March 22^nd, 2005 (6:44pm) - Pac-Man will be celebrating his 25th birthday with the release of Pac-Man World 3 this fall. The latest iteration of the classic series will be available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PSP, and PC.

The world was first introduced to Toru Iwatani’s yellow dot muncher in 1980. Shaped like a pizza missing a slice and making a wocka wocka wocka sound, Pac-Man exploded onto the video game scene and never looked back. 25 years later, Pac-Man has starred in dozens of games and has been the inspiration for more than 400 different products from cereal to watches to air fresheners and even a cartoon.

“Pac-Man helped launch video games into the mainstream, and as he turns 25 this year, we are happy to see that he continues to have an enduring appeal,” said Garry Cole, Executive Vice President of Namco Hometek Inc. “We’re delighted that today’s generation is still able to experience the magic of Pac-Man with Pac-Man World 3.”

“Like all of us, Pac-Man has evolved over the years, changing with the times,” said Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man. “People love Pac-Man because he’s simple and cute and most important FUN.”

While combining contemporary platform game mechanics with traditional Pac-Man play principles, Pac-Man World 3 features Pac-Man staples including Power Pellets, Pac-Dots, Pac-Chains and fruit while adding new elements such as a Pactrometer, power-up smoothies and several new special moves. Players will even get to play as Pinky and Clyde, who each have distinctive special abilities.