Founder of Company which Created Pac-Man to be Inducted into Video Game Hall of Fame
The International Video Game Hall of Fame has announced that Masaya Nakamura, a Japanese business man who founded Namco in 1955, will be inducted into the IVGHOF on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010, at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa, Iowa. In the same ceremonies, Pac-Man will be enshrined in the IVGHOF as the only game included in the Class of 2010.
Mr. Masaya Nakamura, recognized by the International Video Game Hall of Fame as an historic industry pioneer, was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1925. Mr. Nakamura is considered one of the "founding fathers" of the video game industry. He is the founder of NAMCO, the third largest video game developing entity in Japan.
Namco began in Tokyo, Japan in 1955 as Nakamura Mfg. Ltd. named for its founder Masaya Nakamura. It began by producing mechanical rocking horses and similar children's rides, which were installed in a number of department stores in Yokohama and Nihonbashi. The company continued this line of production through the 1960s and expanded with the addition of rides modeled after Walt Disney characters in 1966.
The company's brand name was changed to Namco in 1971 and three years later it acquired the Japanese division of Atari, which brought Namco into the coin-op video game market. Namco Enterprises Asia Ltd. was established in Hong Kong, soon followed by Namco America Inc. in California.
In 1993 Namco merged its U.S. arcade operation Namco Operations Inc. with the newly acquired Aladdin's Castle Inc. chain of arcades to form Namco Cybertainment Inc., bringing the company to the forefront as the largest arcade company in the world. In subsequent years Namco Cybertainment Inc. purchased several other arcade operators, further strengthening the company's overall arcade operation. Namco Cybertainment now operates arcades under the names Time Out, CyberStation, Aladdin's Castle, Diamond Jim's, Space Port, and Pocket Change.
In 2005 Namco was acquired by Bandai, the leading Japanese toy maker, and the two companies were known as Namco Bandai Holdings, the third largest video game entity in Japan. Namco is now a part of the Namco Bandai Group.
Even though Pac-Man is Namco's most famous creation, Mr. Nakamura's legacy includes landmark games like Galaxian, Dig Dug, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Xevious, Jr. Pac-Man and more.
The success of Namco has brought many honors to Mr. Nakamura. Mr. Nakamura was presented one of the highest awards one can receive from the Japanese government. In their Spring Conferment of Decorations, in the field of industry, Mr. Nakamura, received the "Order of the Rising Sun,
Research conducted in 1999 by Twin Galaxies International indicated that the coin-operated edition alone of Pac-Man had been played more than 10 billion times between 1980 and 1999, evidence that Pac-Man is one of history's most successful games.
As members of the IVGHOF Class of 2010, Mr. Nakamura and Pac-Man take their places alongside 27 other gaming dignitaries, including Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and Donkey Kong; Ralph Baer, The Father of Video Games; and Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari.
The IVGHOF was created to honor the video game age luminaries and to preserve artifacts and memorabilia generated by this dynamic industry. The IVGHOF is registered with the IRS as a 501C(3) not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization allowing it to accept donations and issue tax receipts.
The City of Ottumwa is recognized as being the "birthplace" of organized, competitive video game playing. The city was proclaimed the "Video Game Capital of the World
November 30, 1982, by then-Mayor Jerry Parker. This claim was confirmed by Iowa Governor Branstad, Atari and the Amusement Game Manufacturer's Association (AGMA) in a special ceremony on March 19, 1983. Today, the City of Ottumwa conducts an annual four-day video game festival called "The Big Bang" to give further recognition to the gaming celebrities being inducted into the IVGHOF.
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