Namco

K. K. NAMCO (Japanese株式会社 ナムコ, Kabushiki - gaisha Namuko, Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company) is a Japanese entertainment company that has become known as a developer of video games. Among the most famous games include " Pac -Man ", the " Tekken " - "Soul Calibur " - / "Soul Blade" - and the " Ridge Racer " series.

On March 31, 2006, from the old Namco, its successors today Namco Bandai Games, the divisions Amusement and Shinki Kaihatsu Jigyo (新 规 开 発 事业 部门, dt as: " development of new business areas " ) spun off into a new company, the name Namco took over.

History

" Old " Namco (1955-2005)

Masaya Nakamura founded the company in 1955 in Tokyo as Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd.. It began with the production of mechanical rodeo horses and similar children - riding and driving machines that have been installed in some shopping centers in Yokohama and Nihonbashi. We followed this production line over the 1960s, and expanded in 1966, by now also produced devices in the form of Walt Disney characters.

The company name was changed to Namco in 1972, and in 1974 they acquired the Japanese division of Atari and rose as one in the business of münzbasierenden video slot machines. Namco Enterprises Asia Ltd.. was founded in Hong Kong, soon followed by Namco America, Inc. in California. In 1980 one of Namco's most famous slot games, " Pac Man". When Nintendo began producing the Famicom home console, Namco started with the development of games for it, starting with " Galaxian ", which was launched in 1979 in arcades.

In 1981, the space game " Galaga " appeared. The multi-colored star background mediated a hitherto unknown, spatial image. " Galaga " challenged his players to eliminate a number of different space-bug, the anflogen from different directions. Here were the brevity of each of the levels and the ability to double by a hijacked spaceship and then recovered the fire capacity, surely a reason why this video game never got boring and enthusiastic again and again.

Namco was the first manufacturer to put a multiplayer arcade game with two cabins on the market: " Final Lap " was published in 1987, this game allowed up to eight players to play against each other when four two-player cars in one. simple network were linked. By 1988, the Namco's capital exceeded 5.5 billion yen. 1989 appeared another racing game called "Winning Run"; In the same year, the experience of the company showed with car driving simulations with the development of the Eunos Roadster Driving Simulator, a joint venture with Mazda Motor Corporation, followed by a learning software on road safety, developed with Mitsubishi.

In the 1990s, Namco began with an outright sale münzbasierender arcade machines in the United States through its subsidiary, Namco America, and expanded the market in Europe with the establishment of Namco Europe, Ltd.. in London. Sennichimae Plabo was opened in Osaka and offered a new concept diversified arcade amusement, and Namco Wonder Eggs, a theme park, was opened in Tokyo. Additional amusement parks were opened, including Namco Wonder Park Sagamihara and Namco Wonder City.

1993 united Namco Arcade its U.S. company, Namco Operations, Inc., with the newly acquired Aladdin 's Castle, Inc., to establish Namco Cyber ​​-tainment, Incorporated, which made the company the largest arcade society in the world. In the following years, Namco Cyber ​​-tainment bought, Inc. ( NCI) is sponsoring other arcade companies, which further strengthened the position. NCI provides today arcade machines here under the name Time Out, Cyber ​​Station, Aladdin 's Castle, Diamond Jim's, Space Port, and Pocket Change.

In addition, published in 1993 " Ridge Racer ", a driving simulation game in the arcades, and offered 3D graphics; the game was later released for the Sony Playstation. Another very famous game is the fighting game " Tekken ", which appeared in 1994 and was also soon ported to the Playstation. Subsidiaries in Germany, France, Spain and Israel were founded, and soon began there as well with the development of arcade games.

In spring 2005, Namco Bandai announced a merger and on their operations, which resulted in the founding of Namco Bandai Holdings on September 29th of the same year. On 31 March 2006, the games division of Bandai Namco went on in and led to the creation of Namco Bandai Games.

"New " Namco (2006 -)

At the same time the divisions Amusement ( arcade machines, Food theme parks, internet shops ) and Shinki Kaihatsu Jigyo the previous Namco's like the Rehabilitainment area were - a portmanteau of rehabilitation and Entertainment - transferred to a new subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings, the the name Namco took over.

Well-known games ( selection)

• Ace Combat
• Bosconian
• Dig Dug
• Final Lap
• Galaga
• Galaxian
• Katamari Damacy
• Klonoa
• Mappy
• Pac -Man
• Point Blank
• Pole Position 1 and 2
• Rally -X
• Ridge Racer
• Soul Blade
• Soul Calibur
• Tales of ...
• Tekken
• Time Crisis
• Xenosaga
• Dragon Valor