Pac-Man has been a household name for decades now, and fans are always wondering when they will get to see their favorite yellow circle again. Earlier this month, Bandai Namco announced that they would be taking Pac-Man into a new market: the Amazon Alexa. New, interactive stories featuring Pac-Man will be available for fans of all ages to enjoy in Pac-Man Stories.
In the announcement, it is stated that users will follow Pac-Man in an interactive story. Throughout the story, players will be given various choices during the tale, and these choices will determine how Pac-Man will act. These choices will ultimately affect the outcome of the story making each playthrough unique. The first interactive story for this project collaboration is Pac-Man and the Ghastly Garbage.
This project also happens to be the first thing developed by new Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe Innovation Department. This department aims to help innovate, develop, and bring entertainment to new heights to all. When asked about the project collaboration in a press release, Naoki Katashima, President and COO of Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, stated that “Voice-controlled services are an exciting technology with this great vision of being in everyone’s home and used by any family member. It just seemed natural to us to use our iconic character Pac-Man to create fun interactive stories for all ages together with our company vision to provide dreams, fun, and inspiration to people around the world.”
This is not the first instance of Alexa making its way into the gaming market. Later this month, Alexa will be able to help players in the highly anticipated Detroit: Become Human. It is obvious that developers and producers see potential in Amazon Alexa, so we will definitely be seeing more unique ideas and integrations with Alexa in the future.
Pac-Man and the Ghastly Garbage is available right nowfor Alexa, and more Pac-Man Stories episodes will be released for the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot throughout the summer.