Pac-Man makes wireless comeback

In Japan, Pac-Man has been resurrected in wireless

By CNN's Kristie Lu Stout

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- The best-loved brands of the retro gaming era are staging a comeback in Asia thanks to mobile technology.

At a time when game companies are fighting to survive in an increasingly crowded industry, software makers are seeking extra revenues in the small-screen world of wireless gaming.

To take on the limited-bandwidth platform in full force, publishers like Namco and Infogrames are resurrecting their low-res and instantly recognizable titles like Pac-Man, Frogger, and Asteroids.

Mobile killer apps

"There is a market for Namco and Infogrames to squeeze extra revenue out of their properties," said West LB's Tokyo-based game analyst Zachary Liggett.

"There's enough competition between handset makers, network providers and PDA makers to get a killer app to give to customers," he added.

In April 2000, Japan's Namco established the Web & Mobile Content Project Team to promote content distribution over mobile networks.

The publisher recently released its Pac-Man title through Namco Station, a game site for NTT DoCoMo's wildly popular I-Mode Internet data service. Namco also has a distribution alliance with Sharp's PDA products.

France's Infogrames, which now owns Atari after it acquired Hasbro Interactive earlier this year, is also reproducing its cache of 20-year-old titles to run on mobile devices. Six Java-compatible games will be released this September with UK-based developer Ifone.

Breakout in Beijing

Though Infogrames has yet to announce its Asian strategy for mobile Atari games, the company's Greater China managing director sees strong potential in bringing Breakout to Beijing.

"They are very suitable for this market," said Infogrames Taiwan-based managing director William Wang.

"Atari's games are first focused on casual gamers, not hard-core gamers. Since PDA and mobile users are from different backgrounds, they are really Atari's target market."

"Secondly, they are family-oriented entertainment games that are simple and easy to play."

Mobile gaming is expected to surge in the next few years as software developers design titles to exploit faster mobile networks and more sophisticated handsets.

But in the meantime, as consumers go mobile at a mere 9kbps, publishers like Namco and Infogrames stand to benefit from the low-bandwidth and high in-store recognition of their arcade game classics.