Over the past few months, many famous celebrities have died. Now a video game icon has passed away: Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Namco (formerly Nakamura Manufacturing), passed away on January 22nd. The news of his passing was announced today.
Nakamura, the so-called \u00ab\u00a0Father of Pac-Man,\u00a0\u00bb loved entertainment in all forms. In 1955, long before video games, his company put two mechanical wooden horse rides on top of a department store for children to ride. A decade later, he secured another contract with Mitsukoshi, a leading department store, to install cars that rode around on a track. The rides were quite popular and were a precursor to arcade games that would bring Nakamura his fame and fortune.
In the 1970s, Namco started developing video games. A 25 year-old developer by the name of Toru Iwatani came up with the idea for Pac-Man in the late 70s, and by 1980 the game was a worldwide success. Although Namco never released another game that lived up to the popularity of Pac-Man , the company had its share of hits such as Dig Dug , Pole Position , Soulcalibur , Tekken , and others.
It’s said that Nakamura was very dedicated to his job. Rumors are that he would spend up to 23 hours a day playing a video game before it was released. He stayed with the company until 2002 at which time he informally retired, staying on as a figurehead. Details of his death are being withheld from the public per Nakamura’s final wishes.
Source: Associated Press and New York Times | Image courtesy of Pac-Man Wiki<\/p>\n

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