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Namco Founder and “Father of Pac-Man” has Died

posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 31 2017, @02:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the Rest-In-Peace dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Japanese video game company Namco, has died at age 91. Nakamura is widely known as the "Father of Pac-Man" for his role in bringing the arcade classic—created by designer Toru Iwatani in 1980—to Japan and to the US via a licensing deal with Midway.

Nakamura originally founded the company as Nakamura Manufacturing, selling coin-operated children's rides to a department store in Yokohama, Japan. He later changed the name of the company to Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company (NAMMCo!) and began producing electromechanical arcade machines like 1976's Namco F-1.

Namco hit the big time when Nakamura shrewdly purchased the struggling Atari Japan from owner Nolan Bushnell for $500,000—far higher than the $80,000 offered by Sega. The deal granted Namco an exclusive license to distribute Atari's games in Japan for ten years and led to the development and release of original games such as Gee Bee and Galaxian.

Did Pac-man fever drive you crazy?

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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday January 31 2017, @10:19AM

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday January 31 2017, @10:19AM (#461132) Homepage
    When nintendo game and watch handhelds were all the rage at the turn of the 80s, the handheld game I most coveted was a non-nintendo pacman game. I still remember the bright yellow plastic case, and the unusual portrait dimensions contrasting against the landscape nintendos. I'd play the hell out of that on the bus right now.
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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday January 31 2017, @02:44PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday January 31 2017, @02:44PM (#461222) Journal

    I was a Donkey Kong, Asteroids, and Defender man myself but it's not hard to appreciate the impact Pac-man had on the culture. Kids playing networked games today have no idea how much they owe to the success of the franchise. Atari built its fame on it, which inspired copycat systems in Colecovision and later Nintendo and Sega, then PlayStation and Xbox.

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