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Offline WindyMan

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Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« on: January 11, 2006, 03:51:13 PM »
The man who liked talking about Nintendo's plans more than anyone else won't be doing it anymore.

Jim Merrick has been working for Nintendo for almost 12 years, and today he's calling it quits.  The former marketing head of Nintendo Europe was slated to return to Nintendo of America, but apparently he had second thoughts and decided to leave altogether.    


The official company line?  "After nearly 12 years with Nintendo, the last three of which were at Nintendo of Europe, Jim Merrick has left the company to pursue other opportunities," says a spokesperson for Nintendo.    


Nintendo fans might remember Merrick as being the only one in the Nintendo executive chain to actually speak out on their next-gen plans.  More importantly, he oversaw the launch of the DS hardware across the European territories.    


PGC wishes Mr. Merrick all the best for his future!

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Offline mantidor

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RE: Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2006, 04:34:48 PM »
aaaw, now where are we going to get those little tiny tidbits of info he used to give? not from NCL for sure.




 
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Offline kirby_killer_dedede

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2006, 04:48:19 PM »
This is terrible.  Merrick was the bee's knees.
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Offline KnowsNothing

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RE: Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2006, 05:07:40 PM »
yeah well no one ever liked merrik anyway >=U
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Offline Djunknown

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2006, 05:23:01 PM »
Someone at Nintendo who actually keeps the fans in the know, and now he's leaving? Hmmm.... *cue inner conspiracist* Maybe he was talking too much and silencing him would be too suspicious...

Oh well, maybe its just for family reasons. Its a shame though, the Aussies could have really used him....
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Offline BiLdItUp1

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2006, 05:47:32 PM »
Godspeed to the man, real shame that he's leaving...I'd probably be more concerned, though, if it were Reggie leaving. We need a go-to guy like that.
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Offline Hostile Creation

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RE: Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2006, 05:59:33 PM »
Let's hope they find an equally awesome replacement.  It'll be pretty hard to do, he seemed like a decent guy.
And he let plenty of good facts slip, which was nice.
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Offline Kairon

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2006, 07:29:39 PM »
What was so great about this guy other than that he was a pair of loose lips?

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Offline nemo_83

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2006, 07:36:33 PM »
Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but it just looks too obvious. The story comes out, Nintendo denies, Merrick leaves the company after 12 years, and NGC defends themselves against Nintendo claiming a senior at Nintendo gave them the scoop on Zelda.

One would assume, if one believes NGC, that Nintendo went into a s*** fit when this story broke, and the nail which stood up had to be hammered down.
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Offline Knoxxville

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2006, 07:48:22 PM »
Well, at least now we know why he was so loose lipped when nobody else was....
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Offline ruby_onix

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2006, 08:49:13 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
What was so great about this guy other than that he was a pair of loose lips?

http://www.n-sider.com/personnelview.php?personnelid=793

More recently, Mark Rein (the Vice President of the company that makes Unreal) was blasting the Revolution, saying that the controller will result in nothing but more kiddie gimmicky crap on Nintendo systems, and while Nintendo was pulling their usual "tee hee, we won't confirm or deny that" thing, Jim Merrick personally called out Mark Rein and told him to make an appointment to see the Revolution firsthand, at which point Mark Rein apparently became a Revolution convert. This was before we learned that the Rev might not even be powerful enough to run Unreal 1.

Mostly I think this is just bad news because it's yet another Nintendo personalty to have walked out the door in the last five years, without much of any attempt being made to replace them.

Who the heck does Nintendo have left now? Shiggy. Iwata. Perrin Kaplan. That's about it. They've lost more than 50% of their personality and tried to replace it with one guy, Reggie.
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Offline couchmonkey

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2006, 04:37:02 AM »
And, uh, who did they lose again?  Yamauchi, the crazy president that destroyed third party ties in the N64 era?  Merrick, the guy who was replaced by the all-powerful Reggie?  (Not that I think Reggie is quite as great as everyone says, but to me he's done more for the company than Merrick).  Ken Lobb - I completely forgot he existed - what does he even do at Microsoft?  Don't get me wrong, these were all unfortunate losses but I think Iwata and Reggie have stepped into the spotlight in the absence of these employees and I think if anything they're doing a better job.

I'll miss the tidbits Merrick released every 4-6 weeks for Revolution, but not that much.  I wish him good luck.

My personal conspiracy theory is that Merrick was through with Europe, but found that he didn't have much of a place at NOA anymore with Reggie in the spot he traditionally occupied.  I don't know if Reggie took over Merrick's exact position, but from a media perspective he did...it used to be Jim Merrick and Perrin Kaplan, now it's Reggie and Perrin Kaplan.  They don't need anyone else at NOA.
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Offline TheYoungerPlumber

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RE: Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2006, 05:33:48 AM »
Honestly, although it probably was not intended as such, moving back to NOA was likely seen as a demotion in his eyes.  What more natural a time to leave than when he's changing regions, anyway?  
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Offline ThePerm

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2006, 06:14:30 AM »
if your reading this Jim Merrick...form a Second Party. You'll get rich.  
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Offline pyrokamileon

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2006, 08:12:54 AM »
hey as long there isn't a news article in the near future anouncing him signing on with microsoft or sony, then I don't really care what he decides to do with his time!
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Offline Crave

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RE:Merrick Leaves Nintendo
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2006, 03:45:41 PM »
Heh, I have been thinking the same thing ever since the announcment of Merrick leaving Nintendo. I am willing to bet all my money (ok I have none, but if I did) I would have to agree with you 100%  This is an obvious removal of someone who let too much slip out..period.  
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