PAC-MAN: BIRTH OF AN ICON is the first-ever history of the yellow muncher.
Deep-diving into its genesis, design, early marketing and cultural impact, the 350-page book offers surprising new insights into the “Mickey Mouse of the Eighties.”
The book was made in conjunction with BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Ltd., and gives voice to the people who were there at PAC-MAN’s birth in Japan in 1979/1980, who oversaw its design overhaul and mass production at Midway’s in Chicago, and who plotted its remarkable role as the first video game icon to be used in mass consumer marketing.
Ernest Cline, Author of Ready Player One said:
“A beautifully designed and immaculately researched visual history of the first rock star video game character!”
The book will be available worldwide to readers late October, in two editions.
Apart from the Standard Edition book, a Collector’s Edition will have a special, PAC-MAN shaped sleeve and maze-themed cassette holding the book, a special reissue vinyl of the 1980 hit success ‘PAC-MAN Fever’ by Buckner & Garcia, and a unique PAC-MAN arcade token.
For more information about the book, please visit the product page by clicking this link.
In 2021, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. celebrates PAC-MAN’s 41st anniversary with a myriad of activities and partnerships to help commemorate this milestone for one of the world’s most beloved and recognizable video game characters.
PAC-MAN™ invites fans from around the world to get #PAC-TIVE throughout 2021 in mind, body, and within their communities.
Watch the official music video directed and produced by WEiRDCORE for PAC-MAN’s PAC-TIVE initiative theme song, written, produced, and performed by musical artist Yaeji featuring DiAN: https://youtu.be/idllz1EuO10
In keeping with this year’s PAC-TIVE theme, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. has partnered with both Giants Enterprises (the entrepreneurial arm of the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball team), and National Basketball Association (NBA) for exciting activities and collaborations that encourage fans to get up and get PAC-TIVE!
Avid runners can register for the Giant Race’s 2021RUN series, a year-long San Francisco Giants baseball-focused fitness program that includes monthly virtual challenges alongside four races traditionally held in Scottsdale, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Francisco.
Completing monthly challenges will reward participants with one of 12 exclusive pins including a special “Join the PAC” PAC-MAN pin for the month of May.
PAC-MAN’s partnership with the NBA for the 2020-21 season continues with a new NBA Playoffs Adventure for PAC-MAN Mobile as well as new NBA-inspired merchandise.
Fans will have one last chance to play the NBA All-Star Event within PAC-MAN Mobile before the NBA Playoffs Event begins later this month. In the NBA Playoffs Event, fans will be able to play through 20 levels representing the 20 teams in the State Farm NBA Play-In Tournament and the NBA Playoffs, featuring fun basketball-inspired power-ups while collecting cards to fill out their PAC-MAN NBA Playoffs album. New NBA-inspired PAC-MAN gear is coming soon, including a PAC-MAN x NBA by Junk Food collection available on NBAStore.com featuring apparel for all 30 NBA teams, a line of ISlide PAC-MAN x NBA slide sandals, and much more to come.
Bringing PAC-MAN back to his original gaming roots, we encourage all PAC-MAN fans to celebrate his 41st anniversary by playing some of his most recent releases; PAC-MAN™ Mega Tunnel Battle exclusively available on Stadia and playable for free with Stadia Pro, PAC-MAN™ WAKA WAKA available for select Amazon Alexa devices (including Echo Show devices, Fire TV Cube, and screen-based devices like Samsung TVs with Alexa Built-in), and PAC-MAN™ 99 available for the Nintendo Switch system.
All three titles offer exciting gameplay centered around PAC-MAN’s classic maze gameplay, showing how PAC-MAN continues to evolve within an ever-changing industry while still holding on to what makes his game unique.
One of the most iconic video game characters in history meets high-art as PAC-MAN gets his own hyper-stylized PAC-MAN figurine from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America and world-famous pop artist Richard Orlinski!
The collectible PAC-MAN x Orlinski Official Sculpture is available now for pre-order and is scheduled to be released in June 2020.
The premium-quality resin figurine, which stands 7-inches tall, was designed in collaboration with Richard Orlinski, the best-selling contemporary French artist whose work is represented in more than 90 art galleries around the world. The collectibles will be available for purchase in both yellow and black variants at the official BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America online store:
To commemorate the official opening of pre-orders, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America has also released a new video showcasing a 360° view of the figurine:
Famed publisher and developer BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe today announced its latest project: PAC-MAN 256!
Developed by Hipster Whale (Crossy Road) and BANDAI NAMCO Studios Vancouver, this free-to-play game will be available for smartphones and tablets in summer 2015.
PAC-MAN 256 allows players to enjoy a brand new genre of PAC-MAN games; the iconic character created by NAMCO in 1980 will star in an endless maze chased by the infamous “256 Glitch”! Hipster Whale and BANDAI NAMCO Studios Vancouver have perfectly recaptured creator Iwatani Toru’s original PAC-MAN universe for a modern day mobile experience. Players can expect to encounter plenty of Pac-Dots, Power Pellets, and the notorious ghost ensemble: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. PAC-MAN 256 will also feature coins, power-ups and more to spice-up the thrilling pursuit.
“The gaming industry keeps on growing massively on a daily basis and we, at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe, are proud to be pioneers of this with some of the biggest licenses out there! This year, we are celebrating PAC-MAN’s 35th Anniversary and we couldn’t miss such an opportunity: we decided to create a brand new exciting game with Hipster Whale and BANDAI NAMCO Studios Vancouver. This results in a stirring game based on some elements that made history. Join us in celebrating PAC-MAN’s anniversary!” said Tatsuya Kubota, Head of Mobile & Web Gaming at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe S.A.S.
“We are thrilled to be working with the creators of the huge hit Crossy Road in creating a new PAC-MAN game for his 35th Anniversary. We’re already seeing incredibly strong, hooking gameplay in the early prototypes, and cannot wait to share this experience with everyone!” said Daisuke Hattori, Project Manager of PAC-MAN 256 at BANDAI NAMCO Studios Vancouver Inc.
Hipster Whale Director, Matthew Hall, who was just five years old when PAC-MAN™ was born, shared his enthusiasm about Hipster Whale collaborating with BANDAI NAMCO on PAC-MAN 256. “Playing PAC-MAN in a seaside arcade in 1980 is one of my earliest memories. It is an incredible honor to be able to contribute to one of the most iconic video game franchises in history. Our game, PAC-MAN 256, takes the infamous ‘glitch’ level of PAC-MAN and builds upon this to become a unique game that retains the retro spirit of the original.”
This weeks charts have a few new entries including a new number one, Respawn Entertainment’s highly anticipated big mech shooter Titanfall. Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls 2 in its debut week has reached number two just above last weeks number one South Park: Stick Of Truth. Further down the charts Nintendo’s Yoshi’s New Island comes in at number twelve and Pac-man and the ghostly adventures enters at number nineteen.
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2014 UKIE Ltd
These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.
The creator of Pac-Man believes Game Design in the industry today is more focused on quick, simple games than more substantial, memorable titles.
“When you look at games coming out today, it’s doubtful that any of us will be talking about them in ten years’ time,” Industry veteran Toru Iwatani said in a recent interview.
“We have to focus on making games that people will remember a decade from now, or else we’ll lose our audience, probably.”
He warned that social media titles in particular are becoming too easy to produce.
“You’ve had this flood of very simple games on the iPhone and social networks. They’re very ‘easy’ games, and by easy I mean easy to design and to pump out by the dozen,” he explained.
“I think more thought needs to go toward how games present themselves to the user, to how they can be made more fun.”
So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Iwatani’s comments? Are developers trying to churn out simple games more regularly? Or will there always be room for deep, complex titles?
The Train2Game Blog 