(Credit:
Roomba Pac-Man)
Students at Colorado University have reprogrammed five Roomba vacuum-cleaning robots to recreate the classic 1980s arcade game Pac-Man.
The machines move around a virtual maze, indicated by red tape on the floor, as the four ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde chase the Pac-Man Roomba as it vacuums up paper dots.
The Pac-Man Roomba is joystick-controlled by a user, but the ghosts navigate autonomously. They will try to chase Pac-Man until it sucks up a power pellet, which puts them into evade mode.
The Roombas are wirelessly linked to a laptop that processes their locations through an overhead camera positioning system.
The developers created Roomba Pac-Man to demonstrate their unmanned aerial guidance system software.
But this isn't the first time Roomba has been reprogrammed to recreate a game from yesteryear. The plucky puck-shaped robot has dodged Texas cars while reliving the adventures of Frogger.
Runte's take on real-world Pac-Man. The photographer designed and made the costumes for the series.
(Credit: Patrick Runte)While we wait for the big-screen adaptation of Halo to hopefully come out in the next couple of years, we must wonder about the real-life looks video games of yore may have taken. Modern games already look like awesome high-definition movies, but what about their heavily pixelated predecessors?
German photographer Patrick Runte has taken on the idea and has come up with some fairly funny recreations of old 4-bit video games as they would have looked in real life. The games adapted include Tetris, Pac-Man, and of course Pong. He even goes off the grid just a tad to bring us a pinball recreation. Rad.
Runte's a good photographer and there are many more (not so geeky) images on his site. In the meantime, check out a couple more of his game shots after the jump.
Runte's friends dress in costume to represent Pong in the real world.
(Credit: Patrick Runte)... Read more
(Credit:
Hammacher Schlemmer)
Hailed as the pinnacle of 1980s arcade gaming, Hammacher Schlemmer's 150 Classic Game Tabletop Arcade is a must-have for arcade junkies and the closest you can get away without carting home the real McCoy. Like its genuine counterparts, the authentic-looking console has an eight-way joystick and oversized button controls to re-create that nostalgic play and feel.
Best of all, it offers 150 vintage games, including Pac-Man, out-of-the-box, rendered on a 19-inch LCD encased in a space-saving chassis. Audio fidelity-wise, the $2,496 system is loaded with 2.1 speakers complete with dedicated subwoofer. Powered by a streamlined HP computer, it will also readily support PC-based games and playback music via a preloaded Jukebox software.
International shipping is available. However, this is estimated at close to $400 each unit. Ouch!
(Source: Crave Asia)
Only two new games were released today for the Virtual Console. A puzzler from a familiar face and a side-scrolling beat-em-up game.
- Pac-Attack (1993, Super Nintendo, 800 Wii points)--See Pac-Man like you've never seen him before in Pac-Attack. One of the first games to remove Pac-Man from his white-dot labyrinth dwelling, Pac-Attack had gamers using the hero in a puzzle game in which you must gobble up ghosts to progress.
- Riot Zone (1992, TurboGrafx 16, 800 Wii points)--What seems like it was torn out of a page from the Double Dragon series, Riot Zone has you beating up goons from an evil crime organization. Choose to play as either Tony or Hawk (I'm not joking) in this side-scrolling fighting game.
(Credit:
Specimen Products)
Being of a certain vintage, we still have a soft spot for particular arcade classics from the '70s. (It doesn't hurt when they come with their own draft on tap.) So even though we're not into the whole guitar thing, we can't help but appreciate this one.
The "Pac-Man Guitar" is a 25.5-inch scale version of everyone's favorite insatiable yellow disc. And custom shop Specimen Products went well beyond the novelty factor, using "ebony, basswood, and maple with mother of pearl accents" to accompany the lacquer finish, according to Technabob.
As if all that weren't enough already, it has a dozen blinking lights that are controlled by a switch in the eyeball. We knew there was a reason we didn't throw away the belt.
"You have been attacked by a cyan ghost! You pass out and awake minutes later back where you began."
You might not remember it this way, but you--and probably everyone you know--has almost certainly had this experience, though in a different manifestation.
It's Pac-Man. Except instead of controlling your little yellow iconic character around a maze of dots and colored ghosts, this is Pac-Txt, a text version of the famous video game that recalls the old glory days of Infocom games like Zork and Leather Goddesses of Phobos.
A hilarious blend of 'Pac-Man' and 'Zork,' 'Pac-Txt' is an interactive fiction version of the iconic classic video game.
(Credit: Namco Bandai)I found the site after stopping in on one of my favorite link blogs, Waxy.org/links, and I just had to try it.
The truth is, I was never much good at the Infocom games, and that proved to be the case here, as well. I stumbled through a few moves before I found myself staring at the result that started this story off. Oof. One life gone and very little to show for it.
But, come on. Who could resist a notion as fantastic as Pac-Txt?
I wondered what the genesis of this had been, and lo and behold, the site told me:
"I had just got back from a party where the concept of a Pac-Man + Zork hybrid came up as a joke. So, being 2am with a little alcohol in my system, I thought it'd be funny to code it up."
And code it up, he or she did. And it's here for our playing pleasure.
I recommend having a little patience, though. It may be some time before you find a way to do anything besides smack into walls or get eaten by abstract ghost characters.
(Credit:
Candace Lombardi/CNET News.com)
Namco attached phones to arcade games to show off mobile gaming.
(Credit: Candace Lombardi/CNET News.com)NEW YORK--It seems people like any excuse to play any video game.
While Halo III and Guitar Hero may be drawing a crowd at DigitalLife 2007, so were classics like Ms. Pac-man.
Namco had a large space at DigitalLife to remind gamers that video games of the '80s are now available for their phone.
Namco offers games like Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Mr. Do, Popeye, Snoopy and the Flying Ace, Galaga and even board games like Scene It?.
The games are available, regardless of your carrier, for the Palm OS, Windows Mobile phones, the iPod and the Sidekick, as well as others.
To show this off, the company had working cell phones attached to arcade machines for the corresponding game.
Do you think people would really flock to play games they've played hundreds of times before on a large screen, just to try it on a cell phone?
Apparently, lots of people love just that.
People did not seem to mind at all that they were standing at an arcade machine, yet playing on a 2-inch screen.
The Namco area has been drawing a crowd for two days, which I can only imagine will grow as the show is opened to the public.
Imagine you have a time machine, a pocket full of quarters and a Walkman with Siouxsie and Smiths cassettes (OK, you can bring your own). Your mission is to travel back to the '80s, the golden age of arcade games, and play your favorite one.
Which would you pick?
New Pac-Man editon
Would you sidle up to Asteroids, Frogger, Centipede, Donkey Kong? ... Need to jog your memory? Check out this News.com gallery of the classic games of the 1980s.
Microsoft, together with Namco Bandai Games America, on Tuesday announced a new version of the classic arcade Pac-Man at the Pac-Man World Championships in New York's Times Square. Pac-Man Championship Edition will have the first new mazes in 26 years. The new title is set to be available Wednesday morning on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft points.
Finalists Robert Glashuettner from Austria (age 28) and Carlos Romero from Mexico (age 27) went head to head on the new version, in lieu of the classic '80s title. Both were competing for the chance to win 100,000 Microsoft points (valued at about $1,250), a special Pac-Man edition of the Xbox 360, and free Quizno's sandwiches for the next 26 years. Romero, who has been playing video games since age 6, won the face-off, beating Glashuettner 22,160 to 17,730. As a runner-up, Glashuettner nets 40,000 Microsoft points, which is valued at about $500.
Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani also announced that he is retiring from game development to teach at Tokyo Polytechnic University. He had previously taught character design studies at the University of Arts in Osaka.
CNET News.com's Caroline McCarthy contributed to this report.
Here I am modeling my new Pac-Man belt.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)While I was at the three-day WonderCon convention in San Francisco this past weekend, not only did I get an eyeful of loads of comics books and celebrities like the original Lois Lane, Noel Neill; Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson; and Chase Masterson (Leeta from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). I also got some great schwag.
Standing toward the back of the hall at Moscone South was what appeared to be a majestic Borg cube-esque structure of T-shirts, hoodies and the like. It was there that I not only found a classic Amazing Spidey shirt, but a Namco Pac-Man belt.
The buckle features a yellow Pac-Man, while the cloth belt has Blinkey, Pinkey, Inkey and the rest of the ghost gang. No word yet on a Ms. Pac-Man belt, which would be equally rad. If you aren't going to a comic book convention any time soon, but are jonesing for what I've decided is the retro belt of the season, check out this site, where the belt sells for $10.
(Credit:
James Martin/CNET Networks)
When I wasn't shopping for geek-related apparal, I was talking about technology and modern-day comics with comic book artists such as Phil Jimenez of DC/Marvel comics, writers like Judd Winick of DC Comics, and Dan Vado, owner of SLG publishing.
