Great, ANOTHER Handheld Platform To Worry About

Look, three home consoles to look after, that's OK. It's doable. Throw a PC in there, still doable. A couple of prominent handheld platforms, you're stretching it, but we can manage. The iPhone, though...well, that was almost a bridge too far. So we're less than thrilled to hear that there's now another major mobile device on the market that'll support games. Launched yesterday to quite a bit of fanfare, Google's Android phone may just give Apple a run for its money in the "do everything" phone market. May. Won't with its initial games lineup, though. Where the iPhone's app store launched with a range of big-budget titles from the likes of Sega and EA, the Android has...Pac-Man. Uh, great, thanks. On the bright side, the phone's meant to be an open source dream, so hopefully it's not too long before some more interesting titles come along. That or someone gets SCUMM working. US, September 23, 2008 - Namco Networks, a leading publisher and developer of mobile games and entertainment for mass-market casual gamers, today announced the availability of the arcade classic Pac-Man on the first Android-powered device, announced today by T-Mobile. When the phone launches, Pac-Man will be available to consumers in the Android Market at no charge, giving owners of the new T-Mobile G1 handset full access to the game which usually retails for $9.99. "We are thrilled to launch Pac-Man on the flagship Android-powered device," said Scott Rubin, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Namco Networks. "To encourage consumers to checkout Pac-Man on the G1, we are picking up the tab for the game. We want consumers to see how great Pac-Man looks on this device and how well it plays on the Android platform." Who can forget the countless hours and quarters spent avoiding the pesky ghosts while chompin' on the dots? In addition to the classic and addictive game play, Pac-Man, the most popular video game in American arcade history, has been upgraded to fully utilize the T-Mobile G1's features. Taking advantage of the device's large screen, Pac-Man on the T-Mobile G1 includes three unique control schemes: Swipe Mode allows players to direct Pac-Man's path by simply swiping in the direction you want to travel. Track Mode lets players zip through mazes using the phone's trackball. Accelerometer Mode allows players to control Pac-Man by tilting the phone in the direction they want to move. For more information on Pac-Man for the G1 or other mobile games by Namco, please visit www.namcogames.com.