NeoGAF makes up one of gaming's largest and widest-reaching video game communities on the Internet, with several industry-insiders and tons of hardcore enthusiasts who seem to enjoy watching games develop more than even playing them at times.
Now, the community is putting together a get-well-soon card for Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata who recently underwent surgery to remove a growth from his bile duct. Iwata missed the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this month and will also miss an annual shareholders meeting as a result of his surgery.
NeoGAF user efyu_lemonardo has compiled a ton of different suggestions from other posters in the thread:
It'd suggest picking something from his life in games that would mean something to him, rather than riffing off something from a Nintendo Direct or some other quasi-meme like "Please understand."
He was closely involved with games like Balloon Fight and Kirby, and spent a long time with HAL. I'm sure he's spoken about things like this, and favourite games etc., in Iwata Asks.
Some forum users suggested creating a card based on the Commodore PET computer that Iwata used after leaving university. Others have said that the computer's screen could be filled with individual get-well images from the NeoGAF community.
As silly as sending a card to a video game executive sounds, this provides evidence that Nintendo's attempts to turn its executive team into mascots has absolutely worked and endeared millions (though they may not be represented in a single forum thread) to the company even if Wii U sales remain relatively slow.
I'm not sure other video game publishers and manufacturers could get away with that kind of branding and promotion because so few have stood by gamers and consumers since childhood. Nintendo's role in this industry is invaluable to other companies and other platforms because of the way its turned even those willing to try Wii Sports just once into new and returning fans of entertainment software.
