ToruIwatani

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  • 'Pixels' looks like another horrible video game movie

    by 
    Timothy J. Seppala
    Timothy J. Seppala
    03.18.2015

    Pixels is a live-action movie about an alien-controlled cadre of classic video game characters wreaking havoc upon humanity by turning everything they touch into, well, pixels. It's based on the charming 2010 short by the same name that Sony thought would make a great feature-length movie starring Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) and Paul Blart (Kevin James). A mulleted Peter Dinklage is along for the ride too, in what looks like a less challenging role than his voice work in Destiny was. His character bears more than a passing resemblance to Dog the Bounty Hunter, because sure why not? At one point, Pac-Man's creator Toru Iwatani (played by Denis Akiyama) gets his hand chomped off by the big yellow guy himself. And just when I thought it couldn't get any more stupid, out came trite "homages" to iconic scenes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Independence Day. All this to say: The movie looks absolutely abhorrent.

  • TGS: XBLA Pac-Man World Championship in '07

    by 
    Christopher Grant
    Christopher Grant
    09.20.2006

    Microsoft and Toru Iwatani (he's the creator of Pac-Man) announced plans for a World Championship where the top 10 Xbox Live Arcade ranked Pac-Man players in the world will be flown to New York City to do battle. There'll be cherries and pretzels flying everywhere folks, it won't be pretty. There's not much info yet except that the contest will begin in "early 2007" and will presumably be won by someone with a lot of free time and abnormal reflexes.Initial response: Will players be allowed to use their own controllers? What if the one of the top 10 players was rocking something like this, and the others weren't? It's no secret that the otherwise stellar Xbox 360 gamepad has a serious weakness in the D-pad department. Weak D-pad or not, just make sure Billy Mitchell (pictured) doesn't get his robotic mitts on an Xbox 360 between now and then, or you can kiss your chances of winning goodbye. Perfect. Score.Microsoft's TGS press briefing:XBLA hits Tokyo with Contra and friendsXbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet pointHD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 17th for ¥19,800Blue Dragon hits Japan this holiday