Unwinnable

Early one July morning in the summer of 2008, firefighters were called out to a spectacular blaze in the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare. The historical wooden pavilion of the Grand Pier, home to one of Britain’s most iconic arcades, was reduced to ashes and heat-warped metal in a matter of hours; at the height of the fire, warnings were issued of exploding games machines erupting in sprays of semi-molten shrapnel and, in the following days, as the people of Weston-super-Mare faced a future without their highest-profile tourist attraction – gleaming coins began to wash up on the muddy sands. (more…)

While Unwinnable was having its vacation theme week, I was on actual vacation, half of which I spent in Washington, D.C., fitfully attempting to visit every major landmark and museum. Naturally, I left the city with a list of things I wanted to see but never got around to, but one thing that I was determined to see was a particular exhibit in the Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Art of Video Games. I am that guy who writes about videogames and I simply can’t pass up the chance to see my preferred medium presented in a positive light in one of the more esteemed venues for what we call “art.” (more…)

Believe it or not, there are still people on the planet for whom Pac-Man and videogames are synonymous. Their awareness of Mario is minimal, maybe begrudging. They might have heard of Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, but the surrounding controversies or sales records only register as cultural blips to them. Those games are names on a Christmas list to be checked off and forgotten. (more…)

The first coin-op video game I remember playing was Pac-Man. It was in the local supermarket, right by the entrance.  Since this was the early 1980′s, my mom had no qualms about leaving me alone with the game and a few quarters, especially if it meant she could do the grocery shopping without me asking for an obscene amount of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish or Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch cereal. Now I’m a grown man and I can’t stop playing the brand new Pac-Man Championship Edition DX.

Pac-Man seems so simple a game now, but it was every bit the cultural phenomenon it is talked up to be. Witness the endless array of sequels, merchandising tie-ins, and repackaging Pac-Man has gone through in the last 30 years. For a lesser game, Namco would probably be accused of flogging a dead horse, but they have managed to keep the game fresh at each turn, whether it’s with new mazes and characters (Ms. Pac-Man, or the vastly underrated Jr. Pac-Man), improved graphics (Pac-Mania, Pac-Man Arrangement), or gameplay tweaks (Arrangement, Pac-Man Vs.). Pac-Man Championship Edition DX takes all of that and creates a game that is equal parts a reimagining of the game and homage to its roots. (more…)

Eagle-eyed Unwinnable readers will remember that my first piece for this site was a review of Hexage’s Space Invaders tribute (with a twist), Radiant. Well, Hexage is back with EVAC, a tribute to Pac-Man (also with a twist). This should not surprise you if you’ve been paying attention.

On its face, there are a lot of parallels between EVAC and Pac-Man. The player navigates a pink box around a maze, eats dots, avoids red box monsters and clears the maze. However, the mazes aren’t always straightforward. Hexage inserts multiple Sokoban-inspired puzzles into the mix at later levels, with the puzzles naturally getting more difficult. The game also replaces Pac-Man’s ubiquitous power pellets with an assortment of power-ups that allow the player to stun, kill or simply run through the monsters.  (more…)