Good lord has it been that long!
From CNN/Money:
Pac Man turns 25Was more into Battlezone and Asteroids myself but Pac-Man was a lot of fun. I'm not into video games that much anymore but I do have to thank them because that industry has driven some amazing developments in graphics cards that have wonderfully trickled down to us photographers and general computer users... Thanks Guys! For more on Pac-Man, check out the Wikipedia article here: Pac-Man
A pizza dinner yields a cultural phenomenon - and millions of dollars in quarters.
It's easy to see "Halo 2" fans lined up for several blocks in the hours before the game is released and think the industry has never been hotter; but if you want to see what a true phenomenon looks like, jump into your wayback machine and head to 1980.
Once you arrive, slip on your "Members Only" jacket and head into any pizza parlor. See that big crowd of people clustered in the back? Odds are they're watching someone play Pac Man.
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.
