Masaya Nakamura, the 'Father of "Pac-Man"' and gaming pioneer, dies at 91

Masaya Nakamura, the "Father of'Pac-Man'" who founded the Japanese video game company behind the hit creature-gobbling game, has died. Nakamura, who died on Jan. 22, founded Namco, part of Bandai Namco, in 1955. It started out as just two mechanical horse rides on a department store rooftop but went on to pioneer game arcades and amusement parks. Bandai Namco, formed in 2005 from a merger of two game companies, confirmed Monday that Nakamura had died. "Pac-Man," designed by Namco engineer and video game maker Toru Iwatani, went on sale in 1980, at a time when there were few rival games, such as "Space Invaders."