Pac-Man: Difference between revisions
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When first launched in Japan by Namco in 1980, the game received a lukewarm response, as ''[[Space Invaders]]'' and other similar games were more popular at the time.<ref name="classicgaming"/> However, the game found far more success in North America. ''Pac-Man''{{'}}s success in North America took competitors and distributors completely by surprise in 1980. Marketing executives who saw ''Pac-Man'' at a trade show prior to release completely overlooked the game (along with the now classic ''[[Defender (video game)|Defender]]''), while they looked to a racing car game called ''[[Rally-X]]'' as the game to outdo that year.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/defender.shtml | author = Bowen, Kevin | title = Game of the Week: ''Defender'' | publisher = ClassicGaming.com | year = 2001 | accessdate = 2006-08-17}}</ref> The appeal of ''Pac-Man'' was such that the game caught on immediately with the public; it quickly became far more popular than anything seen in the game industry up to that point. ''Pac-Man'' outstripped ''[[Asteroids (computer game)|Asteroids]]'' as the best-selling arcade game of the time,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://thedoteaters.com/p2_stage4.php | title = Player 2 Stage 4: Two Superstars | publisher = The Dot Eaters | accessdate = 2006-08-17}}</ref> and would go on to sell over 350,000 units.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/pacman.shtml | title = Game of the Week: ''Pac-Man'' | author = Bowen, Kevin | publisher = ClassicGaming.com | year = 2001 | accessdate = 2006-08-17}}</ref> |
When first launched in Japan by Namco in 1980, the game received a lukewarm response, as ''[[Space Invaders]]'' and other similar games were more popular at the time.<ref name="classicgaming"/> However, the game found far more success in North America. ''Pac-Man''{{'}}s success in North America took competitors and distributors completely by surprise in 1980. Marketing executives who saw ''Pac-Man'' at a trade show prior to release completely overlooked the game (along with the now classic ''[[Defender (video game)|Defender]]''), while they looked to a racing car game called ''[[Rally-X]]'' as the game to outdo that year.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/defender.shtml | author = Bowen, Kevin | title = Game of the Week: ''Defender'' | publisher = ClassicGaming.com | year = 2001 | accessdate = 2006-08-17}}</ref> The appeal of ''Pac-Man'' was such that the game caught on immediately with the public; it quickly became far more popular than anything seen in the game industry up to that point. ''Pac-Man'' outstripped ''[[Asteroids (computer game)|Asteroids]]'' as the best-selling arcade game of the time,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://thedoteaters.com/p2_stage4.php | title = Player 2 Stage 4: Two Superstars | publisher = The Dot Eaters | accessdate = 2006-08-17}}</ref> and would go on to sell over 350,000 units.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/pacman.shtml | title = Game of the Week: ''Pac-Man'' | author = Bowen, Kevin | publisher = ClassicGaming.com | year = 2001 | accessdate = 2006-08-17}}</ref> |
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The game is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time, for a number of reasons: its titular character was the first original gaming [[mascot]], the game established the [[List of maze video games#Maze chase games|maze chase game]] genre, it demonstrated the potential of [[Character (arts)|characters]] in video games, it opened gaming to female audiences, and it was gaming's first licensing success.<ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3122102 The Essential 50 - Pac-Man], [[1UP]]</ref> In addition, it was the first video game to feature [[power-up]]s,<ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3151392 Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever], [[1UP]]</ref> and it was the first game to feature [[cut scene]]s, in the form of brief comical interludes about Pac-Man and the ghosts chasing each other around during those interludes.<ref>[http://www.gamesradar.com/f/gamings-most-important-evolutions/a-20101008102331322035/p-2 Gaming's Most Important Evolutions], [[GamesRadar]]</ref> |
The game is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time, for a number of reasons: its titular character was the first original gaming [[mascot]], the game established the [[List of maze video games#Maze chase games|maze chase game]] genre, it demonstrated the potential of [[Character (arts)|characters]] in video games, it opened gaming to female audiences, and it was gaming's first licensing success.<ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3122102 The Essential 50 - Pac-Man], [[1UP]]</ref> In addition, it was the first video game to feature [[power-up]]s,<ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3151392 Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever], [[1UP]]</ref> and it was the first game to feature [[cut scene]]s, in the form of brief comical interludes about Pac-Man and the ghosts chasing each other around during those interludes.<ref>[http://www.gamesradar.com/f/gamings-most-important-evolutions/a-20101008102331322035/p-2 Gaming's Most Important Evolutions], [[GamesRadar]]</ref> The game has also been cited as an influence on the design of titles ranging from the early [[Stealth game|stealth]] game ''[[Metal Gear]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=GO3: Kojima Talks Metal Gear History, Future|author=David Low|publisher=[[Gamasutra]]|date=April 2, 2007|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13351|accessdate=2011-08-03}}</ref> to the [[Open world|sandbox]] game ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grand Theft Auto And Pac-Man? “The Same”|author=Brian Ashcraft|date=July 16, 2009|url=http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/07/grand-theft-auto-and-pac-man-the-same/|accessdate=2011-03-08}}</ref> |
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===Remakes and sequels=== |
===Remakes and sequels=== |
Revision as of 18:45, 8 March 2011
Pac-Man | |
---|---|
![]() North American Flyer | |
Developer(s) | Namco |
Publisher(s) | Namco, Midway |
Designer(s) | Tōru Iwatani – Game designer Shigeo Funaki (舟木茂雄) – Programmer Toshio Kai (甲斐敏夫) – Sound & Music |
Composer(s) | Toshio Kai |
Platform(s) | Arcade |
Release | JPN May 22, 1980[1][2] NA October, 1980[3] |
Genre(s) | Maze |
Mode(s) | Up to two players, alternating turns |
Arcade system | Namco Pac-Man |
Pac-Man (パックマン, Pakkuman) is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980.[1][2] Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture.[6][7][8][9] Upon its release, the game—and, subsequently, Pac-Man derivatives—became a social phenomenon[10] that sold a bevy of merchandise and also inspired, among other things, an animated television series and a top-ten hit single.[11]
When Pac-Man was released, the most popular arcade video games were space shooters, in particular Space Invaders and Asteroids. The most visible minority were sports games that were mostly derivative of Pong. Pac-Man succeeded by creating a new genre and appealing to both genders.[12] Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history, and is among the most famous arcade games of all time.[13] The character also appears in more than 30 officially licensed game spin-offs,[14] as well as in numerous unauthorized clones and bootlegs.[15] According to the Davie-Brown Index, Pac-Man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers, recognized by 94 percent of them.[16] Pac-Man is one of the longest running video game franchises from the golden age of video arcade games, and one of only three video games that are on display at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. (along with Pong and Dragon's Lair).[17]
Gameplay
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/59/Pac-man.png/200px-Pac-man.png)
The player controls Pac-Man through a maze, eating pac-dots. When all dots are eaten, Pac-Man is taken to the next stage, between some stages one of three intermission animations plays.[18] Four enemies (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) roam the maze, trying to catch Pac-Man. If an enemy touches Pac-Man, a life is lost. When all lives have been lost, the game ends. Pac-Man is awarded a single bonus life at 10,000 points by default—DIP switches inside the machine can change the required points or disable the bonus life altogether. Near the corners of the maze are four larger, flashing dots known as power pellets that provide Pac-Man with the temporary ability to eat the enemies. The enemies turn deep blue, reverse direction and usually move more slowly. When an enemy is eaten, its eyes remain and return to the center box where it is regenerated in its normal color. Blue enemies flash white before they become dangerous again and the amount of time the enemies remain vulnerable varies from one stage to the next, but the time period generally becomes shorter as the game progresses. In later stages, the enemies don't change colors at all, but still reverse direction when a power pellet is eaten.
In addition to dots and power pellets, bonus items, usually in the form of fruit appear near the center of the maze. These items score extra bonus points when eaten. The items change and bonus values increase throughout the game.
Enemies
The enemies in Pac-Man are known variously as "ghosts" and "monsters".[19][20][21] Despite the seemingly random nature of the enemies, their movements are strictly deterministic, which players have used to their advantage.[22] In an interview, creator Toru Iwatani stated that he had designed each enemy with its own distinct personality in order to keep the game from becoming impossibly difficult or boring to play.[23] The exact behaviors of each enemy were revealed by Toru Iwatani at a Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The red enemy chases Pac-Man, the pink and blue enemies try to position themselves in front of Pac-Man's mouth. The orange enemy moves around randomly. [24][25]
Enemy Color | Original Puck Man[26] | American Pac-Man | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Character (Personality) | Translation | Nickname | Translation | Alternate character |
Alternate nickname |
Character (Personality) | Nickname | |
Red | Oikake (追いかけ) | chaser | Akabei (赤ベイ) | red guy | Urchin | Macky | Shadow | Blinky |
Pink | Machibuse (待ち伏せ) | ambusher | Pinky (ピンキー) | pink guy | Romp | Micky | Speedy | Pinky |
Cyan | Kimagure (気まぐれ) | fickle | Aosuke (青助) | blue guy | Stylist | Mucky | Bashful | Inky |
Orange | Otoboke (お惚け) | stupid | Guzuta (愚図た) | slow guy | Crybaby | Mocky | Pokey | Clyde |
Split-screen
Pac-Man was designed to have no ending – as long as the player keeps at least one life, he or she should be able to continue playing indefinitely. However, this is rendered impossible by a bug. Normally, no more than seven fruits are displayed on the side of the screen at any one time, but when the internal level counter (stored in a single byte) reaches 255, the subroutine erroneously causes this value to "roll over" to zero before drawing the fruit. This causes the routine to attempt to draw 256 fruits, which corrupts the bottom of the screen and the whole right half of the maze with seemingly random symbols, making the level unwinnable. However, through additional analysis, it has been revealed what happens should the 256th level be cleared - the fruits and intermissions would restart from level 1 conditions, but the enemies would retain their higher speed and invulnerability to power pellets from the higher stages.[27]
Perfect play
A perfect Pac-Man game occurs when the player achieves the maximum possible score on the first 255 levels (by eating every possible dot, power pellet, fruit, and enemy) without losing a single life, and then scoring as many points as possible in the last level.[28][29] As verified by the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard on July 3, 1999, the first person to achieve this maximum possible score (3,333,360 points) was Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida, who performed the feat in about six hours.[29][30]
In September 2009, David Race of Beavercreek, Ohio, became the sixth person to achieve a perfect score. His time of 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds set a new record for the fastest time to obtain a perfect score.[31]
In December 1982, an 8-year-old boy, Jeffrey R. Yee, supposedly received a letter from U.S. President Ronald Reagan congratulating him on a worldwide record of 6,131,940 points, a score only possible if he had passed the Split-Screen Level.[29] Whether or not this event happened as described has remained in heated debate among video-game circles since its supposed occurrence. In September 1983, Walter Day, chief scorekeeper at Twin Galaxies, took the US National Video Game Team on a tour of the East Coast to visit video game players who claimed they could get through the Split-Screen. No video game player could demonstrate this ability. In 1999, Billy Mitchell offered $100,000 to anyone who could provably pass through the Split-Screen Level before January 1, 2000; the prize went unclaimed.[29]
Development
The game was developed primarily by a young Namco employee named Tōru Iwatani over the course of a year, beginning in April 1979, employing a nine-man team. It was based on the concept of eating, and the original Japanese title was Pakkuman (パックマン), inspired by the Japanese onomatopoeic slang phrase paku-paku taberu (パクパク食べる),[32][33] where paku-paku describes (the sound of) the mouth movement when widely opened and then closed in succession.[34]
Although Iwatani has repeatedly stated that the character's shape was inspired by a pizza missing a slice,[10] he admitted in a 1986 interview that this was a half-truth and the character design also came from simplifying and rounding out the Japanese character for mouth, kuchi (口).[35] Iwatani attempted to appeal to a wider audience—beyond the typical demographics of young boys and teenagers. This led him to add elements of a maze, as well as cute ghost enemy characters. The result was a game he named Puck Man.[36]
Later in 1980, the game was picked up for manufacture in the United States by Bally division Midway,[35] which changed the game's name from Puck Man to Pac-Man in an effort to avoid vandalism. The cabinet artwork was also changed.[37]
Impact and legacy
When first launched in Japan by Namco in 1980, the game received a lukewarm response, as Space Invaders and other similar games were more popular at the time.[12] However, the game found far more success in North America. Pac-Man's success in North America took competitors and distributors completely by surprise in 1980. Marketing executives who saw Pac-Man at a trade show prior to release completely overlooked the game (along with the now classic Defender), while they looked to a racing car game called Rally-X as the game to outdo that year.[38] The appeal of Pac-Man was such that the game caught on immediately with the public; it quickly became far more popular than anything seen in the game industry up to that point. Pac-Man outstripped Asteroids as the best-selling arcade game of the time,[39] and would go on to sell over 350,000 units.[40]
The game is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time, for a number of reasons: its titular character was the first original gaming mascot, the game established the maze chase game genre, it demonstrated the potential of characters in video games, it opened gaming to female audiences, and it was gaming's first licensing success.[41] In addition, it was the first video game to feature power-ups,[42] and it was the first game to feature cut scenes, in the form of brief comical interludes about Pac-Man and the ghosts chasing each other around during those interludes.[43] The game has also been cited as an influence on the design of titles ranging from the early stealth game Metal Gear,[44] to the sandbox game Grand Theft Auto.[45]
Remakes and sequels
Pac-Man is one of the few games to have been consistently published for over two decades, having been remade on numerous platforms and spawned many sequels. Re-releases include ported and updated versions of the original arcade game.
One of the first ports to be released was the much maligned port for the Atari 2600.
It was also released for the Apple II series, Atari's 5200 and 8-bit computers, IBM Personal Computer, Intellivision, the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 and Nintendo Entertainment System. For handheld game consoles, it was released on the Game Boy, Sega Game Gear and the Neo Geo Pocket Color.
The game has also been featured in Namco's long-running Namco Museum video game compilations. Downloads of the game have been made available on game services such as Xbox Live Arcade, GameTap and Virtual Console. Namco has also released mobile versions for BREW, Java, iOS, as well as Palm PDAs and Windows Mobile-based devices. A port of Pac-Man for Android[49] can be controlled not only through an Android phone's trackball but through touch gestures or its on-board accelerometer.
In addition, Namco has repeatedly re-released the game to arcades. In 2001, Namco released a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga "Class of 1981 Reunion Edition" cabinet with Pac-Man available for play as a hidden game. To commemorate Pac-Man's 25th anniversary in 2005, Namco released a revision that officially featured all three games.
In 2010 Namco Bandai has announced that they are releasing this game on Windows Phone 7 as an Xbox Live game.[50]
Pac-Man's spawned sequels and spin-offs includes only one which was designed by Tōru Iwatani . Some of the follow-ups were not developed by Namco either - including the most significant, Ms. Pac-Man, released in the United States in 1981. Originally called Crazy Otto, this unauthorized hack of Pac-Man was created by General Computer Corporation and sold to Midway without Namco's permission. The game features several changes from the original Pac-Man, including faster gameplay, more mazes, new intermissions, and moving bonus items. Some consider Ms. Pac-Man to be superior to the original, and even the best in the entire series.[13] Namco sued Midway for exceeding their license. Eventually, Bally Midway struck a deal with Namco to officially license Ms. Pac-Man as a sequel.
Following Ms. Pac-Man, Bally Midway released several other unauthorized spin-offs, such as Pac-Man Plus, Jr. Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man and Professor Pac-Man, resulting in Namco severing business relations with Midway.[10][51]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/57/Pacmance1.jpg/220px-Pacmance1.jpg)
Various platform games based on the series have also been released by Namco, such as 1984's Pac-Land and the Pac-Man World series, which features Pac-Man in a 3-D world. More modern versions of the original game have also been developed, such as the multiplayer Pac-Man Vs. for the Nintendo GameCube and Tōru Iwatani-developed Pac-Man Championship Edition and its sequel.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/Pacman10-hp.png/277px-Pacman10-hp.png)
For the weekend of May 21–23, 2010, Google changed the Google logo on its homepage to a Google Doodle of a fully playable version of the game[52] in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the game's release. The game featured the ability to play both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man simultaneously.[53] After finishing the game, the website automatically redirected the user to a search of Pac-Man 30th Anniversary.[54] Companies across the world experienced slight drops in productivity due to the game, though the reported $120 million total loss "spread out across the entire world isn't a huge loss, comparatively speaking". Some organizations even temporarily blocked Google's website from workplace computers on the Friday it was uploaded, particularly where it violated regulations against recreational games.[55][56][57] Because of the popularity of the Pac-Man doodle, Google decided to allow access to the game through a separate web page.[58]
In popular culture
Pac-Man went on to become an icon of video game culture during the 1980s, and a wide variety of Pac-Man merchandise was marketed with the character's image, from t-shirts and toys to hand-held video game imitations and even specially shaped pasta. An animated TV series produced by Hanna–Barbera aired on ABC from 1982 to 1983.[59] The Killer List of Videogames lists Pac-Man as the #1 video game on its "Top 10 Most Popular Video games" list.[60] At one time, a feature film based on the game was also in development.[61][62] In 2010, a computer-generated animated series was reported to be in the works.[63][64]
Guinness World Records has awarded the Pac-Man series eight records in Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008, including First Perfect Pac-Man Game for Billy Mitchell's July 3, 1999 score and "Most Successful Coin-Operated Game". On June 3, 2010, at the NLGD Festival of Games, the game's creator Toru Iwatani officially received the certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having had the most "coin-operated arcade machines" installed world wide: 293,822. The record was set and recognized in 2005 and mentioned in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008, but finally actually awarded in 2010.[21]
Pac-Man has been referenced in numerous other media. In music, the Buckner & Garcia song "Pac-Man Fever" went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.[11] "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a song titled "Pac-Man" that was a parody of the Beatles' "Taxman", in 1981.[65] Hip hop emcee Lil' Flip sampled sounds from the game Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man to make his top-20 single "Game Over". Namco America filed a lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment for unauthorized use of these samples. The suit was eventually settled out of court.[66][67]
The game has also inspired various real-life recreations, involving either real people or robots. One event called Pac-Manhattan set a Guinness World Record for "Largest Pac-Man Game" in 2004.[68][69][70]
The term Pac-Man defense in mergers and acquisitions refers to a hostile takeover target that attempts to reverse the situation and take over its would-be acquirer instead, a reference to Pac-Man's power pellets.[71]
References
- ^ a b Namco Bandai Games Inc. (2005-06-02). "Bandai Namco press release for 25th Anniversary Edition" (in Japanese). bandainamcogames.co.jp/. Archived from the original on 2007-12-30. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
2005年5月22日で生誕25周年を迎えた『パックマン』。 ("Pac-Man celebrates his 25th anniversary on May 22, 2005", seen in image caption)
- ^ a b Tony Long (2007-10-10 (questionable)). "Oct. 10, 1979: Pac-Man Brings Gaming Into Pleistocene Era". Wired.com. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
[Bandai Namco] puts the date at May 22, 1980 and is planning an official 25th anniversary celebration next year.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ Year 1980 shown on North American Pac-Man title screen.
- ^ "Game Board Schematic". Midway Pac-Man Parts and Operating Manual (PDF). Chicago, Illinois: Midway Games. 1980. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help)[dead link] - ^ Nitsche, Michael (2009-03-31). "Games and Rules". Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-262-14101-9.
[...] they would not realize the fundamental logical difference between a version of Pac-Man (Iwatani 1980) running on the original Z80 [...]
- ^ http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2010/05/22/Pac-Man-still-going-strong-at-30/UPI-74821274544243/
- ^ http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/10/dayintech_1010
- ^ http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/pacnroll/review.html?tag=rvwBody
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=to5zEwOC9BcC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=pac-man+synonymous+with+video+games&source=bl&ots=OPOfCdrk7r&sig=jt7D_L19pq9TiXxyqB8RfFUU-CU&hl=en&ei=-B2HTJyxNsGqlAfSwe0m&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCsQ6AEwBTge#v=onepage&q=pac-man%20synonymous%20with%20video%20games&f=false
- ^ a b c Green, Chris (June 17, 2002). "Pac-Man". Salon.com. Retrieved February 12, 2006.
- ^ a b "Pac-Man Fever". Time Magazine. April 5, 1982. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
Columbia Records' Pac-Man Fever ... was No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week.
- ^ a b Goldberg, Marty (2002-01-31). "Pac-Man: The Phenomenon: Part 1". Classicgaming.com. Retrieved 2006-07-31.
- ^ a b Parish, Jeremy (2004). "The Essential 50: Part 10 - Pac Man". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2006-07-31.
- ^ "The Legacy of Pac-Man". Archived from the original on 1998-01-21.
- ^ "Pac Man Bootleg Board Information". Archived from the original on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Davie Brown Entertainment :: Davie Brown Celebrity Index: Mario, Pac-Man Most Appealing Video Game Characters Among Consumers[dead link]
- ^ http://www.thocp.net/software/games/golden_age.htm#PacMan
- ^ Pacman Game; retrieved May 21, 2010. Ch. 4
- ^ http://arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=765&image=2
- ^ "What is Pacman?". Pacman.com. Namco. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
- ^ a b Martijn Müller (June 3, 2010). "Pac-Man wereldrecord beklonken en het hele verhaal" (in Dutch). NG-Gamer.
- ^ The Pac-Man Dossier, Jamey Pittman Ch. 3
- ^ Mateas, Michael (2003). "Expressive AI: Games and Artificial Intelligence" (PDF). Proceedings of Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- ^ http://www.cnbc.com/id/41888021
- ^ The Pac-Man Dossier, Jamey Pittman Ch. 4
- ^ DeMaria, Rusel & Wilson, Johnny L. (2003-12-18). High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Osborne Media. ISBN 0-07-223172-6.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Don Hodges. "Pac-Man's Split-screen level analyzed and fixed". Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ Pac-Man review at OAFE
- ^ a b c d Ramsey, David. "The Perfect Man - How Billy Mitchell became a video-game superstar and achieved Pac-Man bliss." Oxford American, issue 53. Spring 2006.
- ^ "Pac-Man at the Twin Galaxies Official Scoreboard". Twin Galaxies. Archived from the original on May 23, 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-22.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Twin Galaxies Announces New All Time Pac-Man Champion, Twin Galaxies, September 11, 2009
- ^ "Top 25 Smartest Moves in Gaming". Gamespy.com. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ Kohler, Chris (2005). Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. Brady Games. ISBN 0-7440-0424-1.
- ^ "Daijisen Dictionary entry for ぱくぱく[[Category:Articles containing Japanese-language text]] (paku-paku), in Japanese". Retrieved 2007-01-27.
{{cite web}}
: URL–wikilink conflict (help) - ^ a b Lammers, Susan M. (1986). Programmers at Work: Interviews. New York: Microsoft Press. p. 266. ISBN 0-914845-71-3.
- ^ Kohler, Chris. "Q&A: Pac-Man Creator Reflects on 30 Years of Dot-Eating". Wired. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
- ^ Kent, Steve. Ultimate History of Video Games, p.142
- ^ Bowen, Kevin (2001). "Game of the Week: Defender". ClassicGaming.com. Retrieved 2006-08-17.
- ^ "Player 2 Stage 4: Two Superstars". The Dot Eaters. Retrieved 2006-08-17.
- ^ Bowen, Kevin (2001). "Game of the Week: Pac-Man". ClassicGaming.com. Retrieved 2006-08-17.
- ^ The Essential 50 - Pac-Man, 1UP
- ^ Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever, 1UP
- ^ Gaming's Most Important Evolutions, GamesRadar
- ^ David Low (April 2, 2007). "GO3: Kojima Talks Metal Gear History, Future". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- ^ Brian Ashcraft (July 16, 2009). "Grand Theft Auto And Pac-Man? "The Same"". Retrieved 2011-03-08.
- ^ "Creating a World of Clones". Philadelphia Inquirer. October 9. p. 16.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
and|year=
/|date=
mismatch (help) - ^ Thompson, Adam (Fall). "The King of Video Games is a Woman". Creative Computing Video and Arcade Games. 1 (2): 65.
{{cite journal}}
: Check date values in:|date=
and|year=
/|date=
mismatch (help) - ^ Ratcliff, Matthew (August). "Classic Cartridges II". Antic. 7 (4): 24.
{{cite journal}}
: Check date values in:|date=
and|year=
/|date=
mismatch (help) - ^ Nguyen, Vincent (28 May 2008). "First LIVE images and videos of fullscreen Android demos!". Retrieved 2008-07-05.
- ^ "A quick look at some of the new WP7 games from Namco". BestWP7Games. 9 November 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ "Ms. Pac-Man". Killer List of Videogames. Retrieved 2006-07-31.
- ^ "Google gets Pac-Man fever". cnet. May 21, 2010.
- ^ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20005528-52.html
- ^ "'Insert Coin': Google Doodle Celebrates Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary". ABC. ABC. 2010-05-21. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ http://technology.canoe.ca/2010/05/21/14037951.html
- ^ http://www.inquisitr.com/73441/google-pac-man-insert-coin/
- ^ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20005622-52.html
- ^ Google Pac-Man
- ^ "The Pac-Page (including database of Pac-Man merchandise and TV show reference)". Retrieved 2008-10-24.
- ^ McLemore, Greg. "The Top Coin-Operated Videogames of All Times". Killer List of Videogames. Archived from the original on July 17, 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-22.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Crystal Sky, Namco & Gaga are game again". Crystalsky.com. Retrieved on 11 August 2008.
- ^ Jaafar, Ali (19 May 2008) "Crystal Sky signs $200 million deal". Variety.com. Retrieved on 4 September 2008.
- ^ White, Cindy. (17 June 2010) "E3 2010: Pac-Man Back on TV?". IGN.com. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.
- ^ Morris, Chris. (17 June 2010) "Pac-Man chomps at 3D TV. Variety.com. Retrieved on 7 July 2010.
- ^ Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes #4, a Demento Society members-only compilation from 1994, contains the demo. It was never commercially recorded or released.
- ^ Simon Carless, "Namco, Sony Music Settle Over Pac-Man Samples", Gamasutra, Aug. 29, 2005.
- ^ Marcus Lai, "Namco and Sony settle Pac-Man lawsuit", Punch Jump, Aug. 29, 2005.
- ^ "About Pac-Manhattan". Pac-Manhattan. 2004. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
- ^ "Roomba Pac-Man Web Site". Retrieved 2009-10-10.
- ^ Lau, Dominic. "Pacman in Vancouver". SFU Computing Science. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
- ^ "Origins of the 'Pac-Man' Defense". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
Further reading
- Trueman, Doug (November 10, 1999). "The History of Pac-Man". GameSpot. Comprehensive coverage on the history of the entire series up through 1999.
- Müller, Martijn (June 3, 2010). "Tōru Iwatani on how Pac-Man came to be". NG-Gamer.
- Morris, Chris (May 10, 2005). "Pac Man Turns 25". CNN Money.
- Vargas, Jose Antonio (June 22, 2005). "Still Love at First Bite: At 25, Pac-Man Remains a Hot Pursuit". The Washington Post.
- Hirschfeld, Tom. How to Master the Video Games, Bantam Books, 1981. ISBN 0-553-20164-6 Arcade strategy guide to several games including incarnations of Pac-Man. Includes hand drawings of some of the common patterns for use in the arcade Pac-Man. 1982 edition ISBN 0-553-20195 covers home versions.
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