التخطي إلى المحتوى الرئيسي

Flashback Friday: Pac-Man turns 35 years old

On May 22, 1980, Namco released a game that would end up changing the world of pop culture, and its titular character is still with us today.

The news that today marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Pac-Man to Japanese arcades serves to me as a reminder of two things. The first is just how far video games have come. The second being just how old I’m getting as I remember playing this game in arcades, grocery stores, pizza parlors and anywhere else they could cram in an arcade cabinet.

Pac-Man was far from the first video game, and it wasn’t even the first to enter pop culture – I’d say that credit went more to Space Invaders – but it is the first I can remember having a hit song written about it.

Hey, I didn’t say it was a “good song,” I just said it was a “hit song.” It peaked at number nine on the Top 10 songs in March 1982, and you couldn’t escape it. To be fair, it was one song off a concept album by Buckner & Garcia that was completely based on video games including Centipede, Defender and more.

Pac-Man entered the pop culture zeitgeist unlike anything in video games to that point. There was a Saturday morning cartoon, cereal, toys, clothing and more. Basically if they could put Pac-Man on a product, they did so, and it sold in droves.

So while it may be cute to look back on Pac-Man now and think of how it pales in comparison to the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, just remember it did help at least bring video games to the masses.

Happy birthday, Pac-Man. You don’t look like you’ve aged a day.



from TechnoBuffalo http://ift.tt/1FFONKF
التسميات:

تعليقات

إرسال تعليق

المشاركات الشائعة من هذه المدونة

Exec behind “Next Big Thing” campaign has departed Samsung

Samsung Mobile CMO, Todd Pendleton, has reportedly departed the company, according to CNET . Pendleton is credited with creating Samsung’s famous “Next Big Thing” campaign, which took aim at the company’s rivals while highlighting the benefits of its own mobile lineup. The ads were smart, terse, and ultimately helped raise the awareness of Samsung’s brand as a major smartphone maker here in the U.S. It’s unclear why Pendleton left, but it’s being reported that Samsung executives became dissatisfied with the campaign’s recent success, even going so far as auditing the mobile division’s Dallas headquarters. It seems you can only use the Next Big Thing tagline so many times; the commercials have taken a decidedly different turn over the past few months, focusing on design, functionality and features rather than bashing Samsung competitors. The timing, I suppose, seems appropriate given that Samsung has just unveiled two new flagships, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Samsung is clearly
إرسال تعليق
قراءة المزيد

You can now control PowerPoint for iPhone with your Apple Watch

Want to master the CMO role?  Join us for GrowthBeat Summit on June 1-2 in Boston , where we'll discuss how to merge creativity with technology to drive growth. Space is limited and we're limiting attendance to CMOs and top marketing execs. Request your personal invitation here ! Microsoft today updated its PowerPoint for iOS app with a rather bizarre update: remote Apple Watch support. You can download the new version now directly from Apple’s App Store . We say this addition is “bizarre” because, well, why would anyone want to control PowerPoint on their iPhone from their Apple Watch? This PowerPoint app also works on the iPad , and we would argue it makes more sense to control a presentation on your tablet from your wrist than one that is on your smartphone. Here is the changelog so you can try to make sense of it yourself: PowerPoint Remote for Apple Watch: control your slide show on iPhone with a beautifully simple app. Start your slide show and easily navigate to
إرسال تعليق
قراءة المزيد

Pirate Bay co-founder won’t be playing NES in his jail cell

Fredrik Neij, a co-founder of The Pirate Bay, the massive torrent site, was arrested last year for copyright infringement. That’s okay, though. He knew how he was going to spend his free time. Really, it’s not too different from what most gamers might as for: Nintendo. All day, every day. Unfortunately for Neij, prison authorities had some issues with the request. It’s not that video games are against the rules in Swedish prisons, though. That’s actually not too uncommon. To get a piece of hardware into the prison, though, it needs to be opened up so that it can be checked for contraband items (let’s just assume Nintendo-themed shivs) hidden inside. With a DVD player or something like that, it’s not too tough, but the NES uses special security screws to prevent people from tampering with the system or getting at the hardware for piracy purposes. For this reason, the Swedish authorities chose to deny his request. Their explanation is that getting into the console without destroying i
إرسال تعليق
قراءة المزيد