A Book Celebrating The Life Of Satoru Iwata Announced For Release In Japan

If I could read Japanese, cool. If it gets a western English release, I'll buy it. I want to learn at sometime how to read Japanese so that I can get exclusive things like this.

Woow i want it! We still missing him.

Really miss the guy. You couldn't think about Nintendo without picturing him.

A President who takes a pay cut instead of laying off employees is a man of ultimate honour and integrity.

/salute

Everything about Iwata being gone still makes me cry (lame, I know), and yet I really want to read this book. Hopefully there is a translation.

I will be buying two copies as soon as this drops! (One to read and one to collect)

@Timsworld2 Because he wanted to specifically annoy people like you.

I was also very upset about the 3DS and Wii U beeing region locked, but you're acting like he made that decission because he thought "Man, i can't wait to piss off a lot of people".

Very lovely. If there ever is an English translation I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I will buy an English translation in a heartbeat.

I would love to read this if it gets translated.

Isn't his (actual) Japanese name Iwata Satoru? What does S.I. stand for?

This is fantastic and beautiful, on it's own....and then I get to the part that it's written by Itoi's company makes it that much more special!

@ALinkttPresent Given the use of the phonetic letters "S" and "I", then the Western orientation of given name first would be correct. (Roman letters, Roman pronunciation/naming.) Surname last is the correct way to name someone in Western languages, surname first is the correct way to name someone in Japanese, so since the initials are Phonetic alphabet it would be correct to use the Western order. Otherwise it just gets confusing which name is which!

Great man, who also made the dumbest choice in history of all companies in the world: taking money of some one's youtube vids wich ended up free advertising of their games.

If it gets a western (and if it does, it should get an English version for some who cannot read Japanese) release, I would definitely buy it.

Wow could they have made a more ugly book cover? I'd be surprised if they could; that looks like it was designed by a pre-schooler.

@Timsworld2 You know that thing called Google, right? If you really want an answer i'm sure you can find it in a couple of minutes.

While even i think the reason for including region lock on 3DS and Wii U makes not much sense, it's still better then saying stuff like "Iwata hated us players and wanted to screw us over".

But judging from your past comments it seems like every person who does something you don't totally agree with is absolute scum anyway.

I rarely pay much attention to corporate figures/personalities but Iwata was a great man. His death was a shock given he was consistently doing Directs and always in the public eye.

@Timsworld2
Book celebrating the life of an incredibly influential person in the video games is announced

"but why did these 6+ year old game systems have region lock?"

Looks like the editor said it's going to be announced formally on 1st July, so more details then.
If the editor already has a finished copy in hand, it might be releasing not long after that.

It feels like it might be an edit of all the 'Iwata Asks' and similar segments, this time edited down to focus on Iwata.
Looking at the Hobonichi blog, it seems that even had some collaboration Iwata Asks segments too.

So I'd expect that a lot of the content is likely already available in English here and there, though not all of it.

I don't know if there's much of a market for translated biographic books, but I expect someone'll translate/summarise of anything new or interesting at least.

@Timsworld2
Region locking has its benefits. You people clearly don't do business or have a business mind. It:
a) makes sure the local retailer doesn't get screwed over. That one is self-explanatory.
b) means more control for Nintendo which allows them to bring games over in its supposed formed instead behind locked behind a region. You see this with "Dead or alive Xtreme 3" for the Switch, a game that will NEVER come westward; if you want it, import the expensive Japanese version. In a region locked console, Nintendo will have the right to reject the title from being launched in Japan unless they made the translation available.
c) has some legal grounds to it. It also works in reverse. For example, music and visual content that are copyrighted in one region might not be in another. A Japanese game might make a US release therefore impossible since all those characters are owned by many different Japanese companies but has no legal representation in Western countries. So as long as it's only manufactured in Japan and the sale is taking place in Japan (and then send outside of it), it's perfectly legal...thus the region lock. Region unlock game makes it hard for these companies to "protect their property" and sue someone on grounds of theft thus they will rather NOT release a game because of the hassle.

Edit: Basically, its about the games. When you have a lot of games like the DS and Switch has, it doesn't matter that you are missing out on a few niche titles that will never release stateside anyway. The console will not have certain games because Japanese companies don't want to risk making games on a platform that will not protect their investment. Similarly, Nintendo retains control of what they can and can't release on the platform due to legal issues. Nintendo can force Koei Tecmo to release "Dead or alive Xtreme 3" worldwide or not at all.

Edit 2: It works the same as local vs international law. I mean, why isn't everyone complaining that there are too many countries and regions and we should all be region free (follow international laws)? Because countries like America wants to protect its position and gun rights which the international committee doesn't agree with and it works for them. The idea is that everyone from small "startups" to giant corporations are protected from legalities thus why there are two sets of laws in the first place. Region locking works the same way.

@NEStalgia
That’s Chinese as far as I know, NOT Japanese.

It would be a shame if they don't translate this to english, but I bet someone will do that on the internet if they don't.

@Timsworld2 Um no...It doesn't just benefit Nintendo but also for developers...which is what you need on a platform.

As for consumers, do you want to get sued by some random Japanese company over some infringement or only someone from your region?

As I said, it protects you and makes pricing competitive and not be inflated by importing which is what is happening to a lot of Switch games.

It works like international to local law. Your local laws are like region locking which is there to PROTECT YOU whether you feel that way or not. If you don't like it, change the local laws. Of course, if you break the law it's still not good for you but the last thing you want is to get sued by some international agent.

The only "advantage" that you gain from region unlocking is that you can import and play any game you want including games not coming to your region. It's a huge advantage, sure, for most but not the be or and end-all.

If they don't want to bring the game over in the first place, then its mostly not worth playing in my opinion because they are either from indie developers or have too many local copyrights to be worth the risk. That or they are lazy developers.

I don't know where you're from but I wouldn't be surprised if you're a pro-gun American.

The argument you present is the same except you don't realize you are taking it from other people.

Choice.

You're saying I should have a "right to bear arms".

But where's my right to a safe haven? Where's my right to NOT have guns in my country?

Just because something exists doesn't mean it should, good or bad.

Sure, parents should be parents and adults can make their own decisions but the point stands.

Afterall, its just "entertainment" right?

Your choice to import game stops my choice of protecting myself from being exposed to crap businesses and their crappy practices.

Tell me how the Switch without its region locking has helped me in any way?

I live in Australia and here:

I still can't play Japanese games because I don't speak Japanese.
I still can't play Cloud-based games like PSO2 Online (huge fan) or Resident Evil 7 or Assassin's Creed Odyssey because I am NOT in Japan and can't access their servers.
I am still getting games not being localised due to "cultural issues" or other reasons.
Microtransactions and loot boxes which is being made illegal in EU is still a thing.

Meanwhile, my Switch and its games are off less value because of American imports lowering it to <AUD$299 yet I have to pay over AUD$399 for a new one. Good luck being a second-hand Switch retailer.

Basically, I can import American and Japanese region games here at a higher price but they are generally worthless here. This is driving prices of new games up and old games down.

Wow. I can import and play like Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 and some Japanese visual novels or something.

Is it worth it honestly?

I don't know.

My point is that both sides have an advantage and disadvantage.

You think it's not a disadvantage to have so many regional versions of Switches? Repairs and sales would be difficult, etc. So how does that benefit Nintendo?

It's not clear cut black and white as you think it is.
Just as it's not about one's "right to bear arms".

The rights bring with it consequences just as mine does.

Sometimes, I'll rather not have access to something (guns, games, etc) then have something potential harmful to a lot of innocent people.

How many innocent lives have been taken in American school shootings and in the streets for example that doesn't happen around the world?

So its all perspective.

From a family perspective, Nintendo did right by its consumers as the family-friendly company that it is but times has changed.

The Wii U flopped though the 3DS did well.

So they responded accordingly with a region free Switch. I wouldn't be surprised if the Super Nintendo Switch sequel will be also region locked again.

@Timsworld2 Basically, PlayStation and Xbox don't care about microtransactions and loot boxes existing and they want to make their console easy to use, fix, sell, etc to whoever, whenever because it pushes sales and makes marketing easier.

That's why they do what they do. They take the easy way out.

If it is about the consumer why does Sony continue to censoring games and continue to push the multimedia TV box?

Why the Vita? Why the PS4?

Because I want a box I can't take around with me and a crappy "functional" portable device that mostly played Japanese visual novels?

@Timsworld2 question. How many people were asking for region free consoles? A small pocket of die hard gamers on websites or the tens of millions of regular customers who don’t frequent sites like this and don’t even know region locks exist?

@Timsworld2 Ahhh okay, 10,000 people out of 13.7 million Wii U owners. 0.072%.

@Timsworld2 I already stated some of the reasons but you choose to ignore them.

Here's another, what is stopping older children with money from buying their own Switch and accessing games that are normally banned, censored or modified in their region?

Where's my right not to be exposed to some of these said games and play video games in a safe ecosystem?

I mean, you're basically arguing against censorship or having region lock anything at this point saying it has no benefits but to the people doing the censoring or region locking.

You and I might not agree with censorship (region locking) for various reasons but you can't deny it does have its advantages like blocking off most child porn.

It's the same reason why the Switch has no Internet Browser and why Miiverse was more or less censored. You might as well say that is a problem too.

Region locking acts as an ecosystem that prevents purposeful misappropriation of cultural differences in gaming. There are certain things you can't do in America that is perfectly acceptable in Japan and vise versa.

If it's up to the users to decide then why are you against guns in the hand of civilians? Isn't it up to people to decide whether they want to bear arms or not? I mean, what if the cops were the bad guys?

What if these "lazy" developers want to create games but can't afford to license their content to the whole world?

@Timsworld2 The DS was region free for the same reason the Switch currently is. It aims to be a developer-friendly because Nintendo needs it.

I personally don't mind either way but I think they should introduce a Switch mini that is region specific and leave the Switch as it is. That way people get the best of both worlds.

Parents have less to worry about buying their kid a Switch and they can always curate their content that way. (Say import American versions of Doom Eternal that can't be played on an Australian Switch mini.)

Its a win-win for everyone.

@Timsworld2 Well sure....that's why we have different regions for different reasons. Because everyone's culture and views on things are different.

Like its probably normal in Japan to see a 16 year anime girl in a bikini but something like that in the West would be illegal. Got to be 18 or 21 in some regions.

Yeah, its anime, it has no "age" but its the suggestion that they are 16 that is the problem.

In reverse, gore and blood is viewed in a different light in Asian countries compared to western countries.

Thus why we need to "modified, changed or censored" games to begin with because a 16-year old anime high school girl is appropriate in modern Japan but not in say America.

Yes, you can say from an artistical integrate PoV, we shouldn't censor or modify their work but from another perspective, it is our responsibility what we feed our children and culture.

Its the whole guns exist but shouldn't argument, that's why I used it.
Someone was smart enough to invent guns. Yes.
You can say, such is life.
Guns should therefore be legalised to protect me from people of power who now has access to guns.
Or we can just ban everyone from using it...which is hard to do.
Some people will inevitably disagree and we need to for balance sake. Thus why in some regions around the world, guns are legal.

Art works the same way. Its a piece of art.
Yes.
But its also responsible in depicting something that can potentially be harmful to other people.
Like pornography can be art too but some of them promote things like rape or incest and other things like that.

I hate to bring this example up but the world would end-up like China if we didn't have censor boards and stuff like that.

They use to have no movie, games or music rating system at all.
And you can see that as a good/bad thing.

The irony is that China is the result of a highly "individualised" world where people took responsibilities for their own crap. China even want to implement a social credit rating system which also has its advantages and disadvantages.

Either you see China as living the dream or you hate the place.

The point is that no country, system or piece of art is above criticism and with it come censorship and modifications.

Having the balls to do something is not that hard.
Having the balls not to do something is harder.

I mean what do you think would happen if the rest of the world allowed half of the porn Japan produces for example?

Everything taken to an extreme is bad.

It just raises the stakes where people become like daredevils in the name of art. Artistic integrity will become a battle of who can make the weirdest most outlandish and controversial piece there is.

We know this from reality TV shows where with each season getting more and more outlandish in order to occupy the people's attention. That's how it works.

Look at games.

Ultimately as I stated Nintendo wants to focus on making games for everyone and that's it.

Nintendo doesn't want to create a tank with a world-class browser and Netflix because it doesn't benefit them or the consumer in any way.

It doesn't want to update its game consoles every 2-3 years but it is being forced to by greedy consumers who wants the games others are having.

They want the cake and eat it too.

The criticism you level at Nintendo is the same as others...just different reasoning or cause.

Sony is progressive. They are an entertainment company and once a hardware innovator.
Microsoft is Goliath. They are a powerhouse in the software industry unmatched by any other.

Nintendo against them is like small fry. They can't compete in a hardware or software front so can only focus on what they do best.

Make games.

Even if Iwata did it for business reasons, it was for good reasons to protect the industry and stop games from changing from family-friendly gameplay focused entertainment to AI-driven motion capture tech demos that Microsoft and Sony is after.

These other companies do what they do not for consumer benefit for their own sake....staying relevant in the industry.

They stay relevant by giving us more and consumers demand more from them.

The cycle thus continues.

As I said before, artistic integrity will become a battle of who can make the weirdest most outlandish and controversial piece there is.

And we are starting to see this with games:

It used to be about gameplay.
Then it was about multimedia functionality and graphics.
Now we have Death Stranding, Astral Chain and Cyperpunk 2077.

Its so ridiculous but people eat it up like it is normal.

Sure I'm ironically a big fan of all three but what comes after these three games I wonder?
Is it even about artistic integrity anymore or just showmanship and more unhealthy console wars?

@the8thark Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian (Hindi) (at least some dialects), most Asian languages put surname first. Most Indo/Romantic/Semitic languages put surname last. There's some crossover though. AFAIK, Hungarian, despite being European and in the Roman sphere, puts surname first, as does Turkish, despite being boxed by Roman & Indo languages to the North and Semitic languages to the East, likely early trade with China in ancient times influenced their language more heavily.

@NEStalgia
That's only partially true. I've read a lot of Japanese and Chinese history. Even when you spell the names in English, for Chinese the last name is first, but not the Japanese names.

There's a reason the book has SI and not IS on the front.

@the8thark But...that's what I originally said....