| |||
Developed by Tōru Iwatani (a game designer of Namco), the PAC-MAN arcade game was first released in Japan in May 1980 and introduced into the US and Europe later the same year. Players can move on to the next stage as PAC-MAN eats all the cookies within the stage avoiding the ghosts. The cute actions of eating the cookies and the electronic sound effects, the unusual and unique at the time and last but not least the game element dramatically reversing when PAC-MAN eats the power pellet gaining the ability to catch the ghosts has been very popular among the consumers. PAC-MAN was a sensational success, spawning a merchandising program, an animated television series and a song sold over 1 million records receiving a Golden Album award. Since its launch as an arcade game, PAC-MAN has been developed for numerous platforms and spawned many sequels. Recent game releases include PAC-MAN Party for Wii and PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX for PS3/XB360, the arcade games PAC-MAN Battle Royale and PAC-MAN Arcade Party, and multiple titles for mobile devices (iPhone/iPod Touch, PC, PC Online Game, SNS). Still today over 30 years after its first release, the game continues to be loved by people all around the world. The official PAC-MAN web site is available at http://pacman.com/. |