Pac-Man Battle Royale coming to e3?

e3 is one of the largest annual expos to feature the latest in video game developments. They have consistently lacked one side of the game industry however and that is arcade games. I personally believe that if arcade titles were at this particular show it could go a long way towards promoting the entire industry, dissolving the idea that arcades are dead among many gamers.

Namco sent out some press invitations yesterday, inviting people who got them to a special post-e3 event on June 15th to celebrate Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary (which is officially on May 22nd).  Namco will be “revisiting the rich history” of Pac-Man at the event by offering hands-on time with a plethora of Pac-Man titles on “console, mobile, arcade and more”. Of note in the invitation is that Avi Arad, former CEO of Marvel Studios who now works for Namco Bandai as an executive adviser will be providing “insight into the worldwide premiere of his newest PAC-MAN project, following his legacy of work (X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc).” Because Pac-Man Battle Royale already made it’s premiere at Amusement Expo in March, and it’s being helmed by Kunito Komori I do not believe that this project is PMBR. I do believe however that PMBR will be at this event, giving some outside of the arcade industry their first chance to try it out. I won’t be able to make it there as I have an international trip coming up in a couple of weeks that will be using up my travel funds for a while but I am sure that there will be plenty of coverage of this event on a number of game blogs out there.

UPDATE: Speaking of Pac-Man’s 30th, GamesetWatch has a post up about official Pac-Man 30th anniversary wineglass set that goes on sale in Japan in two months. Seems to be a little excessive but I guess if you’re going to celebrate something, go all the way right?