lapetino

Necro bump!! Do you still have this thing? Did any packaging survive?

I'm having the same issue both on Win 7 and 8 on their website. Bummer.

I can shed some light on this, as I interviewed the artist for the Art of Atari book we're working on, and for a Pac-Man exhibit we're putting together for the soon-to-be Museum of Video Game Art (http://www.playmova.org). He originally created another piece of art for the 2600 Pac-Man version that management and Namco folks felt was too scary. (This has never been published, but we'll be showing it when the museum's online collection launches.) So, the next version he created is the full-bodied Pac-Man that you see on the 2600 labels and PAL box. But higher-ups were concerned that consumers wouldn't connect the dots to the familiar screen version of the character, and wanted a more literal, flat version of Pac-Man, so this change was made, and that 2-dimensional rendering (done by the same artist) was dropped right on top of the original art. It was apparently too late to make the change on the manuals and labels. He also created the 400/800 version with the castle maze, which has a lot of similar design elements, like the sneakers and skinny legs. For what it's worth, this 2600 version of Pac-Man is one of my favorites. I love how much freedom they had back in that time, to re-imagine a licensed character like Pac-Man, to fit Atari's needs. That would never happen today, in this world of licensing guides and strict key art that must be used.

Thanks for the bump, EM. The update is that we are still working on the book, and have begun proposal stage and talks with a different publisher. This is probably on a longer timeline, by virtue of the publishing cycle in this area, but I will keep everyone posted. Appreciate the interest. We are working to do something awesome here, and this actually will spin off into something else (see my signature line) that we are working on as well. I'm not quite ready to talk tons about it, but it's coming!

Well, I am the Exec Director of the soon-to-launch museum. We're focused on the art, design, illustration, and industrial design of classic video games. The evolution of the in-game character has been well-documented, but all of this is more about the marketing and the character evolution beyond the screen. I will go right to the source on this one, and see what Namco folks say.

I know some people at NAMCO Entertainment through my work at the Museum of Video Game Art. I should ask what their take on this monsters vs. ghosts issue is! Oh, and BTW, this game is wonderful! I didn't think anyone would go beyond Dennis' Pac-Man 4K. Great work!

I'm curious about what you'd be asking too.

Yes, we were hoping for them to be more open to it, but were disappointed in this. But it's actually okay in the long run. More soon.

What are you looking to get for it?

Impressive. MOST impressive!

Wonderful! Debro's Pac-Man 4K is awesome (I loved it so much I did the AA box art), and this is an amazing addition. The sound is excellent. Would love to see cutscenes/intermissions, especially if they can fit in 4K. But 8K would be rad too. Great work!!

I'd be potentially interested if it works. Though I'm Chicago, so not sure about shipping costs. Am I wrong, or is this part of a larger booth/kiosk?

I talked to the artist who did a lot of the artwork for Atari games (including SQ Waterworld) and that piece for Airworld was just a rough sketch and color study. It wasn't finished, but he said he thought someone else did some work on it to move it forward in that image. The bottom image on the mentioned Atarimania page (http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-swordquest-airworld_20304.html) that he calls a poster is not from Airworld. It was a promo piece created by comic book artist George Perez to be used on the AtariAge magazine, as the cover. It doesn't specifically represent Airworld.

Progress being made on some fronts, but not much I can talk about officially yet. Atari didn't like the licensing side of what we were proposing, but we still have some ways to put this book together without their licensing/ overt participation. Because of that, the overall style of book is shifting a little bit, but for now that seems to be a good thing, as it has opened up possibilities with another publisher we're talking to. But plans are still for it to be an informative, beautiful art book with lots of in depth info on the topic. That's a little cryptic, but I'll share more soon. Thanks, everyone, for the support. And Eyeball Mural, I owe you some messages. Sorry! Trying to dig myself out of a hole after a busy business trip.

Great news! Thanks for the update, Curt. Hope you're feeling better and I'll see you in Vegas!

Excellent! I will be there as well, and looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting new ones!

Sounds cool. Looking fwd to progress.

Beautiful! Is that a proto, or a real thing? Very excited about these!

I got an NTSC Spectravideo Compumate serial # BC0100004197. Beautiful and basically new with wrappings all inside.

Welcome to AA! I think we are set on the Atari catalogs and that poster -- thanks for checking.

Thanks so much for the support and encouragement, as well as all your great posts. Cliff is a friend, so I've gotten a chance to see a lot of his awesome stuff as well. No updates yet. If you missed it earlier, we have a list we're building for those interested: http://artofstella.launchrock.com/ Thanks, all.

When I was a kid we had a lot of fun with this game. Yes, the pits were hard, but we figured it out. If you read the manual the game was fun, and pretty unique for the time. Not as complicated as Indy, but more challenging and bigger layout of time than an arcade port. Should probably go down as one of the more innovative adventure games for the 2600.

This game is great and addicting! Great work, Thomas. Will there be background music?

Thanks for the offer, but I think I have it -- I just don't know who that last-named person is yet!

Yep, very cool!