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                 Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Dies of Tumor

   by Associated Press

   Satoru Iwata, who led Japanese video game company Nintendo Co. through
   years of growth with its Pokemon and Super Mario franchises, died on
   the weekend of a bile duct tumor, the company said Monday. He was 55.

   There was an outpouring of sorrow on Twitter for Iwata as a person who
   carved out an entertainment legacy. Fans thanked him for childhood
   memories and for bringing families together.

   "He didn't just create technology. He created a whole culture,'' said
   Nobuyuki Hayashi, a consultant and technology expert. "It wasn't just a
   consumer product that he had delivered. He brought to people something
   that's eternal, what people remember from when they were kids. He was
   special.''

   Iwata, president from 2002, died Saturday in a Kyoto University
   hospital. He had not been seen recently at game events, such as E3 in
   Los Angeles, where he was usually a participant.

   Iwata led Nintendo's development into a global company, with its hit
   Wii home console and DS handheld, and also through its recent woes
   caused by the popularity of smartphones.

   His replacement was not immediately announced, but the company said
   star game designer Shigeru Miyamaoto will remain in the leadership team
   along with Genyo Takeda, who is also in the game development field.

   Switch to smartphones

   Iwata had been poised to lead Nintendo through another stage after it
   recently did an about-face and said it will start making games for
   smartphones, meaning that Super Mario the plumber would soon start
   arriving on cellphones and tablets.

   The falloff in appetite for game machines in the past few years was
   partly because people are increasingly playing games or doing social
   media and other activities on smartphones. Nintendo has repeatedly had
   to lower prices on gadgets to woo buyers.

   Until the recent shift in strategy, company officials including Iwata
   had repeatedly rejected the idea of developing games for mobile
   devices, a market that they brushed off for years as irrelevant.

   In March, Nintendo announced an alliance with Japanese mobile game
   company DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices.

   The company returned to profit in the fiscal year ended March 2015
   after several years of losses.

   Nintendo pioneered game machines since the 1980s, developing one of the
   first machines and the hit Game Boy hand-held machine.

   Its main rivals in the business are Sony Corp. with the PlayStation
   machines and Microsoft Corp. with the Xbox One machine. Both companies
   have done better in adapting to the era of online and mobile games.

   Iwata succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi, who ruled over the Kyoto-based
   company for half a century, transforming it from a traditional
   playing-card company to a technological powerhouse. Yamauchi died in
   2013 at 85.

   Iwata was picked, with Yamauchi's blessing, and Yamauchi remained
   adviser for many years. Iwata had been employed at an innovative
   software company before he was recruited as Nintendo chief. He was
   tapped as president at a surprisingly young age, in his early 40s, for
   a Japanese company.

   Iwata was a respected and popular figure in the game industry, partly
   because he was relatively more approachable than executives at other
   Japanese companies, who tend to be aloof and rigid in demeanor.

   Reactions on social media

   As news of Iwata's death spread online, condolences and virtual
   tributes emerged on social media and on Miiverse, Nintendo's online
   community where users can post notes and drawings created with a
   Nintendo 3DS or Wii U stylus.

   "Halo'' and "Destiny'' developer Bungie posted a quote from Iwata's
   2005 talk at the Game Developers Conference on Twitter: "On my business
   card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer.
   But in my heart, I am a gamer.''

   Iwata remained a presence in Nintendo promotional materials up until
   his death. While he had been absent from the Electronic Entertainment
   Expo for the past two years due to his health, Iwata appeared in both
   human and puppet form in a humorous video presentation streamed June 16
   during the gaming expo.

   Miyamoto, the Nintendo game designer, said he was shocked and saddened.

   "We will upkeep the development approach that we built with Iwata, and
   we in the development team hope to keep working as one to build toward
   the future,'' he said in a statement.

   A funeral service will be held on July 17. He is survived by his wife
   Kayoko. The company declined to disclose other details of his family.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nintendo-president-satoru-iwata-dies-of-tumor/2859477.html