Pac Man turns 40

Not the first game, and not even the first big game, but maybe the first game to go mainstream - Space Invaders never got a top 10 hit on Billboard. The media and concerned parents were worried about the affects it had on kids with their accelerated heart rates but apologists countered with with improving in hand/eye coordination, so vital for growing minds.

At 50 billion quarters, its still the highest revenue generating video game of all time.

NVidia announced today it developed an AI that made the game just by watching it

Probably one of the longest games I ever played on consoles and arcades.

Ms. Pac Man a close second. Still remember the cheap pizzeria I played at.

I found this article interesting.
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/may/22/pac-man-video-game-40-years-old

The ghosts are called Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde and they each have their own personalities based on AI routines. Blinky constantly chases Pac-Man, Pinky attempts to ambush him, Inky is randomised depending on Pac-Man’s position and Clyde will get close to the player then attempt to flee to the bottom left corner, potentially cutting off escape routes.

I never realised the ghosts behaved differently. No wonder I sucked at the game