Namco-Bandai posts

We have seen many Pac-Man adaptations over the years but none like this. The World's Biggest Pac-Man is a browser-based version of Namco Bandai's classic arcade game but one which has over 1,300 user-based maps that are all linked together to form one gigantic Pac-Man map.

The game was made by Australian-based developer Soap Creative with permission from Namco Bandai as a way to promote Microsoft's launch of the Internet Explorer 9 web browser (although any HTML5-based browser should be able to play it). More maps are being made by Facebook users who link their creations to the huge collection of Pac-Man maps.

[Via Gamasutra]

The Ridge Racer series of arcade racing games have been a console staple for many years, particularly on the Playstation machines. But none of the games have ever been released for the PC platform. That will change next year as publisher Namco Bandai Games announced today that the newly revealed Ridge Racer Unbounded will ported to the PC as well as the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.

Part of the reason for the PC port may be that the game is being developed by Bugbear who previously released the terrific FlatOut series of arcade racing games for the PC. Details about the new game are slim but Computer and Video Games reports that it will be more "dangerous" and "wilder" than previous entries in the series. We still have a long way to go before the game is released; Ridge Racer Unbounded is due out sometime in 2012.

More layoffs in the game industry were made this week with VentureBeat reporting that Namco Bandai's US office will be sending as many as 90 team members their walking papers. According to the article the layoffs were due to a reorganization that combined its online and mobile phone divisions into one department. Also many jobs were lost due to Namco Bandai moving some of its internal game development from the US to its Japan offices.

The reorganization of Namco Bandai is designed in part to help create games that will run on several different platforms including the PC and browsers to expand the company's consumer base.

[Via VG247.com]

Fans of the original Puzzle Quest on the PC have been dying to know when the sequel would be released on our platform. Now we have an answer. According to Steam's web site Puzzle Quest 2 will be made available on their download service on August 17.

Developed once again by Infinite Interactive and published by Namco Bandai, the sequel once again blends the casual puzzle gameplay with some fantasy RPG elements as you can choose from one of four character classes and both genders. The Steam version will include over 50 Steam achievements. You can pre-order Puzzle Quest 2 now on Steam and get 10 percent off its normal $19.99 price.

Update: Looks like Steam has now changed the release date of the game on us. It's now listed as coming out on August 12.

Developer CD Projekt is getting ready to show off their upcoming fantasy RPG The Witcher 2 to the assembled at E3 2010 next week. However some fans of the original game have expressed concerns that the title might have some restrictive DRM set-up. An executive from Namco Bandai, which is distributing the game in Europe, recently stated he supported the "always on" internet style of DRM for PC games.

CD Projekt decided to reveal their own policy concerning DRM on their message boards. In summary it states, "In our opinion, it is more important to encourage acquisition of original game copies than to punish those who play pirated copies." While there's been no decision on what DRM set-up, if any, will be put to The Witcher 2, CD Projekt's CEO Adam Kiciński stated in an email press release, "As per our policy, we will do our utmost to prevent the adopted DRM solution, if any, from making life difficult for those who acquire legal game copies. I can't imagine using any protection that would deprive game fans of any of the pleasure that will come from playing the game, as has been the case with other notable PC game titles."

It looks like Ubisoft's DRM "always on" internet set-up for its PC games has at least one publisher's support. Computer and Video Games is reporting that Namco Bandai believes that Ubisoft's set-up is best because, according to them, there's nothing else that will work.

The company's VP Olivier Comte is quoted as saying, "I will be very honest. I think it's a good [approach] for one reason: I have no alternative today." Some companies and publishers might disagree with that attitude, and Comte himself states, "Is the best one? Certainly not ..." However he adds, " ... as of today if I can make something else I'll do it, but it's better to do something than not do something."

We have a feeling there's a big negative effect on office work productivity around the world today. Google's front page has a fully playable version of Namco's original Pac-Mac game to celebrate the arcade game's 30th anniversary this weekend. The game will be live until sometime early on Sunday morning Eastern time.

Users of Google know that the company likes to do special logos on its front page for holidays and other occasions but this is the first time the company has put up a playable game in the logo spot. A post on Google's blog page has some notes on how the Pac-Man logo game was made by its programmer Marcin Wichary. He states he was careful to recreate as much of the original game's programming as he could, and that includes bugs that showed up in the original release.

We had a feeling this was going to happen but today it's official. The upcoming puzzle-RPG sequel Puzzle Quest 2 has been confirmed for a PC release later this summer by Namco Bandai. The game was first announced for the Nintendo DS and Xbox Live Arcade in November 2009. Shacknews first reported the PC port news and Big Download has confirmed it via chatting with a Namco Bandai PR rep on the phone today.

The sequel to the addictive game developed by Infinite Interactive will be released as a digital download via Namcogames.com and other PC game download services. Pricing for the PC port has yet to be revealed.

We are now less than five months away from what is arguably the single biggest week in the game industry; the 2010 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 as it is usually known. The expo's web site has now gone live for its 2010 version with registration now available for exhibitors, media and attendees to sign up to attend the show which will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 15-17.

The web site also shows the expo's current list of exhibitors and at the moment there are a few major publishers that are not on the list. The biggest no show is Take Two Interactive, home of the 2K Games and Rockstar Games brand. We've emailed Take Two to see if they have any plans to attend this year's event. Other current major no-shows include Namco Bandai, Southpeak and NCsoft. It also appears that Blizzard won't be joining its publishing partner Activision at E3 again (they bypassed last year's show) Again this list is still in the early stages and its possible that there will be additions made. It's also possible that companies not on the list will be in the LA area during E3 hosting off-site press events.

Update: Take Two has responded to our email request with their spokesperson telling us, " . . . we are planning on taking part as usual at this year's E3."

We've already reported this week that the now defunct Flagship Studios' casual MMO Mythos is getting a new lease on life. However, the developer's main title, Hellgate London, is also getting its own revamp very soon along with an expansion. Unfortunately, we here in the US won't get a chance to play it.

As we reported over a year ago, the rights to Hellgate London were bought by Korean-based Habisoft, which turned the game into a free-to-play online title. On December 8, it plans to launch an open beta for Hellgate Resurrection, the newly retitled version of the game set in a modern world overrun by extra-dimensional demons. That's not all - according to a trailer posted on GameTrailers.com (which you can see after the jump), the game will be getting an expansion in March 2010 called Hellgate Tokyo. We presume the demons can jump across continents.

US and Europeans still won't be able to play this new version game. Namco Bandai, the company that holds the publishing rights to the game in both territories, shut down the local online servers for Hellgate London earlier this year and have apparently shown no interest in selling those publishing rights to Habisoft.