Pac-Man
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Readers pick best webcomic: Pac-Man secrets
Sure, Extra Life's Scott Johnson often uses Pac-Man and Mario for a topic, but the sheer combination, cleverness, and timing with the new Championship Edition give him the edge for game-related webcomic of the week.Coming in second place is Dueling Analogs and third place goes to Penny Arcade. A special kudos to Digital Unrest because we love (a) science jokes and (b) the sheer probability of the situation.Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any gaming comics you stumble upon this week! (And for those who tipped us off in Saturday's post, no worries we've got you noted.)
DS Daily: Happy Father's Day!
In honor of Father's Day, we thought we'd ask a themed question: Who's your favorite father and son/daughter team? Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., or, uh, hmm. Oh, how about Bowser and the Koopa Kids? Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man? Pitfall Harry and Harry Jr. from Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure? Man, we already had to go to Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure? Maybe you guys can think of more. We can't be retrogaming encyclopedias every day, okay? It would be pretty hard to limit this to the DS, but if you can think of DS characters, you win at commenting.
Microsoft defends Pac-Man CE pricing
During the Gamerscore Blog's Lunchtime Conversation, Xbox group product manager Aaron Greenberg defended the pricing for Pac-Man Championship Edition. Greenberg went on to say that Pac-Man CE is not a simple port of the old game, but is almost a sequel in it's own right with new gameplay, artwork, music and HD implementation added. So, he feels that the 800 Microsoft points that the game costs is more than reasonable for what you're getting.And if you're a regular Fancast listener, you'll know that we were all impressed by the new Championship Edition and most of us were happy to plop down our Microsoft points. We also agree that it's more of a sequel than anything else, but it's ultimately up to you if you think 800 points is worth a new (and extremely fun) Pac-Man experience. So, is the pricing overkill or is it in line with other Arcade offerings?
X3F Achievements 101: Bots, Bosses and Babalities
X3F Achievements 101 is back, and on its regularly scheduled time slot of Sundays. Initial response to our first edition was rather positive, so we're glad you like the concept and hope you enjoy reading, and even participating in the column. Emails with Achievement tips also came in at a good pace, and I look forward to playing and trading with you. One particular email stood out, which came from Casey over at brains-N-brawn.com, and the steps he took to get Achievements in one of the most time consuming Arcade games, Bejeweled 2.
This is madness! This is Pac-Man 2!
Give Pac-Man Championship Edition on XBLA a chance, seriously. Earlier this week Microsoft announced Pac-Man CE (one of the worst title choices in gaming history, but more on that in a second) as this week's game for Xbox Live Arcade. This news came following a misstep by a Microsoft exec. saying they had big news to announce Tuesday, when they were just trying to generate any type of attention for their Pac-Man World Championships. When the "big news" was announced and it ended up being a freakin' Pac-Man game, there was just a little bit of understandable anger.However, Tuesday night, our very own PSP and PS3 Fanboy lead writer, Andrew Yoon, wrote a piece on Joystiq about Pac-Man: CE saying it's more than people think it is. Over the next couple days, between IMs on staff, we kept asking each other, "Did you check out Pac-Man yet?" This would be followed by an awkward pause and the person saying, "It's actually ... good." Our own Jared Rea wrote on his blog, "Calling it a 'champion edition' of Pac-Man is a misnomer and a real bad move on Microsoft's part. A better name for it would have been Pac-Man 2. Not Pac-Man Again or Pac-Man: Retro Evolved, but a name that gets the point across that Pac-Man: CE is the first true sequel to the game since Ms. Pac-Man." So, why is Pac-Man standing with the boys of Gears of War? At this point, any image of Pac-Man would probably just be skipped over because it's just Pac-Man. But really, it's not just Pac-Man, the horribly named Pac-Man Championship Edition is a true successor to the game we all know. Is it worth 800 MS points? That's a bit of a stretch, but you owe it to yourself to at least try the demo. You never know.
Pac-Man World Championship Roundup
Think you're good at Pac-Man? The man pictured above is better than you. Meet Carlos Romero of Pachuca, México, the newly crowned Pac-Man World Champion. Our usually abrasive kin at Joystiq have written up an excellent and surprisingly heartfelt article about the final round of the Championship which transpired in New York on Tuesday. Rather than spoil it for you, we suggest you hit the "read" link and check it out. Of course, if all you're interested in is how well Billy Mitchell (no relation) fared, you can find out after the break.
Chasing pellets: Pac-Man tries to make history again
Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Champion Carlos Romero (Pachuca, México) var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox_360/Chasing_pellets_A_profile_of_seven_Pac_Man_champions'; On Monday, Microsoft was struggling to generate interest in the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship partly because those in-the-know had kept their mouths shut about the Iwatani-made Pac-Man sequel to be unveiled during the event, and partly because, well, this was just Pac-Man. Fearing that the championship would be ignored -- and the game announcement unnoticed -- Xbox 360 group product manager Aaron Greenberg let it be known that "video game history" would be made through a surprise revelation during the competition. Though Greenberg would later back out of his overstatement, word had spread, rumors ignited, and, for a moment, all eyes were watching for a megaton out of SupperClub in Manhattan's Times Square. The news came and went with a few groans and a shrug.But someone was listening with eager anticipation last September when Microsoft announced plans to co-host a Pac-Man World Championship with the game's creator Toru Iwatani. Most of us were too busy tracking Sony and Nintendo's last-minute moves to notice -- just about everything Microsoft dragged overseas to Tokyo Game Show seemed irrelevant at the time. But when Microsoft again talked "World Championship" in mid-April, this time with a date and details, a few more ears perked up and a few more Xbox 360s were sold (yeah, just for Pac-Man -- and just a few). And then, on Wednesday, April 25th, some of us started competing.
Are today's students getting enough gaming time?
There's an alarming epidemic facing high school graduates in this country. No, we're not talking about literacy or obesity or anything so unimportant. We're talking about video games. Get your priorities straight, people!According to a shocking report in the Dayton Daily News, the graduating class of 2007 is being distracted from important game-playing time by attention-stealing activities like "homework, jobs and extracurricular activities." That's right ... the promise of our future would rather do their homework than put in the important gaming time that will help them grow into mature and active adult gamers.What's worse, some of today's graduating seniors have a hard time envisioning a future that included normative social gaming. "If some guy was like 'You want to go on a date? We could play Guitar Hero,' and I'm 30, I'd be, like, 'No!,' " said one such lost youth. It's enough to make you long for the good old days when students knew how important a Pac-Man high score was to their future.[Via Gaming Today]
Win Pac-Man, Live subscriptions and Vision cams
To celebrate the continued success of the Xbox Live Arcade (and because they received free goodies from Microsoft), Eurogamer is having a fun little giveaway. European residents can enter the giveaway by answering a rather easy Pac-Man related question over on their site to win prizes galore. What prizes you ask. Well, good question. They're giving away five 12-Month XBL Vision Gold Packs, five XBLA retro tshirts, and fifteen codes to download the new Pac-Man Championship Edition game off the Arcade. So, head on over to their site and enter the giveaway before June 13th. Remember, you must be a European resident, North Americans need not apply.[Thanks, eLiNeS]
X3F hands-on: Pac-Man Championship Edition
If we told you that Pac-Man Championship Edition is the most significant thing to happen to Pac-Man in years, you'd probably call us crazy. Well, call us crazy, because Pac-Man CE rocks. Quite simply, Pac-Man CE has made Pac-Man relevant again. Yeah, maybe it's not the huge announcement we were all hoping for, but once you put some time into it, you'll find out that Pac-Man Championship Edition has some legs.%Gallery-3685%
Pac-Man CE Wokka's onto XBLA
As announced yesterday, today's Xbox Live Arcade release is Pac-Man: Championship Edition. For 800 Microsoft Points, you can get a revisited look at the Pac-Man experience, with reworked gameplay and mazes, complimented by psychedelic graphics scheme. But in the end, some would say that it's still just Pac-Man, and you can get the original, and his female counterpart for the same price as CE. So will you be giving this a shot, or are you going to shoo him away? Oh, and we need to decide on a consistent spelling of his sound effect, as "Wokka", "Wakka" , and "Waka" can all be cited within the bowels of Fanboy Towers.
Today's Mooriest video: Peter's Pac-Man Problem
If you thought Peter Moore was sitting up at Microsoft headquarters laughing at gamer's red rings of death and telling them to focus on the fixing part, not the problem part, then you were only partially right. In his spare time from that, he has to deal with his Pac-Man problem.Given the fact that the Pac-Man Championship Edition will be coming out tomorrow, we decided to hand out a little power pellet love in the form of today's video. Plus, it's sort of fun to see someone getting under Moore's collar. Wokka wokka.
Pac-Man Championship Edition hands-on
Don't hate it 'till you play it, Jon. And Anam. And Ben. And RUSKULL. And felixlighter. And TouchmyWiimote. And chenry. And the countless rest of you that were disappointed by Microsoft's not-so-big announcement of Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox 360.At the Pac-Man tournament in New York City, we were able to dedicate ample time (hours, maybe) to the final Xbox 360 version of Pac-Man. Championship Edition is, in fact, a true sequel to the original Pac-Man released 26 years ago. Certainly, that seems unimaginable to some -- but there are significant additions to the classic arcade gameplay that make this far more than a pretty HD remake.The new widescreen perspective is taken advantage fully in this Xbox 360 exclusive. While the game is still about avoiding ghosts and eating pellets, the wider field of play has created a new dynamic to the title. The maze is now separated into two distinct halves: left and right. Instead of simple mazes that end at the collection of all the pellets, players will find that the mazes feature an endless supply of dots, and a constantly shape-shifting map. When successfully consuming a sufficient amount of pellets on one side of the field, one of Pac-Man's iconic fruits will appear for collection. Eating the fruit will send a rippling shockwave toward the other half of the field, replenishing the dots, and oftentimes, changing the design of the maze entirely.%Gallery-3684%
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.
Wokka wokka: First Pac-Man CE images, video
While Pac-Man Championship Edition may not be the big announcement we were hoping for, but it's still pretty spiffy in its own right. We've uncovered the first images of the game, and even a video of the game in motion. Put simply, this isn't your daddy's Pac-Man. It's damned close, but certainly different. The most obvious change is the new psychedelic graphics. The most important change, however, is that the game comes with several new modes and mazes. In our favorite mode, you have to eat fruit in order to make more dots appear on screen. Check out the Pac-Man CE gallery below. Hit the "read" link to see the official game page, where you can check out more screens and a video. So, will you purchase Pac-Man CE when it hits Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow?%Gallery-3685%
Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox 360 is the big news
That major Xbox announcement that was coming today? Nope, it wasn't the Xbox 720, but rather Pac-Man Championship Edition, exclusively for the Xbox 360. Ostensibly announced today at the Pac-Man championships in New York City, this variation of the pellet-munching classic promises to make "video game history." How's it plan on doing that? Available tomorrow, June 6, 2007, for the asking price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10), Pac-Man: CE will be the same classic 2D Pac-Man gameplay with shiny new HD graphics, will contain "first new Pac-Man mazes in more than 26 years," and sport new widescreen mazes with wide walls in the Championship mode. There are several additional modes for the competitive Pac-Man gamer, and the requisite leaderboards, achievements, and gamerscore points. While we may quarrel with the hyperbole of the announcement we would like to take the opportunity to salute the Pac-Nauts chomping it out in NYC right now.Update: The official site, with screens and video, is up. %Gallery-3684%
Pac-Man gets an upgrade, hits XBLA tomorrow
Yesterday's rumored big announcement has come to a fruition in the form of an update to an iconic franchise. NAMCO and Microsoft just announced that the Pac-Man Championship Edition will be headed to the XBLA and will feature the first new mazes in over 26 years. The new Championship Edition is exclusive to the XBLA and will stick with the standard 80's 2D presentation, but will include added features and gameplay. The game will feature six new timed game modes, a new soundtrack, a new HD presentation, and brand new dynamically changing mazes. NAMCO's Pac-Man Championship Edition will be available this Wednesday on the Arcade for 800 Microsoft points. Full press release after the break.We know this news is extremely exciting for Pac-Man fans around the world as this is the first time the original Pac-Man game has been updated with new content. But for the rest of us who were expecting a BIG Xbox announcement, we can't help but feel a little saddened as our imaginations and expectations may have gotten the best of us.
Peter Moore hates Pac-Man
With all the Pac-Man World Championship fun going on right now, the Gamerscore Blog crew unearthed a never before seen video (embedded above) of an encounter between Pac-Man and the legendary Peter Moore. And after giving the video a watch, is it just us or do you feel just a little bit sorry for Pac-Man? Mr. Moore has quite the dirty British mouth and his vulgarities are maybe just a little unwarranted. Unless Pac-Man did something unspeakably wrong to make Peter angry, something like eating the last cherry from the company fridge.
Big Xbox announcement tomorrow? We're so not holding our breath
With the Pac-Man World Championships set to go down in New York tomorrow, earth shattering events are bound to happen, right? 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." We're fairly positive that nothing Microsoft could possibly announce tomorrow could live up to that sort of hype, and it seems even less likely that this will be anything hardware related, but we're always willing to be proven wrong. We were planning on hanging out on this mortal coil for at least the next 24 hours or so anyways, so there's no harm done either way.[Thanks, Nick P]
Pac-Man community event in NYC
To celebrate the Pac-Man World Championship the Gamerscore Blog crew is hosting an exclusive 80's party in NYC this Tuesday, June 5th. The event will run from 2-5:00PM with some of the Gamerscore Blog crew, Trixie, Major Nelson, and other community members attending to play Pac-Man, mingle, and have a drink or two. And did we mention there will be prizes too? If you live near NYC and want to attend, head on over to the Gamerscore Blog to RSVP for the event. It's free, but tickets are limited.Have fun everyone who attends and be sure to wear your favorite 80's clothing. Hypercolor tshirts anyone?
