Fancy yourself to be pretty good at Pac-Man? Are you really good, like "best in the world" good? Microsoft and Namco Bandai have announced the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship. The initial tournament period will begin on April 25th and last through May 9th. On April 25th the Xbox Live Arcade leaderboards for Pac-Man will be reset and registered gamers will compete for high score. The 9 highest scoring players from around the world will be flown to New York City on June 5th for the final round. Additionally, Pac-Man fans in the US and Canada can compete in the Pac-Man FANatic contest, in which participants will create videos demonstrating why they are the biggest Pac-Man fans around. The winner of the FANatic contest will also be flown to New York as a wildcard entrant (where we imagine he will be instantly eliminated by much more skilled players). We're hoping along with Joystiq that some of the best video entries will wind up on Marketplace.The winner of this grand finale will be crowned by the creator of Pac-Man himself, Toru Iwatani.
More details and a few caveats after the break.
Players that are interested in the tournament will be able to register on April 25th starting at 12:01 AM GMT (April 24th 5:01 PM PDT) by visiting www.xboxlivetournament.com. Players wishing to enter the Pac-Man FANatic contest can visit the same URL for details about the video contest. The contest officially ends on May 9th 11:59 PM GMT (4:59 PM PDT).
Now for the caveats. Joystiq asked Microsoft about the sketchy D-pad on the Xbox 360 controller and its Pac-Man hindering performance. While Microsoft didn't directly acknowledge this claim, it was stated that finalists will be required to use a 360 pad for the final competition. In other words, you won't be able to use the Mad Catz arcade stick for the finals (but nothing is stopping you from using it to qualify). Finally, remember, no matter how good you are, there's a damned good chance you will be facing off with Billy Mitchell. So, um, good luck with that.
