That's straight-up speculation. Siliconera hazarded the guess when it found the registration, and it sounds good to me, if only because it sounds better than the same old run-around (a maze).

Ready for a Pac-Man: Battle Royale? [Siliconera]

The book, which in recent years has trended strongly toward video game records (and, according to us apparently, is a "must-have") found that more American consumers recognized Pac-Man, beating Mario by 1 percent, 94 to 93.

I'd say Mario hasn't done so bad considering not only he has a humanoid form, but he also has changed repeatedly over the past 27 years, whereby Pac-Man has largely been the same yellow pie-shape (except for animated cartoons and other non- or semi-canonical appearances.)

Then again, I don't see Pac-Man putting out a hugely selling title this year, or being the public face of a major console-maker and games publisher. So, take Guinness's appraisal for what it is: The long memory of an entire nation, many of whom might not be gamers.

[via Go Nintendo]

I had a chance recently to check out an early build of the game and came away impressed with its tight controls and impressive graphics.

The build I played agave me about three and a half minutes of time to shoot down enemy planes in a dogfight scenario. I'm told the full game takes place during the same timeline as the Playstation Portable's Ace Combat X, with the player taking on the role of a Falco Squadron pilot for the Federal Republic of Aurelia.

The game plays and even looks quite a bit like iPhone arcade air combat favorite, F.A.S.T., but it sounds like this game will have much more in the way of story and single-player campaign.

My time with the game did assure me that Ace Combat Xi will have tight tilt and touch controls that result in solid airplane movement. Players control the plane's movement with tilt controls, which felt very responsive in my hands. There are two settings for the controls, allowing you to add the need to worry about pitch and yaw, or just think about turning and up and down.

You can also toggle between a chase camera and a HUD view during gameplay. On screen buttons let you launch missiles, fire a gun, switch targets and hit your throttle or brake.

The throttle button boosts speed temporarily, but instead of dropping immediately, your plane drops in speed slowly, meaning that you wont have to play with your finger always on the throttle.

The planes I took on seemed relatively good at dodging mean without turning the experience into endless tail chasing, which was nice.

I also noticed that you can stall in the game, which adds a touch more realism.

The biggest question I have about the game (besides price and date) is what sort of multiplayer it will have.

I had a chance to play through a a hefty chunk of the Big Blue Bubble developed and Namco published iPhone game recently. You control Marie by moving around a virtual thumbstick in the bottom left corner of the screen. Another virtual thumbstick in the bottom right, controls which direction she is shooting.

The game is a fairly straight-forward isometric shooter with attention paid to the detailed graphics and steampunk weapons. That's right, you'll be ridding the world of ghouls, zombies, werewolves with a crossbow, steam-powered machinegun and other nifty non-existent Victorian weapons.

The game is fairly simple, at least the bit I plaid, but it's also quite a bit of fun and frighteningly addictive.

No word on the price yet, but this iPhone game seems like it will be worth picking up when it hits the App Store in the near future.

Big Blue Bubble

Dane, creator of these two mash ups, we humbly request that you keep 'em coming. There's something satisfying about watching these types of crushing defeats.

"Inside the drawer, there's a pirate outfit for girls. A name is written, but it's hard to make out because of heavy wear. 'Pa.....'?" Pa? Hrm, "Patty" starts with "Pa." Patty is also a girl - a girl who wears pirate outfits.

The screen capture from the Xbox 360 version is below.

In the memory address of the Xbox 360 version, there appears to be traces of Patty Fruel. As we previously pointed out: in the coding, "YUR" could be understood as being main protagonist "Yuri Lowell", "EST" could be princess "Estelle", "KAR" could be "Karol Capel", "RIT" could be "Rita Mordio", "RAV" could be "Raven", "JUD" could be "Judith", "RAP" could be "Repede" (aka "Rapido" in the Japanese version), "FRE" could be "Flynn Scifo" ("Furen Shifo" in Japanese) and "PAT" could be short for "Patty Fleur."

When asked about the "pirate outfit for girls" scene in the Xbox 360 version, Namco Bandai replied, "Certainly there is that scene, but it does not refer to Patty." When asked whether Patty Fruel was cut from the Xbox 360 version and shifted over to the PS3 one, Namco Bandai replied, "There was nothing of the sort." And finally when asked if Patty Fruel would made available for the Xbox 360, Namco Bandai replied, "There is nothing announced at the moment."

Now that Tales of Vesperia on the PS3 is out, and gamers have noticed that the room shown in the Xbox 360 original version is in the PS3 version actually Patty's room. Does this mean that she was cut from the Xbox 360 game?

『テイルズオブヴェスペリア』海賊帽があった部屋はやはりパティの部屋だった - livedoor Blog（ブログ） [チラシの裏でゲーム鈍報]

The first perfect Pac-Man score was achieved by hot sauce mogul Billy Mitchell in 1999, and once the perfect score was achieved, there was no way to top it, unless you did it faster. Until recently, the top speed record was held by Chris Ayra, who completed the game in 3 hours, 42 minutes, and 4 seconds back in 2000. Now Ayra slips to the number 2 position, as the suspiciously-named David race has been confirmed as the world's fastest, with a time of 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds, only 42 seconds faster than the previous record.

Achieving a perfect Pac-Man score requires the gamer to eat every dot, bonus fruit, and blue ghost possible across 256 levels, after which the game glitches out. The fact that people are still trying to beat records for doing this never ceases to amaze me.

Beard's statement on the closure notes that "after fighting to keep the doors open for the past six months we have decided to close and move on," putting an end to the studio's seven year history. The studio was previously working on a reboot of Namco Bandai's Splatterhouse before having the project pulled, leading to a handful of curt exchanges between BottleRocket staffers and Namco execs.

When news of the Splatterhouse development debacle hit, it was rumored that BottleRocket's financial situation, stemming form the loss of the game, would mean imminent closure.

The studio was also rumored to have worked on a video game based on DC Comics' the Flash for Brash Entertainment before that publisher imploded.

Beard says in his e-mail that he is "now in the process of building a new development studio from the ground up" but did not expand upon those plans or whether BottleRocket staff would make the transition to that new studio.

Earlier this week the developer announced that they were opening up a new division dedicated solely to the creation of iPhone games. That means more Namco classics, new in-house titles and even third-party games for Apple's inordinately popular mobile phone.

To do it they brought in Jonathan Kromrey, an iPod and iPhone games producer and designer at Apple who was responsible for research, design and development of products and applications at the company.

Kromrey, also a former Namco game developer, says that this week will probably be the only one of the year that doesn't see an announcement from the company about new content or games for the iPhone.

"My charge is to make games that are the best for the iPod Touch and iPhone," he said. "There is a gold rush to do Apps for the App store," he said. "And Namco is at the forefront of that movement."

While Namco's titles for the iPhone have so far been mostly arcade classics, moving forward the company expects to have a lot of new titles from casual IP to action games.

"In the past Namco's been known for its depth of arcade experience, games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Soulcalibur and Tekken," he said. "I'm excited to be here and see a lot of those franchises come out on the iPhone.

"I'm here to champion new things, new IP, to discover what the new Pac-Man is for the iPhone."

But what about putting twitch games like Tekken and Soulcalibur on a device with no physical controllers?

"I would love that," he said. "I think twitch games would be great, it's just the controls that are a challenge. We are thinking about that."

Kromrey didn't want to talk specific pricing for the upcoming titles set to hit the iPhone over the course of the year, but he did say that his philosophy is that the number of hours a person plays a game should be linked to the game's price.

"If you are going to play a very casual light game for an hour, that's worth a dollar," he said. "Games that are bigger, that have peer-to-peer play, that are expandable, that are maybe four to five hours to play, that's a $5 price tag.

"Super, super duper brands that have all of those qualities, those will justify more."

Earlier week the second entry in the Nendorid iDOLM@STER line went on sale with a single set priced at ¥6,000. Here, someone bought 29 sets for a grand total of ¥174,000 (US$1,842).

Maybe this individual is planning on selling them off if they somehow appreciate in value. Or maybe, just maybe, he or she is going to leave them stacked and just stare.

1箱6000円のアイマス「ねんどろいどぷち」を29箱大人買いする信者 [はちま起稿]

Namco is bringing its bodybuilders-running-through-buildings arcade game Muscle Koushinkyoku (lit. "Muscle March") to the Japanese WiiWare Channel.

The one-to-four player game will be released on May 26 for 800 Wii Points.

The only new things in the game are bonus stages and challenge levels to extend gameplay for hardcore fans that have likely outgrown the difficulty level of the linear story mode. The good news is the modes really are challenging and will probably extend gameplay by a decent number of hours. The bad news is they really are challenging and you might break a few Wii Remotes in frustration.

What Is It?
The Klonoa challenge modes come in two main flavors: Mirrored Vision and challenge areas. Mirrored Vision involves replaying completed levels by starting from the end of the level instead of the beginning and different challenge areas within levels offer time attack and jumping puzzles the likes of which could make your blood boil.

What We Saw
I spent the better part of an hour in timed challenge areas. The ones I saw were mostly jumping puzzles, and in Klonoa that counts of a lot of what you'll be doing. The main one I focused on involved Klonoa progressing a third of the way through a level and then dropping down into a white whirlwind portal. The challenge on the other side of that portal involved Klonoa leaping out over a pit of lava, turning to face backward in mid-air, hovering to gain a bit of height and then grabbing a floating enemy. Once you've mastered this first part (and it's way harder than it sounds), you have to nail the exact timing necessary to fling the enemy as you jump, hover, turn to face forward and grab the next enemy and so on until you reach the top of the lava-filled cavern.

How Far Along Is It?
Final. The game is out May 8.

What Should Change?
Lose the Wii Remote: I started the jumping challenges with the default Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo. The game is waggle-free, but the exact button presses took some adjusting to, so I decided to lose the Nunchuck and flip the Wiimote on its side. It simplified the button presses a little, but made it damn painful to mash the correct sequence of buttons and D-pad directions with the right timing. After my twelfth attempt, I came away with a square dent in my left thumb. Thankfully, the game is supposed to be compatible with the classic controller or the GameCube controller; which makes me wonder why bother with the Wii Remote at all?

What Should Stay The Same?
Bragging Rights: Completing a challenge in Klonoa brings a sense of satisfaction you might otherwise get from winning the lottery or surviving a train wreck. Nearly every journalist I watched try the challenge modes began with a puffed up chest and quick thumbs – and almost every single one of them failed a challenge more than ten times. Even after two dozen goes at that challenge mentioned above, I still couldn't get higher than the first enemy (mostly because I had trouble with the part where you need to turn all the way around in midair using that viciously sharp D-pad). When the PR rep finally stepped up and managed to pull it off in one go for the first time in his many months on the title, he was cheered as a hero.

Final Thoughts
The original Klonoa was one of the best things that ever happened to my big brother because he got to lord his PlayStation over my Nintendo 64 as the superior adventure gaming platform (at least until Ocarina of Time came out). I find it cosmically hilarious that more than a decade later, I'll get to be playing his PlayStation trump card on my Nintendo Wii as a Wii game instead of a port. It may still be a kid's game, but the challenge modes sweeten the deal and give me something to say to my brother all those elitists who might sneer at me for never having played the original.

I don't know if it's the random gasping noises or the fact that the multiple boys pop out of that little house like intestines unraveling from a particularly nasty torso wound, but something about the teaser trailer below just isn't right. Even Takahashi seems to agree in his post on the official PlayStation blog, saying "Too many boys… uh…gross, aren't they?" Took the words right out of our mouths. Ew.

Noby Noby Boy Multiplayer Teaser [PlayStation.blog]

So how are these versions of the two classic arcade titles different from every other version? Once downloaded and launched, the games will ask for your Facebook login information. Choose not to provide it, and you've got relatively accurate PC versions of Pac-Man and Dig Dug. Provide it, and you've got access to Facebook leaderboards, friends chat, and nifty little Facebook messages, such as "It's on between Pinky and Michael in NAMCO ALL-STARS: PAC-MAN!"

Heh.

The two games are now available for free download, which gives you unlimited access to the first two levels of each title. Players who want to complete all 256 levels of each game will have to pony up $9.99 a piece.

Thanks, but I'll stick to Pet Society. At least then I have a chance at golden poo.

Namco All-Stars Pac-Man and Dig Dug [Facebook]

Namja Town, Namco's food amusement park — yes, Namco has food amusement parks in Japan — is offering a set of four kabuto-mushi beetles made of chocolate. Priced at ¥4,500 (US$50), the set includes one Hercules beetle, one stag beetle, one male rhino bettle and one female rhino beetle.

Besides the beetle-shaped chocolates, Namco is offering also a special Valentine's Day beetle cake and beetle larva sweets as well (actually, fruit dipped in chocolate).

Namco's two-story Namja Town does have a small game center as well as various amusement attractions, but the main attractions here are sweets, ice cream and even gyoza. Yummy.

Yokai Attack author and game localizer Matt Alt points out: "In Japan, the women give men chocolate on Valentine's Day. So what's it say about your girl when you get these?"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Bug [AltJapan]

The company as a whole (remember, Bandai Namco do arcade machines, toys and cartoons) ended the quarter with a net income of ¥9,019,000,000 (USD$100 million), so on the off chance you're a shareholder, your money's still good.

More interesting to us are some global sales figures found towards the end of the company's earnings release. They show the following games shifted the following number of units:

Soul Calibur IV - 2.26 million copies
Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit - 730,000
WE SKI - 590,000
Gundam Musou 2 - 590,000
Active Life Outdoor Challenge - 550,000
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 - 530,000
Super Robot Wars Z - 510,000
Taiko Drum Master for DS 2 - 500,000
Mobile Suit Gundam Gundam VS. Gundam - 440,000
Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 - 420,000

Namco brought, well, everything from their Club Namco online store to the show. I really, really wanted one of those Pac-Man plushy hats, but it turns out I have to eat this week. Bummer. I also saw some glorious looking Katamari shirts as well.

"We have decided to part ways with BottleRocket Entertainment but we are committed to bringing Splatterhouse to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year," a Namco spokesperson told Kotaku. "At this time, we are not ready to discuss specific development details about the game and wish BottleRocket the best of luck in their future endeavors."

This weekend we reported that Namco showed up Friday and took back the dev kits and all assets for Splatterhouse. Our sources told us that Namco intends to finish it in house with the Afro Samurai team.

We were also told that Bottlerocket, already struggling after having a project they were working on for Brash fold, closed up shop Friday, giving employees their last paycheck. Other sources tell us that Bottlerocket will shutter in three months.

Calls and emails to Bottlerocket went unanswered over the weekend and today.

Another bit of speculation to hit our mailboxes over the past 24 hours places more of the blame on Bottlerocket than on Namco. We're told that the dev team was missing deadlines and turning in material that didn't meet Namco's standards thanks to some upper management issues at the Carlsbad studio.

Whatever lead to the split, it seems likely that it could lead to delays for both Splatterhouse and a rumored Splatterhouse 2.

Sources through the San Diego-area dev community - but not with Bottlerocket itself - say Namco showed up Friday and took back the dev kits and all assets for Splatterhouse. Word has it Namco intends to finish it in house with the Afro Samurai team.

That's a huge slap to Bottlerocket, says one person familiar with the situation. Afro Samurai animators were sent on site to help out with the workload and Bottlerocket staff were said to have found their presence unhelpful. Now, if true, they'd get a nearly completed project and final credit.

And the kicker: this team would also be based in Carlsbad, and may even lease Bottlerocket's building. Namco recruiters, naturally, were talking to BR employees about the possibility of coming aboard.

Of course it conjures up all sorts of speculation about why Namco would make a decision that would essentially destroy a developer under contract, in order to take back an nearly-completed game and attempt to finish it in house with a set of employees who didn't work well together earlier. Sources say the game was going gold in early March.

This was Bottlerocket's only project; its last work was on Flash with the now-kerplop Brash. One source told us all employees got their last paycheck yesterday; another says the office has about three months left before it closes for good.

A message left at Bottlerocket's office was not immediately returned. One Bottlerocket employee has declined comment; we're pursuing others, plus any word from Namco officially. More developments will be posted as they are known.

Pacman Pain [Flickr via technabob]