Satoru Iwata: 1959-2015

It’s a shame that the piece of news that kickstarted my revival of this blog is such a harsh one.
Satoru Iwata, President and CEO of Nintendo has passed away, aged only 55.
Mr Iwata started out as a games developer for HAL Laboratories, working on the Kirby, Pokémon and Smash Bros franchises. He also programmed the classic Balloon Fight for NES. After many years he was promoted to CEO, taking the reins from the late Hiroshi Yamauchi, and becoming the first person outside the Yamauchi family to run the company in its one hundred and twenty-six year long history. He guided Nintendo through the launches of two of the most successful pieces of games hardware ever made in the DS and Wii. But he never lost touch with his development roots, reportedly getting involved with programming right up until 2012’s Nintendoland on WiiU (He helped tweak the code for the Balloon Fight mini-game).
In his own words he said “On my business card I am a Corporate President. In my mind I am a game-developer, but in my heart I am a gamer.” It was a philosophy that translated directly to his interaction with fans of Nintendo. While his opposite numbers at Sony and Microsoft were standing out on stage at E3 in trying to hype up their latest AAA blockbuster, Iwata was being turned into a Muppet, an Adult Swim cartoon, sparring with Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Aimé and most importantly of all, talking “Directly” to the people buying Nintendo games. He brought a sense of fun and joy to an industry that so often seems these days to be embarrassed by that.

So it’s with a heavy heart that I wish his family, friends and colleagues all the best. One of the brightest lights in the gaming industry has blinked out. His legacy is one of both joy and happiness, which few can argue is a beautiful one.

Video from Eurogamer.net

Sick Kids Save Point–Update 2

So there’s seven days to go till I undertake my 24 hour gaming marathon as part of the Sick Kids Save Point Event! I’m still looking for as many people as possible to donate, and you can all look forward to a big Facebook and Twitter push in the week running up to the event! But this update is mostly about what you’ll see on the livestream I’ll be providing!

Now all the games I’m about to mention are subject to change, based entirely on my whims and possibly, your suggestions and recommendations.

The 24 hours will be split up into various segments, each of which will involve a different game. My plan is to play something for three hours, then another game for an hour and repeat that pattern. This will mean I play six games for big three hour chunks, and six other games in smaller one hour chunks.

The three hour chunks are intended to be used for games that I’m either currently playing, or games I’ve been holding off on especially for this event.

• Dark Souls (From Software’s punishing Action-RPG)
• Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor (3rd Person Action-Adventure in the Lord Of The Rings universe. Think Assassins Creed mixed with Arkham Asylums combat)
• Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Over the top 80’s styled First Person Shooter starring Terminator and Aliens icon Michael Biehn)
• Civilization V (Turn-Based grand strategy game)
• Elite: Dangerous (Deep space combat and trading simulation)

I’ve still got a space for one more title. This MAY end up being Alien: Isolation, depending on how my PC copes with it. Failing that I’m willing to take suggestions and requests!

The one hour games will be smaller or older titles. Potentially retro titles from older systems.

• Sonic The Hedgehog – Mega Drive 
• Super Mario World – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
• 007 Goldeneye – Nintendo 64
• Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night – PlayStation
• Gradius V – PlayStation 2

So I’ve got a good mix of old and new titles to get through. Hopefully there will be something there for people to take an interest in.

As always I need as many donations as possible, so if you could all spread this to your friends on facebook, twitter etc I’d be very grateful!

Once again the ways to donate are as follows:

1 - In person. If you work with me, or know how to get a hold of me, then you can give it directly to me or fill in my sponsor form.

2 - Through my Just Giving page.

https://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Devlin83

3 - Via text message: Just text SKSP83, followed by £2, £5 or £10 to 70070. This allows you to make your donation anytime, anywhere!

Thanks again everyone!

https://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Devlin83
http://sickkidssavepoint.com/
#SKSP