Toru Iwatani
| Toru Iwatani 岩谷徹 |
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|---|---|
| File:Toru Iwatani.jpeg
Toru Iwatani (2015)
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| Born | January 25, 1955 Meguro, Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Video game designer |
| Known for | Pac-Man |
Toru Iwatani (岩谷 徹 Iwatani Tōru?, born January 25, 1955) is a former Japanese video game designer. He is best known as the creator of the arcade games Pac-Man (1980) and Pole Position (1982).[1]
Life and career
Iwatani was born in the Meguro ward of Tokyo, Japan. He joined the computer software company Namco in 1977.[2] This is where he started his career in the video game business. There, he came up with the idea for a game called "Pakku-Man" and in 1980, he, along with programmer Shigeo Funaki (舟木 茂雄), a hardware engineer, a cabinet designer and Toshio Kai (甲斐 敏夫) for sound and music, finished the game. It was released to the Japanese public on May 22 of that year, where it became a huge success. It caught the attention of arcade-game manufacturer Midway, who bought the United States rights for the game and released the game in the U.S. as Pac-Man. Due to its innovative concept and continuing international popularity, it is regarded as one of the all-time classic video games. Iwatani returned to his Pac-Man roots in 2007 when he developed Pac-Man Championship Edition for the Xbox 360, which he states is the final game he will develop.[3]
Iwatani went on to create a few other video games, including Libble Rabble, but none of them reached the amount of success that Pac-Man did. He was promoted within the ranks of Namco, eventually being responsible for overseeing the administration of the company. In a VH-1 Game Break interview, Iwatani said he did not personally profit from the creation of Pac-Man, saying, "The truth of the matter is, there were no rewards per se for the success of Pac-Man. I was just an employee. There was no change in my salary, no bonus, no official citation of any kind."[4] From April 2005 he taught the subject of Character Design Studies at Osaka University of Arts as visiting professor. Iwatani left Namco in March 2007 to become a full-time lecturer at Tokyo Polytechnic University.[5]
On June 2, 2010 just before visiting an event called the Festival of Games in the Netherlands, Iwatani was photographed showing the original sketches of Pac-Man, making it the first public appearance of these designs.[6][7]
The next day, June 3, 2010, at the Festival of Games, Iwatani received a certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having the most "coin-operated arcade machines" installed world wide: 293,822. The record was set and recognized in 2005, and recorded in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008.[8]
Iwatani made a cameo appearance in the film Pixels, which prominently features Pac-Man as an antagonist. A fictionalized version of Iwatani, portrayed by Denis Akiyama, also appears in the film.
Writings
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References
- ↑ http://ign.com/articles/2015/04/03/the-top-10-most-influential-racing-games-ever?page=2
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External links
- Toru Iwatani at the Internet Movie Database
- Detailed Toru Iwatani biography at PAC-MAN Museum
- Q&A: Pac-Man Creator Reflects on 30 Years of Dot-Eating at Wired.com
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