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[Blackace]

and did he?

They didn't fly out here due to the terror alerts and war...

But Kyoto is about a 6 hour drive

 

[Sneaky Gato]

He's only 85? Huh, that's the same age as my grandfather. I thought he was a lot older.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

I thought he didn't own the team anymore and Nintendo owned it outright?

 

[Blackace]

I thought he didn't own the team anymore and Nintendo owned it outright?

He still owns Nintendo outright... So

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

He still owns Nintendo outright... So

It's a publicly traded company, he is just the largest shareholder.

Edit: yeah, he transferred ownership to Nintendo in 2004.

In 2003 the M's won 93 games. In 2004 they won 63. They haven't won more than 88 since then.

 

[apana]

Thread about Hiroshi Yamauchi, why was I not informed immediately? Anyways I imagine he spends his time alone in his secret bunker devising a plan for immortality.

 

[Rentahamster]

Motherfuckin' Howard, man. Where's Nester?

 

[Blackace]

It's a publicly traded company, he is just the largest shareholder.

Making him the owner of the company...no one can veto his vote because he owns over 50% of the company.. Regardless who is CEO, Yamaguchi has the power

 

[distantmantra]

I wonder if he even watched the game on TV? Dude has never seen them play before.

Isn't he rumored to have yakuza ties as well?

 

[apana]

Making him the owner of the company...no one can veto his vote because he owns over 50% of the company.. Regardless who is CEO, Yamaguchi has the power

Wait I don't think this is right. He has a large enough share to make sure that the company can't be bought out but I don't think he owns over 50 percent.

 

[D_prOdigy]

I'm quite sure he owns about 10% of Nintendo, unless that is some sort of QI-esque popular misconception.

 

[sangreal]

Yamauchi owns 10% of Nintendo

 

[Black Republican]

Hiroshi's too gangsta for this shit

 

[TheMan]

how exactly is yamauchi pronounced?

yamah-oo-chi
or
ya-mao-chi

 

[dacuk]

This guy is a fucking boss

He doesn't give a flying fuck about games either does he? How much he's played?

Given the fact that he did not care about video games, being the Kaiser of Nintendo, makes you think.

 

[Christine]

Yamauchi owns 10% of Nintendo

Yup. His voting interest could effectively be considerably higher than that if he's the proxy voter for other investors, however.

 

[codhand]

He wants to stay home on gaf.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

how exactly is yamauchi pronounced?

yamah-oo-chi
or
ya-mao-chi

More the former. Don't think combining vowels into one sound is really a thing in Japanese.

 

[Doogdogg]

Yamauchi is one of the richest folks in Japan, right?

Third richest.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

Third richest.

the wii really did print money....

 

[distantmantra]

how exactly is yamauchi pronounced?

yamah-oo-chi
or
ya-mao-chi

ya-ma-u-chi

Japanese is (for the most part) phonetic, unlike English.

 

[Exclamation-One]

Ballin'

 

[e_i]

He OWNS the Mariners? Holy shit. I did not know that.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

So it was

1. Guy who started the company (Fusajiro Yamauchi) in the 1800's had a daughter but no son.

2. But the guy who married his daughter (Sekiryo) changed his name to Yamauchi and took over the family business eventually.

3. Then they had a daughter and no sons, too. And that daughter got married and had a son, but the father abandoned her and the kid. That kid was Hiroshi Yamauchi, great grandson of Fusajiro, grandson of Sekiryo and son of mr.deadbeat-san.

4. In 1949, he was 22 when his dying grandfather Sekiryo put him in charge of everything. People didn't take him seriously, so he fired the fuck out of everyone who didn't, and went to work changing it from a humble family business to a multi bullion dollar global empire that he stayed president of for 50 years and still seems fairly involved in.

God I love Wikipedia.

 

[entremet]

What a boss pic ^^^

 

[RBH]

I saw Yamauchi's picture on the front page of Yahoo yesterday with this story attached.

Weirded me out a bit at first. :lol

 

[Matt]

(In August 2004, Yamauchi's shares were transferred to Nintendo as an estate planning measure, but as he remains chairman emeritus of Nintendo's board of directors, he is still considered the team's owner.)

I was going to ask about this, I thought Nintendo took over Yamauchi's shares.

 

[v1oz]

Yamauchi is the greatest executive ever. He must be Yakuza affiliated.

I remember the developers from Argonaut saying Yamauchi didn't even even know how to hold a game controller when they demonstrated Star Fox and the FX Chip to Nintendo. The guy knew absolutely nothing about games apart from how make money from them. And now he owns a team but has never seem them play ever. He's a true legend!

 

[v1oz]

So it was

1. Guy who started the company (Fusajiro Yamauchi) in the 1800's had a daughter but no son.

2. But the guy who married his daughter (Sekiryo) changed his name to Yamauchi and took over the family business eventually.

3. Then they had a daughter and no sons, too. And that daughter got married and had a son, but the father abandoned her and the kid. That kid was Hiroshi Yamauchi, great grandson of Fusajiro, grandson of Sekiryo and son of mr.deadbeat-san.

4. In 1949, he was 22 when his dying grandfather Sekiryo put him in charge of everything. People didn't take him seriously, so he fired the fuck out of everyone who didn't, and went to work changing it from a humble family business to a multi bullion dollar global empire that he stayed president of for 50 years and still seems fairly involved in.

God I love Wikipedia.

I always wondered how they want from making playing cards to designing video games. How many companies in history have completely changed their line of business to something completely unrelated and gone on to dominate the industry?

 

[muu]

In the 3DS Iwata Asks they mention that it was Yamauchi that insisted on a 2-screen handheld for the DS, and for another stab at 3D on the handheld after that. Both features have made the system unique, and I have to wonder if part of that out-of-the-box thinking comes from NOT playing games. After all, a gamer's logical sucessor to the GBA would be something closer to the PSP.

 

[JonnyBrad]

The Boss.

 

[Ulthwe]

So it was

1. Guy who started the company (Fusajiro Yamauchi) in the 1800's had a daughter but no son.

2. But the guy who married his daughter (Sekiryo) changed his name to Yamauchi and took over the family business eventually.

3. Then they had a daughter and no sons, too. And that daughter got married and had a son, but the father abandoned her and the kid. That kid was Hiroshi Yamauchi, great grandson of Fusajiro, grandson of Sekiryo and son of mr.deadbeat-san.

4. In 1949, he was 22 when his dying grandfather Sekiryo put him in charge of everything. People didn't take him seriously, so he fired the fuck out of everyone who didn't, and went to work changing it from a humble family business to a multi bullion dollar global empire that he stayed president of for 50 years and still seems fairly involved in.

God I love Wikipedia.

I always wondered how they want from making playing cards to designing video games. How many companies in history have completely changed their line of business to something completely unrelated and gone on to dominate the industry?

If you're interested in the origins of Nintendo you should really check out Pix n' Love Publishing The History of Nintendo Vol.1. It does an amazing job on going down the memory lane of the company, and the different business it went through. The only problem with the book is that the translation is kinda sub-par (it was originally written in french), but the information is really good nonetheless (Kisses his copy of the book).

I received the 2nd volume last week (dedicated to the Game & Watch) and is equally good content-wise, and equally sub-par translation-wise.

 

[F#A#Oo]

I remember reading a book on Nintendo...man its an amazing company and rich with various twists and turns...

Iirc Yamauchi only entertained high level Go players with business and chit-chat...

 

[BGBW]

2 hrs from kyoto to tokyo my ass he got a private freeway?

He'll take the Spruce Moose!

 

[Seraphinianus]

ok, googled it and am now pissed i missed out on buying this comic and it's not even for sale second-hand anywhere. any help or am i screwed? guy didn't even reprint it after it quickly sold out, from what I can tell.

 

[radioheadrule83]

The Boss.

I like to think he can't attend because he's basically The Sorrow now. He invited Iwata into his office one day and said "Whoever survives shall inherit the title, Boss" - then he gave him ten minutes to live. Iwata swept aside his hair in a feminine fashion, and the rest is history.

 

[UltimaKilo]

The man is a fantastic businessman. I think he takes took too many stabs in the dark, and many times he was too ahead of his time, but that just proves his genius.

 

[smurfx]

hmm i always thought nintendo sold its stake in the mariners a long time ago.

 

[wondermega]

ok, googled it and am now pissed i missed out on buying this comic and it's not even for sale second-hand anywhere. any help or am i screwed? guy didn't even reprint it after it quickly sold out, from what I can tell.

what exactly is the story with this comic, what's it called?

 

[Dhx]

Iirc Yamauchi only entertained high level Go players with business and chit-chat...

From: http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Go

Go is a classic board game originating in China. It would eventually spread to Japan and Korea, where it became very popular. In fact, it is the favorite game of Hiroshi Yamauchi, former Nintendo president. In fact, he liked it so much that he was a 6 Dan (note: for reference on the rankings of Go, look below). Because of his deep appreciation for the game, Nintendo would end up creating several variants of the game of Go, some of which were so high in quality that they cost thousands upon thousands of yen.

Yamauchi, who never played video games in his life, was given a Famicom controller one day and asked to play a version of Go on the console. After attempting to, he ultimately quit

I would love to read an autobiography centered on his life and business successes/failures. I can imagine it would make for a fantastic read.

 

[Maxrunner]

Didnt he told MS employees to fuck off or something about a possible sell of Nintendo...

 

[Jintor]

lol if Minoru Arakawa is somehow involved, I'd get nostalgia chills (but I think he's totally retired).

Isn't he chilling in Hawaii?

 

[Wiseblade]

Didnt he told MS employees to fuck off or something about a possible sell of Nintendo...

I imagine he just told them what happened to the last guy to get on his nerves.

 

[sangreal]

what exactly is the story with this comic, what's it called?

http://thenintendohistorysystem.blogspot.com/ apparently

Apologies for keeping everyone in the dark all summer regarding the status of the Nintendo History System, but the comic has been picked up by a major publisher who wants to publish the whole series as a single graphic novel sometime in 2011/2012.

 

[TAJ]

If you're interested in the origins of Nintendo you should really check out Pix n' Love Publishing The History of Nintendo Vol.1. It does an amazing job on going down the memory lane of the company, and the different business it went through. The only problem with the book is that the translation is kinda sub-par (it was originally written in french), but the information is really good nonetheless (Kisses his copy of the book).

I received the 2nd volume last week (dedicated to the Game & Watch) and is equally good content-wise, and equally sub-par translation-wise.

Just read Game Over.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Didnt he told MS employees to fuck off or something about a possible sell of Nintendo...

Sounds like an urban myth to me, although I'm sure that's the kind of thing he would have done.

Apparently MS offered 25 bil for Nintendo in 1999. Their peak market cap this gen was over 80 bln!

My favourite Yamauchi quote is this:

"Arakawa whispered to Lincoln, "Don't say anything. Mr. Yamauchi will do this." ...

Yamauchi entered the room abruptly and, without addressing anyone, stood at the end of the table. He became, as one of those present put it, "unglued."

He began with a breathy, high-pitched tirade in a Marlon Brando monotone and quickly became loud and abusive. With a piercing cry, he swung his arm in an arc in front of him, shooting his outstretched index finger toward [Coleco president Arnold] Greenberg.

Yamauchi's diatribe, all in Japanese, completely stunned everyone in the room, with the possible exception of the Arakawas. Howard Lincoln says, "It scared the hell out of me." ...

When Greenberg turned to Arakawa for help, he was met with a cold stare. By the time Yamauchi wound down, no one in the room said a word.

The translator finally began to speak. "Mr. Yamauchi is very upset," the man said. ...

Yamauchi spoke again, never wavering. He made it clear that there was nothing else to be said. No excuses would be listened to.

 

[AniHawk]

I thought Yamauchi was dead.

But is yamauchi immortal, or are his methods supernatural?

 

[Jintor]

I think the definitive English work on Nintendo is probably Game Over, though it doesn't cover the Wii era and beyond.

 

[entremet]

Didnt he told MS employees to fuck off or something about a possible sell of Nintendo...

I thought due to Japanese law it is very hard for foreign companies to out and out buy domestic ones. I could be wrong.

 

[Jasoneyu]

Holy crap, I only had a fleeting knowledge of this guy but reading his bio on wiki is insane. I had no idea he even opened a love hotel on his way to success.