Happy Belated Birthday Pac-Man

Posted on May 11, 2005

Sorry Pac-Man. Your 25th birthday was yesterday and we missed it. But here's hoping your birthday included lots of power pellets and a visit from Ms. Pac Man. And we hope Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde were not around. CNN reports on Pac-Man's long career that keeps on going:

Arguably the most influential game in the industry's history (with Pong the only other real contender), Pac Man has made more than $100 million dollars one quarter at a time. He's spawned his own line of trading cards, lunch boxes, board games, breakfast cereals and been the inspiration for a Top 40 hit (Buckner & Garcia's "Pac Man Fever" hit number 9 on Billboard's charts in 1982).

This year, Pac Man turns 25 -- but age isn't slowing the little guy down. 1999's "Pac Man World" and 2002's "Pac Man World 2" both sold over a million copies. And Namco has already announced four Pac Man themed games this year - and versions for Sony's PSP will be announced in the near future. TV Plug & Play game collections featuring Pac Man remain hot sellers. And the rise in cell phone gaming has opened up another opportunity for the original arcade game.

We expect Pac-Man will be just as popular 50 years from now. It is still played to do and it is such an iconic game from the arcade era that it will be remembered for a very long time.

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