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Pac-Man Turns 25

Posted by Zonk on from the happy-birthday! dept.

blacklily8 writes "CNN Money is running a story about Pac-Man's 25th birthday. After going on a bit about the history of our favorite pizza sans one slice, the article waxes a bit on why the game was (and is) such a success, with some quotations from Namco's marketing manager: 'He's very colorful, very safe. It's definitely different than the trends going on in games. He just has an appeal.' I think it's because the game is just plain fun, with no need to rely on tech-demo thrills to attract attention. Time to dig out the X-Arcade." It's also *hard*, proving that challenging games are what people have always been looking for.

12 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. GUComics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Let's not forget today's GUComics, who also noticed that Pacman turned 25 :-)

    1. Re:GUComics by Rei · · Score: 2, Informative

      I didn't find that one, but I've found a lot of pretty darn weird stuff. Check out Owens Lake, for example.

      --
      Stale pastry is hollow succor to one who is bereft of ostrich.
  2. His real name! by Rantastic · · Score: 4, Informative

    And to think, his original name was PuckMan.

    --
    Ask Slashdot: Where bad ideas meet poor googling skills.
  3. Re:Legendary Halo by BronxBomber · · Score: 1, Informative

    At the risk of going OT, try Halo 2 on Legendary. It makes Legendary on Halo look like Pac-Man (do I get topic recovery points?)

    --
    ...both interiorlly, and exteriorlly.
  4. Re:next? by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 2, Informative

    Pac-man is well settled in life.. in times of xbox and PS2, many (including me) still like to play this.. its time for him to get married now..

    Good news for you: actually, there is Pac-Man for PS2 called "Pac-Man Fever" - and Ms Pac-Man is one of the key characters in the, ummm, storyline (if you could say so in Pac-Man). You can even run the game in "classic" mode, where it is just the old-school Pac-Man the way you remembered it.

  5. Highest score on Pac Man ever by BronxBomber · · Score: 2, Informative
    Its old news, but relevant - a link to the story of Billy Mitchell, who achieved a "perfect game" in Pac Man.

    UGeek

    --
    ...both interiorlly, and exteriorlly.
  6. Re:The death of gameplay by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 2, Informative
    It's a fairly simple and straightforward Archanoid(sic) clone

    Um... That would be a "Breakout" clone, just as Arkanoid itself was.

    Kids! Just don't know how it was in the old days...

    --
    And the brethren went away edified.
  7. Pac-Man is not hard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Pac-Man is not hard, because Pac-Man can be "solved" by running a specific pattern on each level. The ghost behavior does not truly randomize. Ms. Pac-Man does not have that problem.

  8. Re:next? by Stormwatch · · Score: 2, Informative

    But he IS married - ever heard of Ms. Pac Man?

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  9. Re:definitely a tech-demo thrill by neil.pearce · · Score: 2, Informative

    Did Pac-man introduce the cutscene to the gameplaying world

    No.

    Space Invaders Part II (Taito 1979) has a cut-scene between levels...
    A mothership grabs your "base" and flies around the screen as you "scream" SOS!

  10. Flash version of Pac Man by Kaimelar · · Score: 2, Informative

    All these posts, and not one link so that I can immediately satisfy my craving to munch dots and run away from ghosts?

    http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pacman.html

  11. Re:Obligatory Pac Man quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Google it better. He's a british comedian and has recordedly been using it in his act since before it appeared on the net. Its been misattributed horribly since, but this guy was the original (as far as recordings of his shows and first internet appearance dates can prove, anyway).