Inspired by a love of retro gaming and a fair amount of booze, late one night a clever coder created Pac-Txt, an Infocom-style text adventure version of arcade classic Pac-Man.

Here’s how he explains the genesis of the project:

Well, I had just got back from a party where the concept of a Pac-Man + Zork hybrid came up as a joke. So, being 2am with a little alcohol in my system, I thought it’d be funny to code it up (as far as I could before collapsing).

So, a couple hours later it was looking complete-ish (minus the ghosts’ AIs and graphic assets).

The next morning [read: aftenoon] when I woke up, since I have an inability to realize sunk costs, I decided to throw some crappy AI in for the ghosts, put a few graphics on it (courtesy of FastIcon.com) and voila! A domain name purchase or two later, and here we go.

You just don’t find passion like that every day.

Though it’s good for a chuckle, the game actually isn’t all that fun, since your choices are pretty much limited to “forward,” “backward,” and “eat dot.”

Now, a text adventure version of Frogger, that would be exciting.

Source: Pac-Man, meet Zork via Cnet

Rockstar Games isn’t on the hook for the fact that hackers have removed the censorship filters from the PSP version of Manhunt 2, says Entertainment Software Ratings Board president Patricia Vance. What’s more, she doesn’t believe that the hack would change the game’s rating.

Contrary to some reports… we do not believe these modifications fully restore the product to the version that originally received an AO rating, nor is this a matter of unlocking content.

Well, hey. If restoring the game’s killing sequences to their original unretouched grossness doesn’t raise the game from an M to an AO, Rockstar should totally release a “Director’s Cut” version of the game, don’t you think?

At any rate, Vance says that because Rockstar was totally upfront with the board about the content in the game, they don’t believe that they omitted any required information from their submission.

Source: Ars Technica

Want to be rid of double-A batteries? Red Octane is here to help.

The Guitar Hero makers are offering a USB-rechargeable lithium battery pack that works with the new Guitar Hero III wireless controllers for PS3, PS2, and Xbox 360. Yes: the same device works with all three.

You can grab one for $20.00 USD off their website.

If you haven’t yet purchased Guitar Hero III, they offer bundles of the game, the recharge kit, and a whole mess of other stuff included for $130.00 USD.

Less than 24 hours after the game’s release, hackers have found a way to reinstate the violent scenes in the PSP version of Manhunt 2.

The hack restores the game to its original full-gore version, which means that Rockstar didn’t cut offensive material in order to get the M rating, they simply disabled it.

The question is, did they follow that route for simple expediency, or because they knew they could count on the gaming community to find a way to play the game the way Rockstar originally intended? Perhaps a bit of both.

Let the countdown to the ESRB’s inevitable freakout begin. I figure we’ll also be hearing from a certain Floridian lawyer before long, too.

Source: GamesIndustry

When Xbox Live becomes available in India on November 5th, it will offer rentals of 360 games, and educational content, with Video Marketplace content soon to follow.

Thanks to Microsoft’s partnership with Seventymm (India’s version of Netflix), Live subscribers will also be able to rent the latest 360 titles for a set number of days.

“Education specific learning aids for grades 1-12” will also be available, though I’m not quite sure what that means just yet.

Once the Video Marketplace is up and running, users will be able to download pre-released UTV Bollywood films, as well as content related to upcoming films like Hanuman.

Given Microsoft’s spin that the 360 Arcade is for families, might we see educational material show up on Live in North America soon?

I’m personally more interested in that game rental service, though. The guarantee that the title you want would be available, 24/7, is really appealing.

The Guitar Hero III demo is now available on Xbox Live, though you may have already tried it if you picked up Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground or the December issue of Official Xbox Magazine.

You may even have downloaded a less-than-legal copy from various websites last week, though I don’t encourage such behavior. Yarr.

You don’t need a guitar to play the demo, but obviously it’s more enjoyable if you use one.

The demo includes five songs:

• Lay Down (Priestess)
• Rock You Like a Hurricane (Scorpions)
• Even Flow (Pearl Jam)
• Hit Me with Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar)
• The Metal (Tenacious D)

Guitar Hero III is going to be one of the best selling games of 2007 I believe. Thoughts?