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[Nirolak]

I thought this was an interesting tidbit about one of gaming's more well known series.

Pac-Man was released in 1980 by video game developer Namco (present-day Bandai Namco Entertainment) and took arcades around the world by storm. Iwatani, who was an employee at Namco at the time, later became a professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University Faculty of Arts' video game development department in 2007, where he now teaches game planning and programming.

"The development of Pac-Man started as a way to attract women to arcades, which were generally a men's playground. We thought that women liked to eat, so we came up with the idea of making a video game where a cute character eats little monsters rather than a savage video game where you kill your enemies," Iwatani recalls. He says the shape of Pac-Man was inspired by a pizza with one slice missing.

Source: http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160102/p2a/00m/0na/003000c

 

[Apollo Cree]

"We thought that women liked to eat"

I giggled at this line. It looks they were right.

 

[daydream]

yeah, women sure like to.. eat

what

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

We men also like to eat.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

We men also like to eat.

I call bullshit on this.

 

[Tizoc]

It's a Japanese thing, pretty sure there was a video about the original Pacman's conception on youtube. Watched it months ago but forgot which one it is :X

 

[Cheat Code]

Heard the "women like food" thing a while back. Always amused me.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

He's right, women always be like "I need to eat!"

 

[J-Spot]

Girls just wanna have lunch.

 

[Azih]

We men also like to eat.

We like killin' just as much apparently.

 

[Bluekaveli]

So Mrs. Pac-Man was for men?

 

[Nyoro SF]

Heard the "women like food" thing a while back. Always amused me.

Fruit Ninja, Candy Crush... maybe they're onto something?

 

[Phoenix944]

A genius among us.

 

[threelights]

Despite not being a woman, I like to eat, and I like Pac-Man. So their game was a success.

=P

What a weird thing to go on though.

 

[JayEH]

We men also like to eat.

Double whammy. That's why pacman is so popular.

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

Thought this was pretty well known. Oh did you know Pac-Man's Japanese name was Puck-Man but they had to change it for America because it can be easily vandalized. Pac-Man is so interesting.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

Girl's gotta eat

 

[Arnie7]

 

[Jonneh3003]

"We both like to eat, therefore I am appealed"

 

[Seik]

That thought process...

I'll endorse for fellow men and proclaim we like to eat, too!

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Well, that's insane.

 

[Oberon]

Makes as much sense as this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jdDYICqE-To

 

[Leiru]

where a cute character eats little monsters rather than a savage video game where you kill your enemies

Eating isn't killing apparently

 

[NinjamicWZ]

I thought this was a pretty well known factoid.

 

[Cheat Code]

Eating isn't killing apparently

You can't kill ghosts, they're already dead.

 

[Fox318]

Pac Man has a way with words

some might say he is a cunning linguist.

 

[Leiru]

You can't kill ghosts, they're already dead.

So what happens when you eat them?

 

[Lord of Ostia]

So what happens when you eat them?

They go back to their room, sufficiently scolded

 

[John Kowalski]

I think we'd already seen quotes to that effect... i wonder what the arcade demographics are these days.

 

[Horseticuffs]

I dunno, guys. My Pacman Joke book from childhood told me he was modeled after a cheesecake with a slice removed.

I'm skeptical of this grand pizza theory.

 

[GHG]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBRL7D0wcXM

They were ahead of their time with their ideas clearly. Geniuses.

 

[Tingle]

Eating isn't killing apparently

Well, the ghosts never die, they always return to the center.

 

[Cess007]

I remember reading this before. I always find it amusing. I remember reading the creator of Pac-man saying that he got the idea once he went to a restaurant and started paying attention to what the women next to him were talking (can't watch the video at work, dunno if this is also commented there)

 

[petran79]

After Pac Man they play Bubble Bobble so they can burp

 

[Oneself]

They followed the same planning when they came up with Candy Crush and it worked perfectly.
Flawless thinking and design my friends.

Flaw less.

 

[A Link to the Past]

I'd always known that Pac-Man was made for women, but I never realized that they used such silly logic!

 

[PSqueak]

Is this a japanese culture thing?

I am reminded of that Miyamoto interview where he describes Peach as a glutton.

 

[VendettaRed07]

I've heard this story before but the explanation wasn't that "women like to eat" but that at Really young ages before Boys and girls interests would start to differentiate more, they would both play "tag, you're it!" together so it's a game boys and girls can relate to

 

[cRIPticon]

We discussed this on a show I did for National Geographic. Starts at 7:20 mark: https://youtu.be/XH2VPVxVsnQ?t=7m20s

 

[Fox318]

to be fair if you grabbed a bunch of men up and made them try to come up with something targeted towards women it probably would sound like that.

"Well women have to eat right? We should make a game about eating"

 

[entremet]

yeah, women sure like to.. eat

what

Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows this.

Most men tend to come with their opposite sex companions. While groups of women are more keen to eat out in restaurants regularly.

You can observe trends without being sexists.

Women also spend more money on food than men, according to market research, even if you factor in single person households.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Why does Ms. Pac-Man exist then?

 

[OnPoint]

Spoiler

Kidding, not a lot of people knew this, probably. Also, beaten. Dang.

 

[massoluk]

Well cake buffet is a thing there. I guess in context it explains the bonus items being sweets.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

Why does Ms. Pac-Man exist then?

To further capitalize on their success with a follow up as well as their line of reasoning, obviously.

 

[TimeEffect]

Why does Ms. Pac-Man exist then?

Gotta jump the shark sooner or later

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

Why does Ms. Pac-Man exist then?

Feminist Agenda

 

[Beer Monkey]

The old lore back in the 80s (I was a teenager) was definitely that it was non-violent (in a sense...not shooting bullets like Space Invaders and Galaxian et al) and thus appealed more the the fairer sex (stereotyping, here, obviously, but some stereotypes are very true).

Not the eating thing.

 

[PSqueak]

Why does Ms. Pac-Man exist then?

Because american hackers wanted to make new levels and put a bow on pac-man.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

So what happens when you eat them?

Think a moment about this. What are ghosts in the classical, pop cultural sense? Invisible apparitions that have sheets over them, thus giving them a physical appearance/form. What does Pac-Man do? He eats the sheets off the ghosts, sending the naked invisible ghost(only see its eyes because we need to know where they are in according to the game) back to their home base to don a new sheet. How the Ghosts can kill Pac-Man with a touch and why he can suddenly eat them after a power pellet and not before is an all different explanation. But yeah, if anything, the only violence in the game is seen from the Ghosts, themselves, towards Pac-Man(the dude's jaw is ripped open... ergh!). Ms.Pac-Man's death isn't bad, though. She just spins around.

Why does Ms. Pac-Man exist then?

Because guys can't fap to Pac-Man.