If Clif is against it then Nintendo made the right decision.

wow, nintendo really runs a tight ship over there

Every self respecting gamer is a fan of at least one Nintendo game at one point of their life. Especially if you grew up during the NES era.

That said, I never listened to the podcast but its been said that Chris talked badly about Mr. Sakurai and we know how conservative Nintendo HQ is in Japan.

He broke the rules and its fair, but the rule is stupid in the first place.

Yeah, he totally "deserved" that. *rolls eyes* I know Nintendo has a large following on this site, but some of y'all need to step back and take a good look at the situation. They could have suspended him (without pay) but they decided to fire him, that says a lot about NoA which I already consider to be complete crap. What sucks is that he was explaining their (NoAs) reasoning behind localisations, or lack thereof.

"Hello friends and family. As many of you have probably seen, I am no longer at Nintendo. I was terminated this week due to a podcast appearance I made last Monday. It was a stupid judgment call on my part and ultimately it cost me far more than I could have imagined.
"I've lost the only job I really knew or ever intended to know. Since leaving high school, I've had a singular goal in terms of a career. It got me through college and pushed me through the difficult time immediately after college where I learned just how crippling it was to have an English degree in the job market. I applied for 6 years straight for my job. Even before that, I'd made my entire identity around my hope to one day have this perfect job. I was mocked here and there as "Nintendo Boy" from maybe middle school on, but I thought that if I succeeded, it'd all be worth it.
"And now it's gone and I honestly don't know how to handle myself. A central part of my personality revolves around Nintendo. Anything that I've decorated with around my house has a very clear Nintendo theme. My shirts and jackets overwhelmingly show that as well. Being able to finally feel at home at a job is a feeling I can't easily quantify. I was the guy who'd see a hastily-discarded paper towel in the men's room and pick it up, saying to myself, "This is my home, and I will keep it clean."
"If we're being honest, I'm scared. Very scared. I haven't been without a job for over 4 years, and even then it was during the weird "just exiting college" part of life that everyone goes through. And back then, I was still down in Oregon near family. Living in Washington has struggled to feel normal, but I was grounded in my job. It was where I happily spent my time and saw all of my friends. With that unstuck, Washington suddenly feels alien and empty all over again.
"I look around my house and see images of my son and feel such intense shame and crippling sadness. How do I share this part of my life with him? How do I cope knowing that I've failed him? Even before this I'd been struggling to want to provide better for him and my wife, knowing that due to my student loans, I wouldn't be entirely debt-free until I turned 40. That's not a hyperbole either. I'm just now barely under $100,000 in student debt and my last payment is scheduled for the same year that I turn 40. "That student debt is intimidating, but it's worth it for the end result." I've undone my end result.
"I spent the last week in a miserable place once the podcast began getting coverage. I was instantly scared when a coworker poked me and said, "Hey, you're on GoNintendo." Suddenly article after article began appearing in game sites of all languages. Comments sections painted me as an idiot and the like. My Twitter started giving me hourly reminders from people meaning well and otherwise. It seemed unthinkable that I'd be let go for a single moment of poor judgment and my own misunderstandings, but here we are.
"Obviously, as I'm writing this at 4 am, I don't think I have a clear goal. All I can think of is that there's so much I've put at risk. I know that if I can't find a job at least as good as this one, I won't be able to provide for my family. I've lost them their health coverage and their security. I also know that I've probably lost a good deal of my friends, just because I know how hard it can be to stay in touch with someone when the convenience of proximity is lost.
"I'm so sorry to everyone. I've failed you. You believed in me and supported me and trusted me and I've failed you. I've failed me."

damn, I feel sorry for him, I really am.  

Cliff Bleszinski is always hating on Nintendo.

I feel bad for the dude but he can´t break the rules of his contract, is simple as that.

As someone who actually listened to that podcast, Cliff needs to do some more research before acting like this guy is a martyr and the patron saint of the "downtrodden developer."

The guy's tone and comments were way out of line for an unapproved podcast appearance. His conduct ranged from unprofessional to outright disrespectful and some of the stuff he said was just plain dumb; I swear, I thought he might be a just a bit drunk. Stuff like talking smack about other departments, talking smack about other companies, and mocking the fanbase is always going to get you in trouble; that's not a Nintendo thing it's a common business sense/practice thing. And on top of that, we are only ever going to get this guy's version of the story. There is always - always - two sides to every story. And Nintendo is essentially prohibited from giving us their side. They aren't allowed, as a company, to just air his dirty laundry. So this guy isn't going to say he's an ass - even if he is - because that kinda hurts his future prospects. And Nintendo isn't going to say he's an ass - again, even if it is true - because that would be the fast track to a lawsuit. The drama some of these sites are trying to drum up is just silly.

I can feel for the guy, he got fired.  That sucks.  But feeling sorry for a guy and being on his side are two unrelated things.  There are a lot of people I feel sorry for who I would nevee take their side.  In fact, I feel sorry for this guy more because he did it to himself then anything else.  But again, the usual disclaimer:  his sob story post may very well be a blatant misrepresentation of himself.  If he is a bad employee, he isn't going to come out and say it.  No bad employee will admit he's a bad employee; that's an inherent characteristic of a bad employee.    

No, he didn't deserve to be sacked. Also for those saying that he broke the rule and hence deserved to be sacked, you should all realise that this forum also has rules but I'm sure everyone has broken them ounce or twice.

It's also a very stupid rule...