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The Xbox 360's Arcade is home to some classics, some clunkers, and now, more versions of Pac-Man than any pizzeria in the United States.

No sir, I don't like it.

Yesterday's announcement of Pac-Man Championship Edition has me worried about the state of digital distribution on current consoles. The announcement, made at the Pac-Man World Championship in New York, of an all-new, updated Pac-Man arcade experience, was met with indifference by most bloggers--particularly since Namco was promising a "history-making" announcement-- but I found the announcement more than noteworthy, for all the wrong reasons.

The Xbox 360's Live Arcade service may be the strongest of the three consoles' downloadable gaming services, but it's still in its early stages with roughly sixty games available. Namco may be one of the biggest proponents of digital distribution, but the company's announcement of a third Pac-Man title on the Xbox Live Arcade service is a bit disheartening. Players who picked up the original Pac-Man last year have already been disappointed by the quick release of of Ms. Pac-Man shortly thereafter. Now, not even six months later, there's yet another title improving on the original, set to make purchasers even angrier.

Now, early adopters getting screwed by sequels and extra accouterments is nothing new in this industry, but the digital distribution system has accentuated the problem when it should be combating it. With a wealth of titles to update, why is Namco sticking to the Pac-Man series? And now that content is being micromanaged by publishers, couldn't discounts be offered to folks who've purchased other titles in the series, particularly when the gameplay doesn't change that much over the course of three separate titles? Namco really shouldn't be mining one series so heavily when it's got a wealth of classic games to choose from. Microsoft should be enforcing tighter standards for its download service so that the customer doesn't end up getting the short end of the stick.

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Blackbolt

Posted at: 06/05/07 at 4:54 PM PST

I told ya. Nothing but rehashes and sequels. They are nice and all, but dear lord, how many are we going to get? But nooooooo, I'm just some crazy gamer who complains on forums and comment blogs. Does anyone listen to me? No. But in all fairness, this announcement was blown way out of proportion. I do agree for everyone who downloaded Pac-Man a year ago got a screw job, and they are screwing them over again. At least give everyone who downloaded the original to get half off the points or something. Sure the announcement changed a video game, but not video game history. *Note Italics = Sarcasm*

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