Nintendo gets a new boss

Nintendo announced on Monday that 65-year-old Tatsumi Kimishima would succeed the late Iwata as head of the Kyoto-based company. Iwata lost a battle with cancer in July.

Kimishima has been with Nintendo since 2000 and is currently the head of its human resources department. His first assignment at the company was to oversee its Pokemon characters business. He then ran the company's America branch from 2006 to 2013.

Nintendo said Kimishima's elevation to president would "reinforce and enhance its management," which is being reshuffled in other ways as well. On Monday, the company said it had created two other new high-ranking positions as part of a "large-scale revision" of Nintendo's organizational structure.

The new title of "Creative Fellow" was apparently created for the company's senior managing director and star game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Another senior executive, Genyo Takeda, was awarded the title, "Technology Fellow."

The new positions come as Nintendo tries to navigate a video games industry that is being increasingly dominated by games playable on mobile devices. For years, the company dismissed the shift to smartphone games but it made an abrupt about-face earlier this year.

As it ventured deeper into the world of mobile gaming, Iwata continued to be the company's spokesman and public face, even as his illness worsened.

cjc/rg (AP, AFP)