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Added sources for Nintendo DS section

Since the first scribe that wrote the Nintendo DS section decided to throw random facts out there unsourced, I took the liberty of updating and sourcing the facts in this section, including:

• Nintendo DS has sold over 16.73 million units.
• It is neck-and-neck with the Sony PSP, shipping over 17 million units.
• This isn't counting the DS Lite, selling over 2 million units in Japan alone.

This is my first time editing in Wikipedia so far, just tell me if I screwed anything up. John D'Adamo 14:57, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

You did good. Though to be fair, the Nintendo's DS sales numbers did include DS Lite, which was at 580 thousand units as of the end of the 2006 fiscal year. The 2 million units figure is for a different point in time. In less than two-and-a-half months, the number of DS Lites have multiplied significantly. Dancter 15:31, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and to sign your posts, just append four tildes at the end (~~~~). The software substitutes the relevant information. Dancter 15:31, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Question. Is Associated Press, Tokyo branch a semi-reliable source? I'm contemplating whether to add Iwata's claim that two million DS Lites will be produced each month, backed up with the Tokyo AP source. John D'Adamo 14:56, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Considering that most of news outlets worldwide rely heavily on the Associated Press, I'd assume that it is reliable enough. But I don't know much about the Tokyo branch, so I don't actually know. I'd add it, anyway. It can always be modified or removed if there are any problems. Dancter 15:07, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Added some new figures I picked up off a Japanese website that first published the figures and then I added another source, GameScience, with the English translation for good measure. Then, I added the blurb about Iwata's claim he'd sell 2 million units per month backed up with the AP source. John D'Adamo 15:49, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Seems fine to me. One note, though: content on newswire pages such as on Reuters or Yahoo! Finance tends to disappear after a while, but as long as it's monitored, it's usually easy to find the information reproduced more permanently somewhere else when that happens. Dancter 16:03, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know whether this has been changed, but one must look beyond the numbers alone to compare sales of the DS and PSP; as the original bulleted list in this comment section (along with every other source I can remember) shows, Nintendo tends to release the number of units SOLD, while Sony tends to release the number of units SHIPPED. These numbers are incompatible, because the number of DS units SHIPPED is higher than the given number (which tells how many are sold), just as the number of PSP units SOLD is lower than the given number (which tells how many are shipped). Depending on which set is used, either the DS number is higher than that listed, or the PSP number is lower than that listed (one or the other). -67.163.21.39 22:44, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Vandal IP

Ok, I can't work out how to report the person who blanked this page, so if someone could do it, that would be great. His IP is 195.8.168.98 and he has been warned before.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ninjoc (talk • contribs) .

GA status

I have granted the GA status though there are still a few things to do :

• Currently, Nintendo's main competitors on the gaming front are Sony and Microsoft. shouldn't be used as there is no time in an encyclopedia.
• upcoming Wii. same as above.
• Decide what type of referencing to do, the prefered one is inline citations.
• Too many lists.
• Splitting should be envisioned.
• Image:Virtual Boy kit.jpg, Image:Nintendo.svg should give their fair use rationale.

Lincher 17:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Founding Date

Upon a Google search, I found most, or all perhaps, of the sites reference Wikipedia for the founding date. Does anyone know for sure the date of founding? Scepia 06:21, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Nintendo was founded in 1889. [1] I am not sure about the month and day. -- ReyBrujo 06:25, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, 1889 is pretty sure, but the exact date is unknown to us. I have traced the edit to this one, by Maxstokols: here. It was edited on 28 November 2005. Scepia 06:36, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure that it was November. It doesn't help that any Google search brings up this same Nintendo Wikipedia article. :P Ex-Nintendo Employee 06:42, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Source for November? And do you know the day in November, such as the 6th? Scepia 06:48, 24 June 2006 (UTC) Also, here is the text in the page history:

23:18, 28 November 2005 Maxstokols m

--Scepia 06:57, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Read it in a gaming history book a long time ago; it might have been David Scheff's Game Over, or there was this other one that had Pac Man on the cover that I don't remember the title of. Ex-Nintendo Employee 07:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Would you perhaps have some sort of access to one/both of the books? Scepia 07:34, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

The Scheff one is at the library down the block; I'll see if I can grab it when it opens this Monday. If anyone can recall what the title of the other one is, it would be greately appreciated. I know it was something like "History of Videogames", and has a PacMan on its cover (it seemed like almost a collage of game screens). Ex-Nintendo Employee 12:39, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Cool. Perhaps a {{cite book}} reference would work? I probably should have discussed this here first, but I started adding citations using footnotes and templates, due to the fact that there were already some uses of them in the article (they were hidden because there was no <references/> tag in the references section). There aren't many right now, so it should be easy to fix things if people disagree, but I feel that inline citations are important to facilitate verification. I'm not particular about which style is used, just as long as it's consistent. What does everyone think? Dancter 16:38, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and about the other book: are you talking about The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent? That and Game Over seem to be the two most popular gaming history books. Dancter 17:38, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

That's exactly the one! Thanks Dancter. Ex-Nintendo Employee 21:12, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, here is the response I got after emailing Nintendo of America.

Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,

I'm sorry, the exact day that Nintendo was founded is not available. We appreciate your interest.

Have fun!
Nintendo of America Inc.
Joel Nicholson

This is something to consider, anyway. I will await for you to look the info up when you get the chance. Scepia 10:42, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

It's baffling I know, but Nintendo of America in general, and Joel Nicholson in particular, are actually the LAST place one should turn to if one is seeking timely answers to a question regarding in-depth Nintendo information. Take this response to a letter someone else once wrote about whether or not the DS' item code NTR-001 had anything to do with the word "Nitro":

"I'm sorry, we don't have access to the information that you requested.

It makes a lot of sense, though! The system was almost called "Nitro".

So, you are probably right!

Have fun!

Nintendo of America Inc.

Joel Nicholson"

I'll keep looking for the answers. Ex-Nintendo Employee 11:47, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Although we appreciate this information, remember that this is called original research. Even if this Joel Nicholson had stated the date was December 25, we would not be able to include it in the article as we are still lacking a reliable source for the statement. -- ReyBrujo 14:58, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd be surprised if you could trace it back to an exact date. Fusajiro Yamauchi probably didn't think it was relavent enough to keep that on record or even in mind. These were the days of paper and ink and any records held by the registration office (or whatever it was called it in 1889) I assume would be long gone. Obviously, had he known the success his company would lead, he would have kept details like that, but this was just someone trying to make a living selling hand painted cards. Would be interesting to see if it was known and recorded though. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 01:28, 25 July 2006 (talk • contribs) 59.167.76.151.

Real founding date

Nintendo's 会社概要 mentions two specific dates. 創業: Meiji 22, 9-23. 設立: Meiji 22, 11-20. Meiji period says Meiji 22 is 1889. In Korean, 創業 means "open for business" and 設立 means "founded." I assume they mean the same thing in Japanese. --Kjoonlee 06:52, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Good work! Ex-Nintendo Employee 07:09, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Nice find, but I think you're confusing things slightly. The year for the second date is not Meiji, but Shōwa, which would be 1947. Dancter 07:12, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Heh, thanks for spotting that. I corrected the dates. According to Japanese calendar, Japan used the Gregorian Calendar since 1873, so 1889-09-23 should be correct. --Kjoonlee 07:25, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

One thing that slightly bugs me is, "What's the definition of 'foundation date?' Shouldn't we use 1947 instead, or could it be a mix-up due to a language barrier?"

Anyway, IMHO 1889 sounds better than 1947. --Kjoonlee 15:46, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I've edited most of the InterWiki links to mention the correct date. Some versions didn't include the date, so I didn't touch those. Could someone familiar with Greek or Hebrew check to see if I did okay?

The Esperanto and Japanese versions were OK from the beginning. --Kjoonlee 16:12, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Could someone familiar with foreign languages check to see if I did okay? --Kjoonlee 16:49, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

External links

There are quite a few external links, including some in the "references" section. Are there any that are expecially valuable?
brenneman ^{L} 01:04, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the following external links labled "references." Can any be tied to a spot in the article?
brenneman ^{L} 06:20, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• Calderon, Anthony. Nintendo EAD: Pioneers of the Renaissance. Retrieved Feb.10, 2005.
• Liedhold, Marcus & Liedholm, Mattias. Nintendo Land. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
• Forbes. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
• http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/41/41877.html Yahoo! Finance details for Nintendo Co, Ltd.] Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
• Yahoo! Finance details for Nintendo of America. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
• Bayer, Glen and Calderon, Anthony. Wii First-Party Support. Retrieved Mar. 18, 2005.
• McCullough, J.J.. Filibuster Cartoons. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
• Nintendo copyrights. Retrieved Feb. 9, 2005.
• Nintendo's annual financial report. Retrieved July 29, 2005.
• List of official Nintendo sites. Retrieved October 9, 2005.
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System
• Did Nintendo want Atari to market the Famicom?

Gyration Corporation

Hello all. I noticed that an individual put a "fact" tag on the statement that the Wii used the technology from Gyration corporation. I'd like to discuss that particular fact tag.

• Gyration is the maker of a wireless mouse that (with the exception of the x/y sensors placed on the monitor) works the same as the Wii controller.
• Gyration expressed, publically, a desire to produce game controllers. According to them: "Gyration intends to be the first company to produce game controllers enhanced with gyroscopic motion-sensors, which have a tenfold performance increase over accelerometer tilt sensors and add the ability to sense yaw as well as pitch."
• Gyration also publically stated that they intend to specifically work with Nintendo in order to produce said controllers: "In September of 2001 Gyration Inc., a leading manufacturer of efficient gyroscope sensors, announced a deal with Nintendo. The details of the deal were straightforward - Nintendo was to invest an undisclosed amount of money into the company in return for the use of the Gyration technology.”

[2]

So we have three things: We have specific details of Gyration making clear a desire to make game controllers. We have a sum of money paid, by Nintendo, specifically for the use of Gyration's technology. And we have, after a small period of time, a controller that utilizes the exact same technology (with the exception of the x/y sensors added) that Gyrations does.

To me, the combination of all these factors makes it rather obvious that Nintendo pioneered the use of Gyration's technology for the Wii. What are your opinions regarding this? Ex-Nintendo Employee 02:19, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm the one who added that {{fact}} tag, and while I also thought it was obvious at first, the more information that gets out, the less likely it seems to be.

• Since the announcement, which was quite a few years ago, there has been very little news on the Gyration connection. Since that announcement, Gyration has been acquired by Thomson SA, and mention of ambitions to expand into the gaming domain seem to have cooled considerably. And you figure that the company would've made some announcement by now if a component of theirs was being included in the controller. The others have. It's not like the tilt-sensing functionality is a secret.
• The only recent information I could find was a blurb in a MEMS bulletin in February which indicated that a new Gyration sensor was forecast to be used in a controller developed by Diamond Multimedia, and available within three months (before May).[3] Not a single part of that forecast has yet come to pass.
• With the exception of yaw, all the tilt-sensing for which the Gyration sensor would be used for is possible with the announced linear accelerometers, as indicated in their press releases.[4][5] While it is not the same functionality, the sensor bar can be used to largely mitigate the loss of yaw detection.
• This wouldn't be the first time a deal with Nintendo would be announced that seems to have gone nowhere. A few years back, Nintendo announced an agreement with AOL concerning Internet service for the Nintendo GameCube. At the time this was speculated to be a hugely significant development, but few GameCube games ended up having an online capability, and none of them made any notable use of AOL services. While it may be argued that the GameCube agreement was just the companies dipping their toes before diving headlong with Wii, that doesn't seem likely. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection has had over 1.3 million unique users login, yet no mention has been made of any AOL involvement.

I'm not ruling out the possibility that there may still be a Gyration sensor in the Wii Remote, but I feel it's by no means a sure thing. Dancter 07:43, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I looked around a bit online and found out that the Gyration Inc. technology that Nintendo invested in in 2001 was used later in the two GBA games that used gyroscopes (Wario Ware Twisted and Yoshi Topsy-Turvy) and that the Wii-mote does not use gyroscope technology as it can measure movement on the x, y AND the z axis (distance from the TV). Movement on the z axis is not a gyroscope function. Also Sony has said numerous times that their controller cannot use rumble because it interferes with the gyro, but the Wii-mote has rumble so that implies that there is no gyro (this is speculation based on logic). I would hold off on saying that nintendo pioneered anything, especially since they mentioned on numerous occasions, apparently, that they did not invent the technology used in the controller, they just applied it to their game console (they said the same about the rumble and the analog stick). --Thaddius 12:21, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Quote from ip129.186.140.209 from the Wii Remote talk page: "According to this article [6] ArsTechnica seems to have it backwards. The sensor bar generates an infrared field, and the remote detects the movement through that field. I'm not quite sure how the controller is able to detect full position and orientation, but this sounds like a start."

Ok, so the sensor bar is for most spacial movement. It would seem that they use Accelerometers for the tilt though (link here) as they're using them in the nuchuk add-on. I don't see why they'd use gyros in the wii-mote and acellerometers in the nuchuk. I don't think they use gyros, I think it's just acellerometers. We can always just leave all this out until the danm thing it released and someone opens it up. --Thaddius 13:06, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, considering that you've read Talk:Wii Remote, then you already know the lengths to which this has been discussed. This page probably isn't really the place to have an all-out discussion of how the Remote works, but my point was that the dots shouldn't be considered connected yet. At the very least, the current statement should be {{fact}}-tagged, and probably would best be reworded to remove any inferences that a Gyration sensor being used in the controller. Dancter 16:52, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Nintendo offices and locations

I've been searching for the location of the main Nintendo office in Kyoto, Japan but haven't had any luck. I narrowed my search down to a small area (on google earth) and have been panning around looking for a white square building. I've seen a few but not sure which one is it. If anyone has this location could they post the coordinates on the article? I thought it might be worth mentioning here since others may be interested. Thanks.

Update: Found it! lat/long = 34.96963200, 135.75637800 (current google earth image has a slice through it where the 2 satellite images join so looks distorted) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.167.76.151 (talk • contribs) .

HAL Labs: isn't this a first-party?

If you take a look at where HAL Labs are mentioned in this article, and at HAL's own article,you'll see that it is owned by Nintendo and is a first party (in the same way that Retro Studios is a 1st party). Therefore, I feel I must ask, how come in the 'Developers Box Thing at the botton of the page it is listed as a second party?--NP Chilla 18:29, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The party status of HAL Labaoratory is frequently changed, as it seems there is conflicting sources on the matter. I imagine if more editors knew how to do it, it would also be changed in the Nintendo developers box, as well. As far as I can tell, though, it seems that despite the very close relationship between the two companies, HAL is not a full subsidiary of Nintendo. Dancter 20:04, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Now THAT is complicated. But correct me if I'm wrong, please - Retro Studios shares a very similar relationship to the Big N, as does Game Freak, and they are both counted as first party titles (ie, Pokémon is counted as a 1st party franchise); so how come these are both 1st parties, but HAL is not?--NP Chilla 14:08, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Retro Studios is first-party because it's wholly owned by Nintendo. As for Game Freak, I don't know. --Evice 00:38, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

The Pokémon franchise is managed by The Pokémon Company, which is a joint venture between Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK. It seems WARPSTAR is a similar arrangement between Nintendo and HAL to manage the Kirby franchise. Dancter 00:59, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Any company that makes games excusivly for another company is a second party develeper. Nintendo is the only first party develeper for Nintendo. The definition of a first part develeper is when a company makes games for its own console. Kingjoey52a

Anascape lawsuit

I wonder where can I find a section or article relating to Nintendo that has this lawsuit. I know it first started in 'The Inquirer', but soon it spread to more reliable sources like IGN and GameSpot. So if there is no mention of this incident please help record it in Wikipedia. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.239.84.199 (talk • contribs) .

Thank you for your suggestion regarding Nintendo! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. -- ReyBrujo 04:23, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Founded date wrong

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the founded date of 1889 should really be 1989. I'm going to change it. Throw 08:07, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Never mind, I'm an idiot.Throw 08:10, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

This isn't the first time someone has seen the date and thought it was incorrect. I'm going to put a little comment blurb in the code there, just in case someone repeats this in the future. Ex-Nintendo Employee 08:24, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Good call. It'll save another poor, well-intensioned soul some undue embarrassment. Thanks.Throw 18:30, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

I can understand where the confusion comes from, because I'd imagine there are plenty of people who don't know Nintnendo's original business was manufacturing playing cards, which have been around way longer than video games. -67.163.21.39 22:50, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Meaning of Nintendo

Some anon user keeps changing the definition to something about halls, but isn't providing a literary source for it. Rather than get into an argument, I'm providing some specific links about the words "Nin", "Ten" and "Do" as per direct translations:

Nin: According to direct translations, the word can mean either "duty", or "person". Given the company statments prior, we'll go with "duty" here, and give it the addition meaning of "work", for a localized translation. [7] Ten: This is a bit more difficult- the word can either mean "shop", "celebration", "heaven" or "dot". Again, going by what prior statements have been made, we ascertain the meaning of "heaven" from this word. [8] Do: This is a clearer meaning- it means "to work", according to this site [9].

Given that Japanese uses an entirely different format of sentence structure than English, it can be therefore taken as a fact that the word Nintendo has nothing to do with halls. Ex-Nintendo Employee 07:14, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Reply: Incorrect, sir. You have to refer to the characters themselves rather than guessing the meanings based on the sound. Japanese has thousands of homophones, and so the character is the main reference to use. NIN is the character used for the verb MAKASERU, which means to entrust. It also has a secondary meaning "person", but I will explain why it cannot be this later. TEN is the character for heaven, as you say. All of the other meanings you list use different Chinese characters. DOU is the same character used in SHOKUDOU "cafeteria, eating hall", HOUOUDOU "Phoenix Hall", etc.

Here are links to an online character dictionary for each kanji: (You'll have to enable Japanese language support for this) NIN: http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/4efb.html TEN:　http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/5929.html DOU: http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/5802.html

Here's the DOU you give for Nintendo's name: http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/50cd.html As you can see, it is not the character in Nintendo's name.

As for the grammar: Japanese words such as these (Nintendo has a somewhat Buddhist temple sound to it) use the Chinese grammar structure of verb then object, as in English. This is because these words are made to sound "literary", and therefore Chinese. As a result, the NIN in NINTENDOU cannot be a noun, because heaven is the second word. In response to your reluctance to accept that DOU means hall- when used in Japanese it adds a bit of severity or grandeur to the name. It is also a commonly used character in Buddist structures, like the Phoenix Hall 20 miles from Nintendo's HQ, for the same purpose of grandeur.

In conclusion, a great disservice was done to the English speaking public when the name Nintendo was given the convenient translation of "Leave Luck to Heaven". "Entrust Heaven Hall", while not pretty, is what Nintendo means. I hope that this is sufficient for your bibliographical needs. If this entry really is interested in factual accuracy, then rumors like "Leave Luck to Heaven" have no place in it. And you can take that as a fact (unlike your unfounded dismissal of hall).

Maybe you can find a Japanese person to confirm this for you. That is, if you cannot read Japanese as your post suggests. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.94.145.169 (talk • contribs) 08:53, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

First of all, I don't appreciate your condescending tone. Secondly, even if one were to address what you've specifically said (instead of arguing literary specifics with you), you're still wrong. By even the specific links you've provided, 任 in its definition means "duty"- it is 任す that means "to entrust". Nintendo's site provides its name as 任天堂ホ, not 任す天堂 as you are suggesting. If anything, the specific literal translation of the word would be "Duty is heaven's place".

Secondly, you've reverted four times so far. Wikipedia has a specific policy detailing against such a thing. I won't report it, but please be aware of the policies next time.

Finally, regardless of whether you feel it's true or not, Wikipedia's basic standard is on verifiability, not what the interpeted translations of individual Kanjii are. That means that if you want to say everyone is wrong about the meaning of Nintendo, you have to actually provide something that outright says "This is what Nintendo as a company means", a valid actual link, not just what you have concluded on your own. Wikipedia is not a "first source"- that means we don't create our own information, we use information from other, verifiable sources. I have asked you quite nicely to please provide an actual source of someone reliable outright stating "Nintendo doesn't mean that", instead you just feel like arguing with me over the definitions of the written Japanese word.

So I've reverted it. If you can find an actual news source for your claim, feel free to post it. Ex-Nintendo Employee 10:20, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I may as well add my voice to this debate. I'm not a native speaker of Japanese, but I have been studying it for many years. The name Nintendo (任天堂), as you can see, is made up of three characters. No one disputes that these are the three characters with which the name is written. Now, I can provide a dozen sources if necessary that incontrovertibly state that the meaning of the third and final character is "hall". Here's one: [10] -- also, see the nuthatch.com links provided by the anon user above. I really don't want to get snippy or impolite or anything, but it is ABSURD to doubt this given the sheer number of references here, all of which are in agreement :) And please remember that when it comes to the meaning of a phrase in Japanese, the only acceptable sources are dictionaries or people with verifiable skill in the language, which means that some spokesman's official interpretation of the meaning of Nintendo, or the meaning claimed by a magazine such as Nintendo Power, etc., etc. are not to be trusted. CLEARLY, the "do" in Nintendo is for "hall" -- UNLESS someone can provide a reference that invalidates the contents of every Japanese character dictionary around...? :)

I'm not going to actually get involved in this edit war. I leave it up to the two of you to work this out and settle on a final version. However, I wanted to put in my two cents here. Let's go with some form of the changes suggested by the anon guy! Ecksemmess 15:26, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

"Clearly", the meaning of "do" is not simply "hall", but is (as was already shown beforehand in the very links provided, such as this one here [11]) the word is a MUCH more ambiguous meaning of "public chamber", or "place". Ecksemmess, you state "you just want to settle this", then do it honestly, instead of placing error in the way of fact. To state that a single, unambiguous interpetation of 任天堂 exists, when in reality 任天堂 can mean a plethora of things (let ALONE what it means if used figuratively and not literally) is erronious. Ex-Nintendo Employee 16:18, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Despite WP:NOR, I asked my Japanese-speaking friend about this. He thinks both translations are weird. --Kjoonlee 16:47, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

If I were to suggest a literal translation, contrary to most here, I would not divide in kanji characters, but in words: 任天堂, where 任 means obligation, responsability or duty, and 天堂, meaning heaven or paradise. In other words, Nintendo means paradise of responsability, or place with hard working people. However, all this is original research, and cannot be verified. -- ReyBrujo 17:24, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

ReyBrujo has a very good point and I'm quite the idiot for not being as quick to make it :) 天堂, itself, means heaven, and 任 means "duty" or a variant thereof in virtually all compounds in which it appears. Therefore, 任天堂 is a compound consisting of the morphemes "duty" + "heaven". Beyond this, only a native Japanese speaker would really be able to make sense of it, I'd say.
And more to the point, let's not forget this: it's the name of a company. Think about it. How many company names in English make no sense at all? Or vaguely make sense, but certainly lack any kind of clear meaning?
I'd say a *good* educated guess (but certainly not guaranteed to be correct) is that they were going for a meaning along the lines of "In Heaven's Hands". (Duty/delegation of responsibility + heaven = In Heaven's Hands). This would make excellent sense considering that the company was founded primarily to produce playing cards, so there was obviously a strong gambling association, and "In Heaven's Hands" is evocative of the luck inherent in gambling. However, this is of course speculative, and therefore technically has no place in the article itself. I suppose it would be all right to at least go so far as to point out, in the article, that the word is a compound of a character representing the concept of "duty/delegation of responsibility" and the word for "heaven", though.Ecksemmess 18:21, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I am in complete agreement with both of you on this point. Ex-Nintendo Employee 21:41, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I think "duty + heaven" makes as little sense as saying that "nowhere" is actually "now + here." --Kjoonlee 04:30, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. It is like having the japanese Wikipedia entry for My explaining it means water hook because it is based on Mem and Waw. Leave Nintendo to mean Nintendo. -- ReyBrujo 04:37, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Anon guy here. Glad to see I stirred up the pot so much. First, let me say that the sheer hilarity of everyone's attempts at Japanese has brought a smile to an old man's face. I especially liked the one that said that DOU has a secondary, ambiguous meaning of "hall". This is like saying that "tree" has a secondary, ambiguous meaning of "large leafy plant". What are some other goodies up there... My favorite is this line from your resident ex-Nintendo part-timer:

"Nintendo's site provides its name as 任天堂ホ, not 任す天堂 as you are suggesting"

Or, to bring this back around, "Nintendo's site provides its name as NINTENDOHO (sic), not MAKASU TENDO as you are suggesting"

I think they give their name as Nintendo, actually. It's good to see him trying to use some non-English sources, though. I like it better with no definite explanation for the name, as the Japanese Nintendo Wiki page:

任天堂という社名は「運を天に任せる」「人事を尽くして天命を待つ」という言葉に由来すると言われているが、詳しいことは不明である（初代社長が死去しているため）。—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.94.145.169 (talk • contribs) 19:32, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Whatever the disagreement, please maintain a civil tone. Also, please sign your posts when commenting on talk pages. Dancter 20:59, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Dancter. And that spelling of Nintendo Co. came directly from their own page, right here [12] where "Nintendo Co. Homepage" is written as 任天堂ホームページ. Ex-Nintendo Employee 21:42, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Yeah. That says "Nintendo Home Page", from which you derived Nintendoho. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.94.145.169 (talk • contribs) .

Those of you who think 堂 does not actually mean "hall" need to be aware that lexical items are not always equivalent accross language barriers. Anyway, 堂 (-dō), when not describing actual halls, is a suffix used in names of shops, similar to 屋 (-ya). And what was Nintendo during the Meiji era? A shop. --Kjoonlee 04:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I asked another friend who speaks Japanese, and she told me -dō is more likely to be used in old, traditional brand-names or companies, rather than shops. This explanation fits better with Nintendo, I think. Also observe Shiseido; they have 堂 in the company name as well. --Kjoonlee 10:32, 15 August 2006 (UTC)