pac-man posts (Subscribe to this feed)
Best of the Rest: Kyle's picks for 2007
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jan 2nd 2008 at 12:45PM }
Take Risk. Simplify the rules and create a bunch of new maps. Add an intuitive web-based interface and a complex worldwide ranking system. Make the game entirely free to play and attract a solid stable of online players, available at all hours of the day. The result is one of the most addictive strategy games you've probably never heard of.
Best of the Rest: Ludwig's picks of 2007
by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jan 2nd 2008 at 6:30AM }
Though its puzzles may occasionally infuriate, the real source of frustration regarding Zack & Wiki stems from the fact that nobody bought it. Every year has its share of titles that deserve an audience yet never find one, and in this regard, Zack & Wiki is easily one of the most tragic games to put an uncontrollable smile on your face. Relentlessly charming and beautifully presented, the debut of Capcom's choc-chomping pirate and his simian sidekick challenges the mind and warms that cynical, meh-spouting lump in your chest. How refreshing it was to overcome obstacles and bosses by choosing the power of the mind over an impossibly large bazooka.
Best of the Rest: Scott's Picks of 2007
by Scott Jon Siegel { Jan 1st 2008 at 3:30PM }
Vanillaware's side-scrolling action RPG caught me completely off guard when it came out, but I fell instantly in love with the game's style. Practically everything about Odin Sphere is unique: the circular levels; the gigantic, beautifully-drawn sprites; the bizarre food-crafting mechanics. Toss in a healthy amount of Norse mythology, and you've got one damn fine, under-appreciated game. Here's hoping Vanillaware's upcoming Wii title is up to snuff.
Best of the Rest: James' Picks of 2007
by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 1st 2008 at 1:30PM }
If not worthy of a Top 10 spot, then certainly Pac-Man deserves Joystiq's 'Comeback Player of the Year' award. I covered Pac-Man CE's overblown launch in early June, but it wasn't until I became a devoted player at home that I realized the sheer genius of the first true Pac-Man sequel since 'the Ms.' hit the maze in '82. Designer Toru Iwatani managed to scrape off a quarter-century of rust and fashion a remarkably relevant game that held me down during an otherwise punishing summer drought. Geometry Wars might be the most celebrated, but Pac-Man CE is Xbox Live Arcade's true star.
DIY Ms. Pac-Man cocktail cabinet
by Christopher Grant { Dec 31st 2007 at 7:22PM }
[Via MAKE: Blog]
Cost of next-gen game production is a burden on developers
by Griffin McElroy { Dec 29th 2007 at 8:00PM }
Game developers always have a sizable stack of things to worry about when working on a new project; things like: Is my game going to be any good? Will people buy my game? Am I making Vampire Rain? Is it too late to cancel? Of course, financial worries are always present for developers, who have a growing number of costs to deal with during the creation of a game. However, according to a recent report by BBC News, budgeting woes have escalated into a full-blown panic among developers due to the growing cost of making games for next-gen consoles.
To put things in perspective, the article gives the example of Namco, who, in 1982, made Pac-Man for nearly $100,000 (today, it would be about double that amount, due to inflation). According to BBC News, the average PS3 game costs nearly $15 million to make -- and that's before any marketing is done for the game. Not only is this bad news for gamers, as it almost ensures our store shelves will be stocked with sequel after buyer-recognizable sequel, but it's also bad for developers, who could go belly up after one unsuccessful title.
As technology continues to improve and game consoles get more sophisticated, we wonder how this price spiral will continue to affect the industry. Will there be more safety-ensuring corporate mergers? Higher quality games? Most worryingly -- will there be too few games released to sustain the industry? The video game crash of 1983 was due to there being too many games on the market -- will a situation on the opposite end of the spectrum lead to another crash? For all our sakes, we certainly hope not.
(Via Evil Avatar)
What was the GBA missing? A DDR pad, of course!
by JC Fletcher { Dec 13th 2007 at 9:45AM }
Instructables user Jason1820 rewired his Game Boy Advance to accept controller inputs from a Dance Dance Revolution controller, creating the weirdest way to play Pac-Man since the board game. The resulting monstrosity is neither a console nor a handheld, and is really unsuitable for anything but being insane. Thus, we love it.
This guy rewired the circuitry on his GBA to take an external controller, and one that was meant for another system at that. Then he wrote up detailed instructions on how to do it yourself, and added pictures. Meanwhile we couldn't muster the wherewithal to make dinner today, and we'd barely know how to turn on the GBA without the instruction manual.
[Via Wonderland]
I'm dreaming of a Pac-Man LED Christmas
by Candace Savino { Dec 6th 2007 at 7:00PM }
This "tree" definitely puts the one at Rockefeller Center to shame. Located at Nuevos Ministerios in downtown Madrid, this animated LED display features everyone's favorite power pellet abuser, Pac-Man himself.
You may notice that the cherries, pretzels, and other guzzle-able items have been replaced by a Christmas tree, holiday bells, ribbons, and stars. Nice touch.
To see a gargantuan picture of the Pac-Man tree (or at least a larger image than the one to your right) and some video action of it, jingle all the way past the break.
Pac-Man and Rubik's Cubes make a marriage of artistic genius
by Candace Savino { Dec 4th 2007 at 10:34PM }
If you should feel so inclined to see this work of art in person, head to the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York City during the month of December.
[Via Technabob]
Video game art at its finest
by Candace Savino { Nov 17th 2007 at 4:00PM }
Artist Matt Burlingame created this piece which he calls The Dynamic Trilogy, and we think it's pretty nifty. Sure, we're no experts when it comes to art analysis, but something about this really speaks to us. Maybe it's Pac-Man's despair over the death of a ghost, or maybe it's Mario so callously bashing a turtle's head with a hammer.
Burlingame's art statement declares, "It is art that depicts the depravity of society in its most blatant forms. Most importantly, it is made with a sense of humor. To understand his work is to understand a certain uneasiness within us all. Laughing at its message means he has achieved his goal." Well then, let us just say, "Mission accomplished, sir."
If you were hoping to add this to your art collection, we fear it's too late, as the piece has already sold.
[Via Who Killed Bambi]
Burlingame's art statement declares, "It is art that depicts the depravity of society in its most blatant forms. Most importantly, it is made with a sense of humor. To understand his work is to understand a certain uneasiness within us all. Laughing at its message means he has achieved his goal." Well then, let us just say, "Mission accomplished, sir."
If you were hoping to add this to your art collection, we fear it's too late, as the piece has already sold.
[Via Who Killed Bambi]
Pac-Man jewelry is pretty, buy it for us
by Candace Savino { Oct 26th 2007 at 2:00PM }
If Namco Museum DS wasn't enough to sate your Pac-Man fix, perhaps you need a dose of something shiny. It's rare that we see video game jewelry that's both nice and for sale, but the creations by Tiny Armour are exceptions to the rule. Of course, we never said anything about them being affordable. This Ms. Pac-Man ring, for example, will set you back $68. Check out more Pac-Man related jewelry after the jump!
Namco Museum Remix mixes in Miis
by David Hinkle { Oct 17th 2007 at 5:00PM }
NamcoBandai hit us up with a press release, chock full of new screens (see them in the gallery below) as well as a new trailer for Namco Museum Remix. The trailer even shows some of the Mii integration the game offers. And, as you can imagine, we're dying to get this game in our hands and into our Wii.
Gallery: Namco Museum Remix
[Via press release]
Hollywood and Games Summit: crossing over from film to games
by Kevin Kelly { Jun 27th 2007 at 8:26PM }
Click for larger version
Jordan Mechner hosted a panel about talent (mostly writers and actors) crossing the "digital divide" between film and TV and video games. Sadly, they didn't drop any information about the Prince of Persia movie. For the most part, the panel covered familiar and expected territory. Yuri Lowenthal, voice of the Prince in several Prince of Persia games, said that the crossover is fairly easy for actors, although he would like for the actors to be more involved in the development process, if possible.
Writer Flint Diller (The Transformers Game, Dead to Rights, and several more) said that as far as writers are concerned, you have to have a sense of humor going in with the underlying knowledge that,"This is gonna be a long, bumpy ride." He also said that you can't compare it to screenwriting, and if you try you'll find yourself very disappointed.
Writer Flint Diller (The Transformers Game, Dead to Rights, and several more) said that as far as writers are concerned, you have to have a sense of humor going in with the underlying knowledge that,"This is gonna be a long, bumpy ride." He also said that you can't compare it to screenwriting, and if you try you'll find yourself very disappointed.
X3F Achievements 101: Bots, Bosses and Babalities
by David Dreger { Jun 11th 2007 at 1:30AM }
This is madness! This is Pac-Man 2!
by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 9th 2007 at 12:45PM }
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.
