Vox Hunt: My Latest Discovery
Show us your latest discovery.
When Microsoft announced Pac-Man Championship Edition earlier this week, the general reaction was a shrug of the shoulder and a mental play of the Price is Right failure sound. The announcement, heralded by Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg as one that would "go down in video game history," is mostly to blame for the tepid reaction and half the reason why I didn't pay attention to it in the first place. The second of which we'll get to later.
Now, when I said that I was in exile in Bakersfield, I meant it. While it's my job to stay on top of the world of gaming news, I have been on something of a physical and mental vacation for the past month (my first day back with Joystiq was yesterday for those keeping track). So when I heard the news concerning Pac-Man CE, I joined the rest of the collective world in shrugging it off. But now that I'm back, I'm hoping to not be the only person who has made a huge mistake.
For starters -- and this is the second half to the initial equation -- calling it a "champion edition" of Pac-Man is a misnomer and a real bad move on Microsoft's part. A better name for it would have been Pac-Man 2. Not Pac-Man Again or Pac-Man: Retro Evolved, but a name that gets the point across that Pac-Man: CE is the first true sequel to the game since Ms. Pac-Man made the original look like total garbage.
Where history is due, however, isn't simply in the first new Pac-Man levels designed by Toru Iwatani in over 25 years, but in that Pac-Man: Championship Edition is his swan song as well. His career began and has now ended with one of, if not the most important video game in history. Super Mario Bros may give it a run for its money in that department, but Miyamoto never caused a national coin shortage or any other mildly amusing disasters.
Pac-Man VS was a noteworthy stopgap, but the barrier of entry (thanks, connectivity) made it largely irrelevant. While Pac-Man Championship Edition may be the most ill conceived name ever, it has, even after 25 years, made eating dots both addicting and relevant once again.
Now, when I said that I was in exile in Bakersfield, I meant it. While it's my job to stay on top of the world of gaming news, I have been on something of a physical and mental vacation for the past month (my first day back with Joystiq was yesterday for those keeping track). So when I heard the news concerning Pac-Man CE, I joined the rest of the collective world in shrugging it off. But now that I'm back, I'm hoping to not be the only person who has made a huge mistake.
For starters -- and this is the second half to the initial equation -- calling it a "champion edition" of Pac-Man is a misnomer and a real bad move on Microsoft's part. A better name for it would have been Pac-Man 2. Not Pac-Man Again or Pac-Man: Retro Evolved, but a name that gets the point across that Pac-Man: CE is the first true sequel to the game since Ms. Pac-Man made the original look like total garbage.
Where history is due, however, isn't simply in the first new Pac-Man levels designed by Toru Iwatani in over 25 years, but in that Pac-Man: Championship Edition is his swan song as well. His career began and has now ended with one of, if not the most important video game in history. Super Mario Bros may give it a run for its money in that department, but Miyamoto never caused a national coin shortage or any other mildly amusing disasters.
Pac-Man VS was a noteworthy stopgap, but the barrier of entry (thanks, connectivity) made it largely irrelevant. While Pac-Man Championship Edition may be the most ill conceived name ever, it has, even after 25 years, made eating dots both addicting and relevant once again.
Comments
I got this when it first came out and racked up 200,000 and stopped playing up until the beginning of October. A buddy of mine got it an we've been going back and forth on high scores ever since. I have to admit, I'm really into now and just recently put it down in favor of Virtua Fighter 5. Now I can't play that because my 360's disc tray stopped working. At least I can get some more Pac-Man in before I have to ship it out.