Pac-Man Is Reborn on Xbox Live Arcade

The year was 1981: Big hair, high-waisted jeans and popped-up collars were popular fashions, “Bette Davis Eyes” topped the charts, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” hit theaters, and everyone was saving up quarters to play the latest video games. Pac-Man was introduced to arcades around the world and would soon become a pop-culture phenomenon.Namco Game designer Toru Iwatani authored the game 26 years ago, and Microsoft is reviving interest in the little yellow man with his “wakka, wakka, wakka” sounds through Namco Bandai Games’ “Pac-Man Championship Edition.” The game features the first new Pac-Man mazes in more than 26 years. The companies amped up the hype for the new version in New York City at the first-ever Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship earlier this week.

Iwatani said he is deeply honored that people view Pac-Man as his lasting legacy and is excited about the new championship edition. “It gives me great joy to know that my final contributions in my corporate career were to crown the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Champion and to leave the world with an amazing new ‘Pac-Man’ game for generations to enjoy,” Iwatani, who is currently a professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University, said in a statement.

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Add comment June 6th, 2007