Pac is Back
David Eldridge
September 17, 2004 – Why didn't somebody see this one coming? In
a culture that is obsessively, endlessly recycling
and reliving its own past (A "new"
Beatles album, "The Brady Bunch" on
DVD, Jim Carrey is the Grinch), it was inevitable
that we'd find a way to resurrect Pac-Man sooner
or later.
Pac-Man, the beeping, blinking little yellow
dot eater that was as much an icon of the '80s
as Duran Duran and J.R. Ewing, is back, and
he's not alone.
The video-game industry, tapping into a reservoir
of nostalgia and maybe some latent frustration
on the part of parents fed up with such hyper-violent
games as Grand Theft Auto and Doom, is repackaging
hits such as Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Galaga for
modern audiences.
The $7 billion industry expects to do about
$250 million this year on what are being called
"retro" games.
The games can be loaded onto computers or
into newer consoles such as the Nintendo Gamecube,
or, even better, purchased preloaded into a
joystick-type setup that just plugs right into
your television set.
It's called plug and play, and the systems,
from different manufacturers, sell for about
$20. Which is, if I remember correctly, about
what envelop my buddies and I would drop into
the arcade machine in one afternoon way back
when.
Toy executives such as Eric Levin, vice president
of Techno Source, a Hong Kong-based company
with offices in New York, think the appeal may
have something to do with September 11.
Since that day, he says, there's been a "craving
for innocence."
"The world has become such a complex
place," he says, that families "yearn
for that simplicity. There's a theory out there
that the best games take a minute to learn and
a lifetime to master."
The old games often had cleaner, simpler graphics
that also lend themselves to the small screens
of cellular phones, he points out.
After watching my three children get hooked
on Dig Dug and Pac-Man this summer, I'm convinced
he's onto something.
It's a relief to see them playing games that
are relatively nonviolent (though, obviously,
Pac-Man is seriously taking out some aggression
on his food, and the little guy in Dig Dug is
pretty lethal with a bicycle pump).
But there's more. The games are short and
stunningly simple. So many of the other games
children play, from the popular Legend of Zelda
games to the sports franchises to Nintendo's
flagship Mario games combine epic, unfolding
storylines and complicated controls.
Pac-Man? Just push the joystick. Eat the dots.
That's it.
Donkey Kong? Jump the barrels. Run. Jump some
more.
Most of the retro classics, remember, are
controlled with just a joystick and one or two
buttons.
My youngest, who in years past was often stuck
on the sidelines, watching her older brother
learning the intricacies of flying an X-Wing
in and around the Death Star, is now giving
me tips on getting to the next level in Galaga.
("Just keep shooting, Dad.")
Mr. Levin compares classic video games such
as Asteroids, Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man to a
card game.
"It's just as much as fun today as it
was a hundred years ago," he said. |
