Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Retro
Pac-Man debuted in Japanese arcades 35 years ago today
Bandai Namco and Pac-Man have a lot to celebrate thanks to today’s big anniversary, but after the year he’s had, everyone’s favorite ghost-chomper isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
On May 22, 1980, exactly 35 years ago, “Puck Man” made its debut in Japanese arcades. The game and its title character would go on adopt the much better known moniker of Pac-Man a few months later because executive at Midway, its American distributor, feared that unruly teenagers would attempt to vandalize the machines. And just like that, an icon was born.
Pac-Man made the most of its simple “eat dots/avoid ghosts” gameplay model, spawning dozens of sequels, spinoffs, and successors. And its unique mazelike structure shows up again and again in games like Bomberman, The Legend of Zelda, and many others. Pac-Man has appeared on numerous “Best Games of All-Time” lists and was selected as a finalist for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s inaugural class.
“From arcades and consoles to digital and mobile, Pac-Man has remained a fixture in our gaming lives. The endless appeal of the series’ simple but masterful design after all this time is nothing short of remarkable,” said Jeferson Valadares, the General Manager at Bandai Namco America. “But more than anything else, this is an anniversary for the fans. If you treasure any fond Pac-Man memories of your own from the past 35 years, we hope you share them with someone special today and make some new ones together.”
Bandai Namco is hosting a celebration for their most famous creation today at Level 257, a Pac-Man-themed restaurant in Schaumburg, Illinois. Pac-Man’s creator, Professor Toru Iwatani, will be on hand to present the birthday cake and I’m sure “Pac Man Fever” will be playing on a continuous loop. Mobile gamers who own Pac-Man on their iOS device will also receive a free update today that adds a “classic-inspired user interface” to the game.
Aside from starring in one of the most beloved video games of all time, Pac-Man manages to keep himself busy with a variety of side projects. Earlier this year, Bud Light borrowed the game’s familiar maze to create a “Real Life Pac-Man” commercial for Super Bowl XLIX. More recently, Google also dropped Pac-Man into the real world by offering a playable Pac-Man Street View in Google Maps. And last year the mascot got the chance to duke it out with Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man in Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and 3DS, with his very own Amiibo figure scheduled for release next week.
Let’s hope there’s also some pizza at that Pac-Man anniversary celebration.
ESPN SportsNation prepares for Pacquiao vs Mayweather with Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Michelle Beadle is a host of ESPN’s SportsNation, but she is woefully unprepared for this Saturday’s big boxing bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Thankfully, her co-hosts, Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley, have the perfect solution to get her in fighting shape: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
While Kellerman and Wiley don’t stick a controller in her hands and force her to fight Kid Dynamite himself, they do drop Beadle inside for an amusing homage to Nintendo’s classic boxing game. It’s bizarre, but then again, so is Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
As of this writing, Mayweather is listed as a 2:1 favorite versus Pacquiao. Those aren’t terrible odds, but Pacquiao might have better luck taking on Tyson’s NES doppelganger. After all, somebody beat him blindfolded not too long ago.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
The Strong announces finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015
The Strong National Museum of Play and the International Center for the History of Electronic Games have announced the finalists for the inaugural class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame. More than a dozen classic games passed this first test on their way to video game immortality, which were selected from thousands of nominations that poured in from gamers all across the world. Nominations for the Class of 2015 were accepted from February 17 through March 31, but in case you missed out, the Hall of Fame is already accepting games for next year’s class.
This year’s inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame will be chosen from the finalist pool by an “international selection committee” made up of journalists, scholars, and other individuals. The inaugural class will be announced on June 4 at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time) during a ceremony at The Strong.
The finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 include:
- Angry Birds
- Doom
- FIFA International Soccer
- The Legend of Zelda
- Minecraft
- The Oregon Trail
- Pac-Man
- Pokemon Red/Blue
- Pong
- The Sims
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Space Invaders
- Super Mario Bros.
- Tetris
- World of Warcraft
“The 15 finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame span decades, gaming platforms, and geographies… but what they all have in common is their undeniable impact on popular culture and society in general,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, the Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
Inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame will be selected based on the following criteria: “Icon Status,” “Longevity,” “Geographical Reach,” and “Influence.” All 15 finalists certainly qualify, but I know I’ll be rooting for Tetris.
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Retro, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Angry Birds, Doom (1993), Minecraft, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, World Video Game Hall of Fame
Insert Quarter: The PlayStation’s Face Buttons Explained At Last
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Have you ever wondered why PlayStation controllers use X-Circle-Square-Triangle for the face buttons instead of the more traditional B-A-Y-X that Nintendo has employed since the Super NES days or the mirrored A-B-X-Y that Microsoft overlaid on the Xbox controllers? It’s OK, it’s kept me up at night too. Why? Why? Why?
Thankfully, Kill Screen’s David Shimomura went looking for an answer and he found one by talking to Teiyu Goto, the developer who originally designed the PlayStation controller for Sony back in the mid 90s. Goto revealed that he named the face buttons what he did in a nod to symbolism and semiotics. However, American and European players didn’t have the same connection to Goto’s symbols as a Japanese player would and it caused all sorts of friction within Sony:
Goto wanted to be memorable but he also wanted to make sense, at least in his own mind. “I gave each symbol a meaning and a color,” he states in the same interview. “The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink.” So far so good, sort of. The triangle is reminiscent of an arrow or a direction. It has directionality to it and, even though it’s equilateral, it must point somewhere. The square is a little looser but the connection between a page and the square are strong, at least for Goto. One can construe it as a box and use it for inventory or some other kind of menus. But then things got weird.
The full article is available for your perusal at Kill Screen.
This parody is yours… watch 8-Bit Scarface now
First you collect the coins, then you get the power-ups, then you rescue the princess.
The most recent 8-Bit Cinema short features the classic 1983 film Scarface, which starred the once-amazing and now-terrifying Al Pacino as iconic drug lord Tony Montana. Fans of 8-Bit Cinema’s other works will know what to expect… Awesomeness. For everyone else, these shorts retell movies with 8-bit stylized graphics, appealing to both movie people and video game people, as well as lovers of cartoon violence everywhere.
“8-Bit Scarface” is modeled after the 1987 Tradewest game, Double Dragon, a side-scrolling beat ’em up with Tony in place of the Lee twins. Viewers familiar with the live-action Scarface will not be disappointed with the illustrious scenes included in this portrayal.
So say hello to his little friend, as well as the infamous chainsaw scene, and never forget, the world is yours.
Watch this guy beat Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! while blindfolded
Jack Wedge was a man on a mission. During last year’s Awesome Games Done Quick marathon, he watched “Sinister1” attempt to complete Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! while blindfolded. Sadly, after beating the game’s first 13 characters, “Sinister1” was TKOed by Tyson. But his performance inspired Wedge to make his own blindfolded run at Iron Mike and the champ was a bit less invincible this time.
That’s right, it’s all in the video above, but Wedge went 14-0 against the cast of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and emerged victorious with a decision against Tyson. Just beating Tyson at all is a huge accomplishment for most gamers, but doing it while blindfolded? I am just without speech.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
This is Bud Light’s “Real Life Pac-Man” Super Bowl XLIX commercial… and it is awesome
Budweiser isn’t waiting for Super Bowl XLIX to debut the next commercial in their “#UpForWhatever” series… and that’s alright with me. Titled “Real Life Pac-Man,” the commercial hands a giant quarter to a random Bud Light drinker and then drops it (and him) into the coin slot of life-sized simulation of the greatest arcade game of all time. There’s neon aplenty, pulsating techno music, and it looks like a good time was had by all.
I know it’s too early, but I think we may have already found the best commercial from this year’s Super Bowl.
Insert Quarter: A History of Fan-Made Mario Games
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
There’s no reason to hide it, Mario Maker is one of my most anticipated games for 2015. The ability to create my own Mario courses (and play courses created by others) has got me giddy with excitement. Writing for Joystiq, Lawrence Bonk has revealed that he’s just as giddy as I am. He is so giddy that he dove into the shadowy world of unauthorized ROM hacks of Super Mario Bros. and other games in the series. These fan-made creations are sometimes scary, but they’re always interesting:
Of course, long before there were dedicated toolsets, there was the humble game ROM. In addition to allowing people to finally brag about beating Ghosts N’ Goblins, NES game ROMs had/have the added bonus of being fairly easy to manipulate. What better title to screw around with than the original Super Mario Bros.? It didn’t have too many sprites and, oh yeah, there’s that whole “pretty much defined video games for an entire generation” thing.
The full article is available for your perusal at Joystiq.
Posted in Insert Quarter, Retro, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Maker