The video game pioneer behind Nintendo's groundbreaking console has died

The video gaming community is mourning the loss of one of its early pioneers, Masayuki Uemura. Uemura, whose death on Monday at the age of 78 was just announced, was the lead architect behind the Nintendo Entertainment System [NES] and its successor the Super Nintendo Entertainment System [SNES]. Uemura was born in Tokyo in 1943 and became an electrical engineer. In 1972, he joined Nintendo and was soon working on the predecessor to early hit game "Duck Hunt". In the early '80s, he was tasked with creating a home console to rival Atari, and Nintendo's president asked Uemura come up with a game using cartridges.