Slashdot Mirror
Pac-Man Turns 25
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.
eerro eerro wa wa wa
Let's not forget today's GUComics, who also noticed that Pacman turned 25 :-)
It's also *hard*, proving that challenging games are what people have always been looking for. There's also a Pac-Man, proving that games with a Pac-Man are what people have always been looking for.
And to think, his original name was PuckMan.
Ask Slashdot: Where bad ideas meet poor googling skills.
You only posted this story to make use of the pacman icon.
I dunno about that. Playing PacMan always made me feel like reaching for some crackers to go with the cheese.
So, was I the only one to find Ms PacMan, what with saucy bow and full red lips, sexy?
Really? Me neither.
---anactofgod---
"Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
I think it's because the game is just plain fun, with no need to rely on tech-demo thrills to attract attention.
Twenty-five years ago, Pac-man was a tech-demo thrill. Compare it to Space Invaders, the previous blockbuster game, and it's a night and day difference in graphics, sound, and presentation.
But apart from that, I think one of the things that really made pac-man was being the first truly funny game to come along. And to invest each of the ghosts with a personality, and even make them chase differently, that's just genius.
And don't get me started on having the intermission shows, the fantastic sound effects, and the fruit prize intended to lure greedy gamers to their doom. It wasn't until the mid-80s, with Zaxxon, Pole Position, and especially Marble Madness, that Pac-Man lost its luster for me.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
It's where you move a really skinny Ms Pacman around and force her to eat the dots.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Pacman was my final project for my c++ class in school. And given how anal these types of classes are, I had something like:
Object
|-> MovableObject
|-> Enemy
|-> Ghost
|-> AttackingGhost
AHHH!!
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
Sure, he might be safe to you. But to some of us, those who have lived in the pellet villages, the terrible sound of "Wakka wakka wakka" makes us run as the impending consumption of the village begins. I have been there my friends, hiding in the dark corners hoping not to be seen, watching as poor power pellets are gobbled up before my eyes.
At night, I can sometimes still hear the screams.
"They told me it was impossible. I replied with maniacal laughter." http://www.mydailyrant.com/
The true story of Pacman has been exposed.
Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.
-- Marcus Brigstocke
And the answer is, if there really is a God, never.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
If you have Excel 97 or later (sorry, not OpenOffice) then you can play Pacelman. It's Pac-Man written in Excel complete with sound effects!
Imagine being able to run one 25-year-old program entirely within another 20+-year-old program. That's computing with power.
For more information, click here.
Oh bugger, I just have. Must - poke - out - mind's - eye
FOUR WAYS IN WHICH MY LIFE IS JUST LIKE PAC-MAN'S
by John Crownover
1. Ever-present wail of sirens
2. Relentlessly pursued by ghosts
3. Four special pills daily keep ghosts at bay
4. Occasionally eat some fruit
(from www.mcsweeneys.net)
"show me all the blueprint show me all the blueprint show me all the blueprints"
If I had a quarter for everytime that I played Pac Man...
:q!
Because on an emulator you haven't paid $0.25 to play it. There aren't people around to shoulder-surf you when you reach an insane level. Because there's no anonymous competition with the guy you trade highscores with on the same machine, week after week.
Pac-Man and other arcade classics don't hold up as emulated games because a lot of what made them fun were specific to their context. As arcades died out, and gaming moved to the PC and the console, things like 'points' and 'lives' became less important as gameplay elements, in favor of persistent games with longer-term goals like 'items' and 'unlockables' (and got a hell of a lot more complicated - Half-Life's Hazard Course was an acknowledgement of, and brilliant solution to, that phenomenon).
A typical game review today includes a note about how many hours long the game is. For an old arcade game, that's so irrelevant as to be meaningless - how 'long' is Pac-Man? Average game length? Time it takes to get to the 'key' levels for an expert player? Time it takes to learn all the patterns? Or 'as long as you wanna hang out and spend quarters'?
" I agree with the poster. Pac-man was great not because it was a technological marvel. It was great because it was simple, yet addictive."
What? what are you talking about? PacMan was a HUGE technological marvel back in its day! The sprites were alot more defined than any other game, it had a "neon" light effect in the maps, the sound consisted in something more than "beeps" and it was the first game with actual AI and a real map! (which changed each level) even today amateur coders have a bad time trying to pull pacman clones that actually feel and look authentic. (just look at the terrible Atari 2600 port for further reference) this was "doom 3 meets hl2" 25 years ago!
Sorry but the "gameplay versus nice graphics/features" is pointless. sure nice graphics and features dont make a game, but they do provide an excellent background for good gameplay, otherwise is like michellangelo painting with 2 crayons, or amadeus using one of those tiny electronic pianos, even if they create a masterpiece is not as good as it could be if they used the correct tools. Period.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
And for those who don't know who Billy Mitchell is......... Billy Mitchell, 33, of Fort Lauderdale scored a perfect 3,333,360 points on a PacMan machine in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. The perfect score is achieved by playing for six hours, through 256 levels of PacMan, eating every dot, energizer, blue ghost, and piece of fruit on every single level, without dying once. After the 256th level, the game freezes.
Madre de Dios! Es El Pollo Diablo! -- Captain Blondebeard
People wax on poetically about all the classic video games (Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Defender, Space Invaders, etc), but I suspect their popularity was due to their novelty rather than their appeal.
They were fun, colorful, but there's too much meaning being attached to them. It appealed to the future-nerds (myself included).
If you had the option of being trapped on a deserted island for a year with one video game (and the hardware and electricity to play it), would it be Pac Man (all safe and colorful), or Empire Earth II in all it's glory and challenge?
Just to clarify... that machine is in a place called Funspot, which is in Weir's Beach (called "the wee-ahs" by the locals). Funspot should be a landmark for every geek, since they're famous as being one of the largest arcades in the country, even to this day. The coolest thing... they keep EVERY game that has come out (including pinball machines), and in working condition. It's absolutely incredible. If you remember an old video game or pinball machine that you loved as a kid, chances are there's a working original version at Funspot. Definitely a road trip destination for any true geek.
I don't respond to AC's.
You just have to go outside. But most of the NPCs are boring, stupid and annoying and there are a lot of boring cut scenes that can't be skipped through between the action sequences.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?