Hiroshi Yamauchi, who transformed Nintendo into a world leader in gaming over more than five decades at the head of the company, died of pneumonia at a Japanese hospital today. He was 85. Yamauchi was also the owner of the Seattle Mariners until 2004.
At Nintendo, where he was president from 1949 until 2002, Yamauchi supervised the development of some of the company's most widely recognized products, including the Game Boy.