Namco has announced that it has promoted Shigeichi Ishimura to the post of company president. The 51-year old Ishimura will take over the top post from Kyuushirou Takagi on April 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year 2005/2006. Takagi will remain on Namco's board in the position of vice chairman. Despite projecting a record profit for the current fiscal year ending on March 31st, the company is about to implement personal and structural changes. These changes are aimed at providing continued growth in the years ahead, as Sony Computer Entertainment, Microsoft and Nintendo roll out their next generation consoles.

A graduate of Kyoto's prestigious Doushisha University, Ishimura joined Namco in 1976 and became head of its first production team in 1983. Ten years later he was overseeing the release of Namco's first PlayStation title, Ridge Racer and since 1999 he has been involved in setting up its mobile contents division.

Referring to his strategy as president, Ishimura mentioned that it was necessary to develop games appealing to a broad audience. Furthermore, he aims to strengthen vertical integration of content, that is the linkage between games for home consoles and mobile content.

• MSN-Mainichi Interactive