really is living up to the Trintroll name.
"I guess nothing can last for ever."
So, Bill didn't quit his job, but the Wii U is being discontinued (a la the Dreamcast announcement) and Zelda U is moving onto the NX - hence the part where hes back.
I was just thinking the other day that I hope he never leaves. Huge fan of this guy. I'm not worried about it though. The media likes to take things and go with them... but that's their job, right?
This isn't too dissimilar to some random dreams I've had in the past.
Trintroll = This year's Fils-A-Mech?
@SuperDan64 9AM Pacific time.
@Ichiban - I used to really hate Trinen, he's so middle America white bread, I would just walk out of the room when he was on a Nintnedo Direct, so dull and boring and monotone. Over the past year or so I've come to accept that's just who he is, he's benign, not malignant. Reggie is still evil though.
Bill Trinen is the new CEO of Nintendo. Iwata is out. I think it's pretty obvious that is what is going on.
I'm gonna go with the skit they do today will either be new joke, or reference to, Reggie sending Bill to Japan.
@SuperDan64 9AM West coast California time, Reggie doesn't like to get out of bed early in the morning. 15 more minutes until whatever it is we all seem to be waiting for, an announcement about an announcement.
Bill Trinen apparnelty just decided to become an opening act .
Maybe he will take a new position at DeNA, in order to make sure that Nintendo's mobile game division releases quality content.
Basically meaning that he works "for" Nintendo and not "at" Nintendo
@ericwithcheese2 ah, thanks
@rjejr I think I am just getting too excited XD
Nothing lasts forever? Obviously he has never watched an omnibus of Brookside.
How long unti. Ninty of America do their 9am thing? I'm on UK time btw.
@Yorumi Woop! 5 more minutes!
I am guessing he get's KO'd by whomever is in the Little Mac outfit. But he posted to early... messy time conversions
He obviously got a new job in japan.
Nice one.
Where should I look for the news? Kind of lost here.
OK, I think it's noon, but I'm just siting here staring blanky at my screen not sure if I should be chekcing Twitter or Youtube or Ninty's Facebook page.
Maybe I should just go mow the lawn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbvzyY1FKr0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbvzyY1FKr0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbvzyY1FKr0&feature=youtu.be
poor bill lol
Why am I liking this video so much ?
Hey, I case you all missed this the first 30 times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbvzyY1FKr0&feature=youtu.be
Good to see that Nintendo is actually going to be at E3 again and Treehouse Live is returning. Should be interesting.
@NintyMan lol just watched. Is he really fired or is it just to set up the championships with kids for e3?. Was pretty funny at the end, the slow-mo
THEY ACKNOWLEDGED THE VIRTUAL BOY! AND SAID THE GAMES WERE GREAT!
VIRTUAL BOY 3DS CLASSICS SERIES CONFIRMED!
@abe_hikura You're fired.
Bill Trinen is like the Phil Coulson of Nintendo, with Reggie as Nick Fury. And the trolling could be compared to Coulson's death in The Avengers.
Confirmed. Reggie fired Bill. RIP Bill.
Nice April Fo... wait, May 13th?!
rip in peace bill
That video is so awesome. Makes the wait for E3 even more unbearable.
@piichan @Emaan You do realize that he hasn't died right?
On-Topic: I didn't quite get the punchline, because to me there wasn't anything funny about his joke...
Even if he was to leave why should we care? Is not really like when Kojima left Konami or something...
They showed the GameCube! GASP And mine is in much better condition than Nintendo's!!! SCREAM
Why does everyone assume that he's leaving when it's stated in the article that it was a joke?
Btw I loved that video.
If you look closely, you can see the moment Bill's heart breaks.
That was pretty good....they can likely pay that kid in games. On a side note...why didn't I think of that as a kid? I could have had a dream job!
Honestly you should have seen this coming. Still funny though.
@Unit_DTH "Also, could you elaborate on what wouldn't be "un-nintendo"?" Something unlike Nintendo would be to do away with exclusive amiibo and stock vast amounts of all amiibo characters and make life easy for amiibo collectors/hunters. How's that? lol
@Alundra-1998 lmao... truth!
I gotta think there is something to this. Executives don't joke about their job status. Although Nintendo is different beast as with other companies execs usually have no sense of humor at all where Nintendo seems to have plenty of humor at times. Give it a few days to blow over. Or hold true.
What actually happened to Bill:
What happened off-camera is Reggie setting Bill on fire.
OK, when you read the tweet in context with the video announcement it is kind of funny. The look on Trinen's face is classic.
In the video Reggie told Bill that he was fired. Bill was just playing along with it and acting like he was really fired. It's amazing that no one so far has gotten it. I personally thought it was hilarious
@Neko_Rukiafan : with the face he was making, it was dead on the spot. I thought it was funny tho, I wish Bill's trolling on twitter continued even after the video.
@froggyogden U serious?! Well, since you're playing the Capt. Obvious card, your explanation is incomplete: obviously Reggie is hiring the kid in the video to do Bill's job, since he can speak japanese, hence the firing.
That's the best video ever. Loved the Virtual Boy bit! Nintendo needs to do more stuff like this.
Wow, I remember when this video first came out! WHY MUST REGGIE LEAVE US?!
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