Update

PAC-MAN SET TO TAKE A BITE OF 30TH ANNIVERSARY CAKE

A yellow, dot-munching legend will soon descend upon Swindon, Wiltshire, England, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of all-time video game classic, PAC-MAN. Three unique events have been organised by the Museum of Computing in Swindon to mark this milestone, scheduled to take place on Saturday 22nd May 2010.

People will be able to play variations of PAC-MAN on machines such as the Nintendo Game Cube, the original Game Boy, Sega Master System and many other retro game systems. The museum will also be staging a dedicated exhibition on the history of this social phenomenon, globally synonymous with 80s popular culture.

Museum volunteer Andy Romain said: “PAC-MAN was my first introduction to cocktail cabinet gaming. Sitting with a pint of coke and being drawn into the neon-like maze world of this little yellow iconic character. Then I was thrilled when I was given a Grandstand handheld version of the game.”

The Museum of Computing was the first dedicated computer museum in the UK, opening in 2003. It is a non-for-profit Company limited by guarantee and is run entirely by volunteers. The museum has a collection of over 3000 objects related to the history of computing and holds regular exhibitions and events.

Visit http://museumofcomputing.org.uk/ for more informations about the event.

A Cosmic Pac-Man at Saturn’s Moon Mimas

In a recent flyby it conducted around the Saturnine moon Mimas, the NASA Cassini spacecraft managed to obtain the most detailed, high-resolution images of the space rock ever produced. The recent photos of the surface, combined with complex temperature maps, provide the most comprehensive view to date of the peculiar natural satellite. Researchers investigating the photos were surprised to find an old “friend” on the moon, the famous video game character Pac-Man. It appears to be eating one of its famous dot, in the temperature map that Cassini produced.

Pac-Man Spoof by Remi Gaillard – 2009

Pac-Man Spoof by Remi Gaillard – 2009

We had tears in our eyes… watch this 🙂

 

Crochered Pac-Man and Ghosts Pattern 🙂

Crochered Pac-Man and Ghosts Pattern

Quoting creator Carey Huffman:

Around January this year a friend of mine hinted that he would like me to make him a Pac-Man toy. I ended up designing him not only pacman but also a full set of ghost to go with it. After showing off on Craftster and Flickr many people begged for the pattern (pdf). So here is is at long last the Crocheted Pac-Man brought to you free thanks to the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Featuring: www.tweenbots.com

We love the project, have a look:

tweenbots.com – Robot/People art by Kacie Kinzer:

In New York, we are very occupied with getting from one place to another. I wondered: could a human-like object traverse sidewalks and streets along with us, and in so doing, create a narrative about our relationship to space and our willingness to interact with what we find in it? More importantly, how could our actions be seen within a larger context of human connection that emerges from the complexity of the city itself? To answer these questions, I built robots.

Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.

Featured at gamespy.com

Pac Man Museum opens! 

It’s been 29 years since Pac-Man was unleashed on an unsuspecting world, and pacmanmuseum.com is there to celebrate. The museum opened its virtual doors at pacmanmuseum.com to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Pac-Man! Along with a detailed history of the game and all of its various incarnations, the site includes some interviews with inventor Toru Iwatani and a growing collection of vintage Pac-Man collectibles. And, to get you in the mood, some Pac Man factoids!

When 27 year old Japanese Games designer Toru Iwatani hungrily stared into his pizza box, he removed a slice of pizza, and the idea for Pac Man, one of the greatest arcade games ever, was born. Pac-Man was first released in Japan on May 22, 1980 and soon became a household name. The game immediately captured the hearts and imaginations of the public like no other game before it, and few since. It is still regarded as the hallmark of the ‘golden age’ of video games.

Developed by Namco Ltd, the original Japanese release was called “Puckman” but that name was considered vulnerable to vandalism (imagine scratching off part of the letter ‘P’) and so was changed to ‘Pac-Man’. The name is derived from the Japanese slang term ‘paku-paku’, which describes the motion of the mouth opening and closing during eating and translates in English as ‘to eat’.

Thanks to jrhunt for promoting the museum.

Woman and Pac-Man… 🙂

Created by Lady Harvatine, the stuffed arcade machine captures the spirit of some of my fondest arcade memories. Inspired by thes excellent papercraft arcade creations (read news bellow), she set off to create her own unique spin on the arcade classic. The centerpiece of the squishy system has to be the piece of retro Pac-Man fabric that a friend of hers scrounged up for the screen.

Paper Arcade at wayoftherodent.com

Paper Arcade – excellent papercraft arcade creations

At  wayoftherodent.com you find a nice collection of papercraft arcade cabins. Print out the – if you will – paper-engineered blueprints (should scale to fit any paper size* see page for more help on printing). Cut, fold, make, be proud of.

Featured at playhd.com

 El museo del mítico Pac Man abre sus puertas

Y lo mejor de todo que para visitarlo no se tienen que mover de su PC! Es un museo virtual, una página web dedicada al ya mítico personaje de los VideoJuegos, el Sr. Pac Man. Hace ya 29 años que este simpático amiguito de pixels fue creado, por un Japones en aquel entonces de 27 años, Toru Iwatani.

Sabe como se le ocurrio la idea? Simple… estaba muerto de hambre, entre sus largas sesiones de diseño de juegos, se pidio una pizza, agarro el primer pedazo, y ahi quedo la forma del Pac Man en, una pizza incompleta, sin un triangulo, que ya se lo habia comido. De ahi surgió un ícono cultural de los 80.

En el sitio hay de todo sobre el Pac Man, coleccionables, entrevistas al creador, artículos a la venta en E-bay, maquinitas originales, disfrazes, en fin, todo lo que se les pueda ocurrir. Para explorarlo con tiempo, el museo del Pac Man en la web.

Featured at arcadeheroes.com

The Museum is featured at arcadeheroes.com!

Take a stroll through the virtual Pac-Man museum

Not many video games have enough material created around them to garner the attention needed for a museum type display but Pac Man certainly has and that has led to the creation of an online Pac-Man museum. The site is not endorsed by Namco but if anyone would ever put an actual Pac-Man exhibit to go to, the person who runs this site would be the one to talk to about it. They look at the many Pac-Man collectibles that you can find out there, cover the game’s history and provide a great source for buying everything Pac-Man related. check it out at the link below.

Thanks to Shaggy for promoting the museum!