Pac-Man on XBLA is founder's last game |
Ó
If you have to go, you have to go with a bang. That may be what Pac-Man founder Toru Iwatani was thinking when he decided to design Xbox Live's Pac-Man Championship Edition, his last game as a video game designer.Iwatani will retire from active duty as an employee in Namco Bandai Holdings, but will not leave the video game industry entirely; he plans to impart his knowledge and experience by teaching Game Designing at Tokyo Polytechnic University. He's even willing to lend a hand in future Pac-Man games (should there be any) by supervising the development of the new Pac-Man game, or by personally working on the new version with his game design students.
The new Pac-Man, while retaining its 2D design to keep its original flavor, now pulses to the beat of the background music, and has mazes that spontaneously change shape. The new Pac-Man also has the new "Dark Mode", where players navigate through an invisible maze guided by a flashlight. All in all, it's not a bad way to end a career.
Iwatani wants to impart a small (but not the least important) advice for the games industry before he leaves: The future of the games industry also depends on outsiders, not only professional game developers. To further illustrate his point, he makes an example of Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. "Tetris was not from the industry. He was a scientist," Iwatani said. "For someone thinking outside of the industry, they can have a fresh new idea."
Xbox 360 players can have a taste of Iwatani's fresh new idea for Pac-Man Championship Edition on the Xbox Live service for only US$ 10, starting today.
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
