Watch Satoru Iwata's Inspirational 2005 GDC Keynote "Heart Of A Gamer"

On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind I am a game developer. In my heart I am a gamer.

So begins one of the most inspirational speeches ever given by the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Long has the statement been quoted in pieces about Iwata, but it is only a chunk of the inspirational keynote given at the 2005 Game Developers Conference. Iwata speaks to his beginnings as a game developer and absolutely floors the audience with his tale of success and the struggles of getting started in the gaming industry.

He talks about making food runs for bosses, making games in the early days of gaming, and boasts that his first game's graphics even by today's standards could be called bad...because there were no graphics.

It's this tongue in cheek humor that translated across language barriers and respect for the industry that made Iwata the icon and inspiration he is to developers today. I encourage those who question why we have so lamented the loss of this man in the gaming industry to watch this keynote (it's long, I know). You'll have a greater understanding of the business, and perhaps a more humbling opinion of a man who literally clawed his way from the bottom to run one of the biggest gaming companies of all time.

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