4/18/2005
Still Gobbling The Ghosts
The world's favourite videogame celebrates it's 25th birthday by becoming the best-selling mobile game.
Today, 25 years after the launch of the original arcade game, PAC-MAN is more popular than ever. Having already generated millions of downloads worldwide, PAC-MAN was 2004's best-selling mobile game on several of the world's leading mobile network operators, including Vodafone in the United Kingdom.
Results from operators throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), showed that the popularity of retro-arcade games on mobile phone handsets is continuing with PAC-MAN leading the way as the overall best-selling game in 2004 on four of the leading mobile carriers. Sales figures show that downloads of PAC-MAN increased on a month by month basis as the mobile games market continued to grow and expand throughout 2004.
PAC-MAN was created by Namco's Toru Iwatani in 1980 as an arcade game. It quickly grew into a global phenomenon with hundreds of thousands of machines appearing in pubs, cinemas and arcades worldwide. In it's initial year of release over 100,000 PAC-MAN arcade cabinets were sold but estimates now place the total number of times PAC-MAN has been played at over ten billion. In the original Japanese arcade version, the Ghosts were called Akabei, Pinky, Aosuke, and Guzuta but in the English language versions they were renamed Binky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde. It took until 1999 for the perfect game of PAC-MAN to be played. Florida resident Billy Mitchell cleared every screen, ate all four ghosts with every power-pill, got every power-up and cleared all 256 screens, scoring 3,333,360 points with one life. A world record!
In the past 25 years, PAC-MAN has gone on to become the best selling coin-operated game in history, inspiring records, cartoons, toys, playing cards and even pasta and breakfast cereal. In 1999 Namco launched PAC-MAN on mobile phones in Japan, which reached the shores of Europe in 2002. 2005 marks PAC-MAN's 25th anniversary and the game is still being played and attracting new fans all around the world.
Today, 25 years after the launch of the original arcade game, PAC-MAN is more popular than ever. Having already generated millions of downloads worldwide, PAC-MAN was 2004's best-selling mobile game on several of the world's leading mobile network operators, including Vodafone in the United Kingdom.
Results from operators throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), showed that the popularity of retro-arcade games on mobile phone handsets is continuing with PAC-MAN leading the way as the overall best-selling game in 2004 on four of the leading mobile carriers. Sales figures show that downloads of PAC-MAN increased on a month by month basis as the mobile games market continued to grow and expand throughout 2004.
PAC-MAN was created by Namco's Toru Iwatani in 1980 as an arcade game. It quickly grew into a global phenomenon with hundreds of thousands of machines appearing in pubs, cinemas and arcades worldwide. In it's initial year of release over 100,000 PAC-MAN arcade cabinets were sold but estimates now place the total number of times PAC-MAN has been played at over ten billion. In the original Japanese arcade version, the Ghosts were called Akabei, Pinky, Aosuke, and Guzuta but in the English language versions they were renamed Binky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde. It took until 1999 for the perfect game of PAC-MAN to be played. Florida resident Billy Mitchell cleared every screen, ate all four ghosts with every power-pill, got every power-up and cleared all 256 screens, scoring 3,333,360 points with one life. A world record!
In the past 25 years, PAC-MAN has gone on to become the best selling coin-operated game in history, inspiring records, cartoons, toys, playing cards and even pasta and breakfast cereal. In 1999 Namco launched PAC-MAN on mobile phones in Japan, which reached the shores of Europe in 2002. 2005 marks PAC-MAN's 25th anniversary and the game is still being played and attracting new fans all around the world.
