The first ever Pac-Man World Champion was crowned during the inauguration of the new Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship Edition in Times Square, New York. Carlos Daniel Borrego Romero of Mexico bested 30,000 gamers who signed up to play on the Xbox Live online service from April 25 to May 9, the top 10 of whom were flown in from across the globe to play head-to-head in the finals. The finalists played the latest Pac-Man edition for the first time.
Along with the awarding of the Pac-Man champion was the announcement of Microsoft’s Xbox 360’s latest weapon: the Pac-Man Championship Edition — the rebirth of the old Pac-man we all loved and grew-up with, now with better HD graphics and new mazes.
Apparently, the relaunch of Pac-Man is a final tribute to Toru Iwatani, who designed the classic video game 26 years ago, who is retiring from the video games industry. This new game is the second and final version that Iwatani personally designed. Despite the latest advances in computer graphics technology, Iwatani designed the new Pac Man as he did the original — in two-dimensions. “I wanted to stay with the original simple rules of Pac Man,” he said.
The Pac Man Championship Edition can be downloaded for $10 on the Xbox Live online service starting Wednesday.
Originally posted on June 5, 2007 @ 11:19 pm