Pac Man was reborn on Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox Live online service on Wednesday as a final tribute for designer Toru Iwatani, who is retiring from the $30 billion games industry he helped ignite.
The new game, “Pac Man Championship Edition,” is the second and final version Iwatani personally designed, and was created for the final round of the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship in New York, when nine finalists played it for the first time.
Iwatani, 52, an employee of Japan’s Namco Bandai Holdings, said in an interview he will retire from active duty at Namco and spend more time teaching the next generation of game designers at Tokyo Polytechnic University.
Interesting contradiction in the article – when Iwatani, who teaches game designers, says the future of the games industry lies not with professional creators, but outsiders.
Wakka, wakka, wakka, wakka….
J/P=?
“Interesting contradiction in the article – when Iwatani, who teaches game designers, says the future of the games industry lies not with professional creators, but outsiders.”
And that is true, todays “professional” game designers do nothing but copy each other.
I don’t see the contradiction. Because he worked for the industry, he can’t say where he feels the future lies? or because he’s teaching game designers? Couldn’t someone be taught game design and still be an ‘outsider’?
On the other hand, the last line of Angel’s comment rings true.
#2 – That’s not fair.
The talent is ruled by sales and marketing teams, and as you likely know, sales and marketing teams are never experts in anything except the abstract concept of moving widgets.
I think the actual designers would create very inventive titles. But there is another question. Do consumers have more in common with the business managers or the creative talent? I think consumers, like managers, avoid “different, unique, and innovative” most of the time.
A timeless game. And they’re still making money at it! My daughter bought me a “joystick” that contains Ms. Pacman and four other games. It hooks up to the TV with standard YWR cables. Still fun after all these years.
The man is a genius at game design, sorry to see him retire.
#4
Lately every game is nothing but “It’s like XXX game but with this XXX feature!”
One example to that was the release of mario 64 years ago, after that all the games became “It’s like Mario 64 but with guns!”
The same thing applies to “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time” after it, dozens of Playstation clones came out and all we heard was “It’s like Zelda but with guns!”
Think of ALL of the FPS games that are nothing but the same crap over and over, specially with the overused WWII theme.
It took some students to actually make something new such as that puzzle game for Half life with all those portals.
Let’s call a spade-a-spade: The gaming industry sucks.
Further, this story shows why the industry sucks and why the Wii is winning: Here you have a HD system with the latest technology, but what are we playing on it? Pac Man. How are we marketing it? With a Pac Man tournament?
Creative thought in the gaming industry is only applied to refining existing problem (compare WoW to other MMOs for an example of this), it is not applied to creating new types of games… outside of Nintendo.
#6 and #7 – I agree… I’m just focusing the blame on the cowards who control the money and not the designers who hate the state of gaming as much as you do.
#8
There’s way too many gamers who think that just because a game doesn’t require a $300 video card + 1GB of RAM then the game is not worth playing.
Funny thing is, the majority of the gamers who think that way are big fans of racing games.
#9 – Racing games?
Okay… I trust your insight into sexual deviency… But I’m less convinced that you have your finger on the pulse of gamers.
I am a $500 video card coveting gamer who needs all the latest iron and enough RAM to choke a mule… and while I’ll play a racing game sometimes, I’d much rather play Counter-Strike, FEAR, STALKER, Q4, and the like… Or GTA:SA… Or Civ 3 or 4 (which doesn’t really demand all that hardware) or EvE (the finest MMO around)… but the LAN party crowd and hardcore gaming communities I work with are not racing game fans. That’s really a nche market of nerds who find left turns challenging and wanna wear shirts with Gatorade and Tide logos all over them.
Although, I frequently drag out older games. I think my all time favorite game is oddly enough, a car game… Interstate 76 is still one of the best games ever made, though it isn’t exactly a racing game.
#10, OFTLO, Although, I frequently drag out older games
I do so also, but I’ll bet I’m the only poster here who likes adventure games by oldies like Sierra, Cyan, etc.. Negative comments about this hobby are not required — I know I’m in the absolute minority, thank you. Guess I’m more prone to thinking and logic games than shoot-em-ups. OTOH, I’ve still an Atari 2600 and a Colecovision, but I’d really like to try the Wii. Now that looks like a whole new deal. Comments about that experience are most welcome.
11,
YOU ARE NOT…
I would rather play MOO2, then most of the current space games.
I would love IF, Frontier Elite was RE-released with better graphics.
I’d love to see an update to interstate 76 and 82.
Racing destruction, by ECA was cool..
The chess game Archin, would be nice, as you Fought for the square.
NEW graphics DONT make the game for me. IT’s the GAME, the Plot, the idea, the concept, the AI…Graphics are LAST on my list.
How many of you were in your 30’s when the DOOM and DOOM clones came out??
How many are OLd enough to remmeber when a Game programmer COULD make money, insted of the distributour..
#12, ECA, two of my old favorite adventures are “Mission Critical” starring Michael Dorn (Worf on “Star Trek, The Next Generation”) with a superb mind-blowing ending, and Lucas Arts’ “The Dig” voiced by Robert Patrick (the T-1000 from Terminator 2). Too many hours of pure fun. If you like great stories and thinking games, these two are highly recommended and they still play on today’s high-end machines (with a little work). With some luck you could probably find both for free.
Mission Critical: http://tinyurl.com/2owq9l
The Dig: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dig
the person who NEEDS and WANTs the NEWEST fastest..
Are generally those Young and Rich(expendable money)…
I think Alot of us Older players have learned our lessons about tech.
If you wait…
something Better WILL come out.
something BIGGEr will come out
Something cheaper WILL come out
The price will go down.
You MIGHT get a better driver.
You WONT deal with Beta hardware/software.
You WONT buy a Lemon if you Wait 6 months THEN evaluate the product in the wild…
NEW isnt Always BETTER… Such as the NEW physics chipset….If its not included in the game, the Chipset is worthless.
most of us have gone thru this..
We all did it…
we finally buy that nice Card at a decent price, and the next day…A better, bigger, faster card comes out, with beta drivers that dont WORK..
I think the video indusrty is going the wrong way…
MORE ram(2 types, 1 for game play, 1 for cache)
Cache to the CARD not the system.
Install the driver ON the card for all video play back.
Bandpass, BANDPASS..forget 16 piplines, I want 64/128…
COOL down that chip…Split the processing among Multiple chips.
computers are to hot already…I DONT need to heat my home with them.
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Hi,
The silver Swan, who living had no Note,
when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
thus sang her first and last, and sang no more. I have tried the fun of helikopter rundflüge and you can also enjoy it in the same manner as I have enjoyd it.
Thanks.