Microsoft Brings New Pac-Man to Xbox 360

SEATTLE (AP) -- Get those ghosts!

Pac-Man, the 1980s arcade game sensation, now can be played on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 home console. Blinky, Clyde and other Pac-Man hallmarks are there, but this is an updated version -- made by Pac-Man's original creator, Toru Iwatani.

Iwatani designed the revamped "Championship Edition," which was unveiled at the Pac-Man World Championship in New York on Tuesday. Iwatani, who is now a video game professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University, also crowned the winner of the Microsoft-sponsored competition, Carlos Daniel Borrego from Pachuca, Mexico.

The Pac-Man makeover includes mazes that change shape as the game is played, new soundtracks and high-definition graphics, though the game retains the kitschy, arcade-inspired look. There are six new timed game modes, including the "Manhattan" mode, inspired by New York streets.

It appears the new Pac-Man marked Iwatani's last hurrah in the video game business.

"It gives me great joy to know that my final contributions in my corporate career were to crown the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Champion and to leave the world with an amazing new 'Pac-Man' game for generations to enjoy," the game maker said in a statement.

Nostalgia-seekers can buy and download the game from the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft points, or about $10. Enthusiasts partial to Pac-Man's red-bowed, lipsticked girlfriend will have to settle for a more traditional-looking version of the Ms. Pac-Man game, released to the Xbox Live Arcade in January.

On the Net:

http://www.xbox.com/livearcade

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