The pellet-muching icon who helped transform gaming into a pop-culture juggernaut is gobbling his way towards middle age. Pac-Man turns 35 today. First released in Japan on May 22, 1980, the coin-op classic quickly became a phenomenon, raking in over $1 billion worth of quarters over the decade. He appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. He's adorned cereal boxes, starred in a Saturday morning cartoon, and appeared on virtually every gaming platform to have ever been released. Credit Pac-Man 's popularity to great timing, simple gameplay, and instantly recognizable graphics, but according to creator Toru Iwatani, Pac-Man 's widespread appeal was entirely by design. “The reason I created Pac-Man was because we wanted to attract female gamers,” he said at a 2010 panel on the game. “Back then, there were no home games. People had to go to the arcade center to play games. That was a playground for boys. It was dirty and smelly. So we w...
Comments
Post a Comment