World-crushing Xbox news turns out to be new Pac-Man mazes -- game on

Just a quick check-in on that supposedly Earth-shattering Xbox news that was due today: turns out that Bandai and Pac-Man designer Toru Iwatani debuted Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox Live Marketplace in New York, with new game types and an undisclosed number of new mazes -- the first in 26 years. (Humorous: the event was presented by... wait for it... Quiznos.) We're not gonna harsh on Pac-Man or anything, we love the little bugger and know damn well that for some this will actually "go down in video game history" as claimed. But our minds remain thoroughly unblown, and so we point you to Joystiq for the complete story.

[bob e @ Jun 5th 2007 4:41PM]

I love Pac-Man... I'll be downloading this~

[dudeInAmerica @ Jun 5th 2007 4:42PM]

They needed their ass whipped for that statement. Yeah, I went there.

[Steve @ Jun 5th 2007 4:42PM]

You have got to be kidding me......

[Jonathan Keim @ Jun 5th 2007 4:42PM]

Well, our party was ruined. I guess the party streamers are going back

[MrGam3r @ Jun 5th 2007 4:44PM]

the microsoft guy who said this would "go down in gaming history" should get a 360 power brick dropped on his head. It'd probably crush him.

[Todd @ Jun 5th 2007 4:48PM]

Microsoft marketing trolls are teh sux

[Mike @ Jun 5th 2007 4:51PM]

WOW! Can i play it on my new MBP and store my levels and everything on my Drobo?

No? Damn... don't want it.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 5th 2007 5:02PM]

MEH!

[HenryJonesJr @ Jun 5th 2007 5:08PM]

Any fool, blogger or otherwise, that thought news relating to anything other than PAC-MAN would be announced at the PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIPS is an imbecile. If you MUST blame Microsoft for something, blame them for overestimating your own intelligence.

[Ty @ Jun 5th 2007 5:08PM]

An unblown mind is a terrible thing to waste on this announcement.

[mike @ Jun 5th 2007 5:12PM]

See!?? MS can be innovative tooo~~

So there!

[gibber9583 @ Jun 5th 2007 5:20PM]

wakah wakah wakah

[anonymouspimp @ Jun 5th 2007 5:32PM]

******
That's the word from Gamertag Radio's Godfree anyway, who says he was chatting up Xbox's Aaron Greenberg about the Tuesday event, and Aaron mentioned that "we have a secret unveil for gamers around the world that I think will go down in video game history."
******

"Godfree" either:
1. Misinterpreted what Aaron Greenberg said,
2. Misquoted Aaron Greenberg, or
3. Got pwned.

My guess is #3.

[Matt @ Jun 5th 2007 5:35PM]

looks awesome

[Steven Guillemet @ Jun 5th 2007 5:50PM]

Back to the marketing drawing board lads, just remember the little boy who cried wolf, what a f£$%king gip, what next, a red coloured Zen ...


lamers

[Jeff @ Jun 5th 2007 5:50PM]

"with new game types and an undisclosed number of new mazes -- the first in 26 years. "

I really don't know where they're getting this. Namco has released dozens of games bearing the name "Pac-Man" with the same gameplay and basically the same graphics as this over the years, each of which had multiple new levels.

This is just another Pac-Man release, not really much different than any of the others except for it being on Xbox Live. Everybody's parroting that "first in 26 years!" line from the press release, which is just a lot of horsecrap.

[tristanfey @ Jun 5th 2007 7:07PM]

Everyone is missing the point. This is the first one by the original creator since the first one 26 years ago. The historic part is that: 1) he did the game and 2) He is officially retiring after this game.

[TheWakeUpCall @ Jun 5th 2007 7:27PM]

Ooo, i'm liking those new stylie graphics on that pacman, are they from the xbox version then?

[Brian @ Jun 5th 2007 8:01PM]

Any chance this will be released for other consoles??? I tell ya, once this baby gets announced for the Atari 2600, I'll be the first person camping outside of Wal-Mart desperately waiting to get my hands on one!

[telepheedian @ Jun 6th 2007 9:20AM]

Wait a minute, Pac-man for the 2600 was the other game, aside from ET, that got dumped into the landfill.

[Neville Bartos @ Jun 5th 2007 8:21PM]

If Pac-Man affected us as kids, then we'd all be running around darkened rooms, munching pills, listening to repetitive electronic music... err, oh, hang on.

Seriously though, I have been debating on which system to buy, PS3 or Xbox 360. I think PacMan just sealed the deal, Xbox 360 it is.

[drtekger @ Jun 5th 2007 10:58PM]

Hm when it was the creators FINAL project before retirement, why didn't he make it UBER state of the art like with solely DX10 Support, Vista SP2 only, Crysis engine, infinite.1 surround sound, and priced at 100$?

Just a few new maps is "meh"

[Dave @ Jun 6th 2007 12:10AM]

ooooh, just like atari

[Aaron @ Jun 6th 2007 1:29AM]

I'd just like to chime in here and say I don't give a crap about Pac-Man and I never have. I grew up with my NES, I can handle a touch of old school gaming, but seriously, fuck Pac-Man. It's like Scooby Doo; a relic from the 70s that should NOT have been popular for so goddamn long. I'm sure it was pretty fun at the time, but just let it die already.

[Reid Sartin @ Jun 6th 2007 1:39AM]

I think the "earth-shattering" part was supposed to the announcement that the creator of Pac-Man is retiring - and this version is the last one he'll ever be directly in control of.

[Asterra @ Jun 6th 2007 7:13AM]

I bought it. It's the most fun I've ever had on Xbox Live (and I've bought a lot of 'em). I might even ultimately give it a bigger thumbs up than Robotron, which is basically the all time replayable classic arcade game.

As for the news being earth-shattering.. Heh. Well, let me put it this way. As a fan of video games, I was more excited by the prospect of a new Pac-Man officially overseen by its creator.. than I might have been about the specs for Xbox720, or Halo3 being completely free, or whatever the hell else people might feel would have met the hype.

[Dave @ Jun 6th 2007 8:11AM]

Wow! Way to target the 45-50 year old demographic Microsoft! If this is video game history, I cant wait for Microsoft's reaction to the new flavor of Medimucil.

[alexhrose71 @ Jun 6th 2007 11:18AM]

Actually, I like the day-glo neon look of this latest iteration and the random maze generation is a good addition to the core gameplay. 800 pts is not right for a remade retro title though (MS seems to be breaking their own price strategy, just like the $49 MS first party game price seems to have disappared with no announcement).

Nice sendoff to a gaming legend, historical ? Not history creating but sure, this will likely receive a footnote in some Pacman biography.

[alexhrose71 @ Jun 6th 2007 11:24AM]

Just read a piece on this over on reuters (below)...maze now pulses to dance music, has a mode in which you can only see part of the maze (anyone remember Atari Ghost ? yep...) may be worth it...

NEW YORK (Reuters) -

Pac Man will be reborn on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live online service on Wednesday as a final tribute for designer Toru Iwatani, who is retiring from the $30 billion games industry he helped ignite.

The new version of the iconic arcade game is a faithful interpretation of the addictive 27-year-old original, where players wrenched joystick controllers to race a character -- resembling a yellow pizza missing a slice -- around a digital maze to chomp white pellets and chase multicolored "ghosts."

The new game, "Pac Man Championship Edition," is the second and final version Iwatani personally designed, and was created for the final round of the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship in New York, when nine finalists played it for the first time.

Iwatani, 52, an employee of Japan's Namco Bandai Holdings, said in an interview he will retire from active duty at Namco and spend more time teaching the next generation of game designers at Tokyo Polytechnic University.

He said there were no immediate plans for another version of Pac Man, but that he could work with Namco in a supervisory position or work on a new version with his students.

The new game, which pulses to dance music and has mazes that change shapes, marks Iwatani's swan song from electronic interactive entertainment, an industry with annual revenue that now tops U.S. box office movie sales.

But Iwatani said the future of the games industry, where development budgets now rival those of some feature-length movies, lies not with professional creators, but outsiders.

The designer of "Tetris was not from the industry. He was a scientist," he said, referring to another legendary 1980s game, in which players organize falling blocks, designed by Russian scientist Alexey Pajitnov in 1985.

"For someone thinking outside of the industry, they can have a fresh new idea," Iwatani said.

Despite the last decade's advances in computer graphics technology and design, Iwatani created the new Pac Man as he did the original -- in two-dimensions. "I wanted to stay with the original simple rules of Pac Man," he said.

The new version also reshuffles older formats. In one mode, called "Dark mode,' most of the maze is hidden from view with players guided only by a flashlight lighting Pac Man's path.

"Pac Man Championship Edition" will be sold for about $10 as a download on the Xbox Live service, starting on Wednesday.

[dougpy @ Jun 6th 2007 12:04PM]

OMG redux ad nausium