The Impact of Iwata

Stretch Goal Fulfillment: Cover Upgrade & Iwata-Related NF Issue Bundle
12 months ago – Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 04:19:03 PM

Hey again, Impact of Iwata backers! As promised, I'm back again with the next update today.

The physical books are very nearly finished, as they're in the final phase of production now: the application of the shiny/glossy effect to the front cover! That was an upgrade to the physical book that we promised to apply if we met one of our stretch goals during the campaign, and we did, so we are! I'm eager to see the final shine with my own eyes, as I'm sure you are too!

Production is still on track for me to pick up the finished physical books and begin to ship them out next week. I'll be focusing my energies on getting all of your preorders out to you, our Kickstarter supporters, first and foremost! And then the book will be made available for further orders via NFMagazine.com as well as Amazon at some point in the weeks ahead. I'll let you know when those new order pages go live, so you'll know where to direct your friends and family if they want to grab their own copies too!

The digital version of The Impact of Iwata should ultimately exist in a couple of different digital formats, as I'll need to do the work to get it converted over to Amazon's Kindle specifications, for example. But for starters I'll be making the book digital using a similar method to what I use when making the digital versions of our NF Magazine issues, and I'm planning to send download links out for that to anyone whose pledge included a digital version of the book two weeks from today: December 27. 

Before that happens, though, I've got some other digital files to send! Another of our stretch goal promises was that we'd assemble a set of past issues of NF Magazine that discussed Mr. Iwata in one way or another. I've now done that, and you should see an email with a download link arriving in your inbox tonight. (Look for an email from the "DropSend" service.)

The centerpiece of that bundle is NF Issue #17: Thank You, Mr. Iwata. It's the issue that inspired the creation of The Impact of Iwata as a book to begin with! You can flip through and see what our team was able to pull together to honor Mr. Iwata eight years ago. Though please be understanding, as there are some errors that made it into that issue! (I've corrected all the facts for the book, of course!) 

In addition, you'll get NF #2, which featured Mr. Iwata's first appearance in NF's pages, #12, which reported briefly on his health problems, #16 that announced that he'd passed away (which happened just before we finalized that issue), #30 that reported on the hidden NES Golf game that hackers discovered in the first wave of Switch systems and, finally, #53, which contained our magazine team's Book Club discussion of Ask Iwata.

If you like what you see and you aren't yet a subscriber to NF Magazine, you've got a few days left to make the cut for our next issue over at Patreon.com/NintendoForce! 

That's all for today, but I'll be back again with another update next week to let you know when I'm on my way to pick up the books and start filling orders. Until then!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

Behind the Scenes at the Printing Facility! + Current Shipping Plans
12 months ago – Wed, Dec 06, 2023 at 01:00:37 PM

Happy Satoru Iwata Day, everyone! December 6, 1959 was the day Mr. Iwata was born, so today would've been his 64th birthday. I can't miss this opportunity to give you all the latest update on The Impact of Iwata!

The book is being printed as we speak, and two days ago I was able to do a behind-the-scenes tour of the printing facility to see it all coming together. I took my 12-year-old son Carter with me, and the two of us were led through some truly massive, absolutely cavernous buildings filled with gigantic printing equipment.

And loud! We had to wear earplugs for safety!

We watched as gigantic reams of paper got spun into huge machines and shot out pages of the book, streaming past us, getting grouped together and even lifted up over our heads to travel across the ceiling to an adjacent part of the facility. I don't know if you've ever had the chance to go on a tour of printing company like that, but it was an intriguing experience! 

Here are a few photos we snapped along the way:

I came away from our tour impressed at how the books are looking so far – I'm really hopeful that you'll all be pleased with the finished product! 

If all continues to go well with the production process, the completed books should be ready for me to pick up in about two more weeks – so my target date for beginning to ship them out to you all will be Wednesday, December 20. Once that shipping process begins, please have patience! I'll have literally thousands of packages to assemble, label and get shipped out, and that process is going to take a while. I'll be as quick at it as possible, while maintaining mental health for myself. :p We've got Christmas just a few days later and then my wedding anniversary one week after that, so do forgive me if I take breaks for family time in-between all the boxing and printing and labeling and autographing!

If you have not yet completed your BackerKit survey, please do so as soon as possible! And if you need to update your mailing address, please also do that a.s.a.p. in the BackerKit interface. I'm going to lock down orders and address changes one week from today, so whatever info BackerKit has from you by then, that's what I'm going with for shipping out your book! The preorder shop page BackerKit has been running will also close at that time, so if you've got friends or family who might want copies but haven't ordered them yet, time's tickin'! (The next seven days are your last chance to add any extras to your shipment, too, if you want to edit your order to add things like the bookmark or 'obi' jacket.)

That's all for this update, but I'll have another update coming your way one week from today, in which I'll talk about the book's digital version and some other stretch goal fulfillment. Stay tuned, and again, Happy Satoru Iwata Day!

~ Lucas

The Book is Complete!
about 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 16, 2023 at 08:28:25 AM

It's done!

Work on the print version of The Impact of Iwata has been completed! All of the files needed to manufacture hardcover copies of the book have been turned over to our printing company partner, and the process of making those actual, tangible, hold-in-your-hands book copies has begun.

The printing process will take about one month, which means I'll be driving that big rented truck over to pick up the boxes of final copies straight off the assembly line roughly one month from today: mid-December. I'll then begin shipping everyone's orders right away, so that all of your copies head your way before the month of December is over, as originally promised when we kicked off this campaign!

We have a few weeks left before I'll lock down/finalize orders, so if you filled out your backer survey through BackerKit but you've moved since then/need to change your address for any other reason, you've still got time to jump back in and update your address info. And if you haven't yet completed your survey, please do so! I can't mail you your book if I don't know where to mail it! (I'll send out a reminder email with the survey link again in the next couple of weeks, if you haven't finished yours yet.)

Thank you all for your patience through these past few months, especially since I kind of went radio silent here and just hunkered down to fully focus on getting the book finished. Now that the writing and design and everything is done, the biggest burden has been lifted! But I do have other promises to keep, so while the books are in production, I'll be starting to get up to speed on things like the promised tie-in video series. I'll make a separate update here when that's ready to kick off!

Finally, some elements of the Collector's Edition have already arrived here at NF Central: I've got the Art Print Postcards and the Wall Posters all here and ready to go! The plan is to pre-pack all of the shipping boxes with the extra items like those before I go to pick up the books a month from now, such that I can then quickly get final packages assembled and shipped. I'll do my best to get these books out to you all as soon as possible!

To close us out today, here's the official reveal of the Chapter 15 art from the book, by Thor Thorvaldson. (It felt appropriately celebratory.)

~ Lucas M. Thomas

BackerKit Surveys Coming Soon!
about 1 year ago – Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 11:41:47 AM

Hello again, Impact of Iwata backers! It's been exactly six weeks since our Kickstarter campaign came to an end, and we've now arrived at the next phase for all of you: filling in the surveys!

BackerKit will be running the surveys and pledge manager for us, so keep an eye on your email inbox for a survey link to show up from them. Filling out the survey is how you'll finalize your book preorder, confirm your correct mailing address and the like. (And if you end up moving and needing to change that address in the next few months, you'll be able to do that later as well.)

In addition, BackerKit's page will allow you to add extra items on to your Kickstarter order – so if you wanted to grab additional copies of the book, or have me include an extra bookmark or wall poster, etc., into your package before it ships out, you'll be able to do all that as well.

So keep your eyes peeled for that BackerKit email! This has been your official heads-up!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

New Contributor: Nintendo's Toru Hashimoto!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 02, 2023 at 08:24:47 AM

Hello again, Impact of Iwata backers! I hope the arrival of the month of August finds you well. It's been just about three weeks since our campaign came to a close, so I wanted to check in with you all and give you a new update on progress!

First up, the pledge manager for backers to confirm order details/add extra book copies and other items (as well as the "late pledge" page for people who missed the campaign's cut-off time) should be launching very soon. I had intended to have it ready a little earlier after the main campaign ended, but I had a loss in my family just as the campaign was ending -- I spent many of the final hours of the campaign in the hospital at my grandmother's bedside, actually. Thank you all for your patience and understanding as my time spent directing my attention toward my family meant less attention focused here.

The book itself remains on schedule, though, and I'm happy to announce that we've secured a major new contributor! One of Nintendo's earliest game makers and a founding member of the product-testing Super Mario Club that did quality assurance for just about every game the company put out beginning in the early '80s, it's Toru Hashimoto! You might also know him as the owner and operator of the Nintendo-themed "84" (pronounced as "hashi") café in Japan, the go-to hang-out spot for video game industry luminaries that is full of extremely rare memorabilia. His work there has been profiled by The New York Times (read that article here) and Nintendo Life (their article here), among others. If you have a few minutes, read one or both of those pieces to get to know a little bit about him!

Toru Hashimoto worked directly with Mr. Iwata for years, and he's sent in a lengthy reflection on his life and their time spent as colleagues. I think you'll find it fascinating! And my thanks to Robert Sephazon for his translation of Mr. Hashimoto's words.

That's all for this update. I hope to check in again soon!

~ Lucas M. Thomas