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Dine Out Like It’s 1989 At The World’s First Pac-Man Restaurant

December 18, 2014, 12:00AM

Craving a hot, fresh plate of dots? Need a little waka-waka-waka in your life? A new restaurant in suburban Chicago, Illinois will be opening to serve your needs very soon.

A 40,000-square foot Pac-Man-themed restaurant, named Level 257 (taking its moniker from the number following the original Pac-Man arcade game’s infamous Level 256 “kill screen“), is set to open in a space formerly occupied by Sears at Schaumburg, Illinois’ Woodfield Mall in January.

Pac-Man creator/publisher Namco is taking an active role in Level 257′s creation, overseeing its development with plans to use the restaurant to celebrate the beloved ghost slayer’s 35th birthday in May. “Level 257 seeks to explore Pac-Man’s impact upon our society and pop culture, reminding us all of the importance of play in our lives, while facilitating our desire to relive those times when beating the next level was the most important thing in our world,” Namco says on Level 257′s official website.

Level 257 concept drawing (photo credit: Chicago Tribune)

Level 257′s official Tumblr reveals plans to integrate the 180-seat restaurant into a bigger entertainment complex. Details include “sixteen boutique retro-styled bowling lanes with smart technology, table tennis, pinball machines and our Lost & Found games parlor”, as well as a “first-of-its-kind Pac-Man shop” and “gallery space” documenting the dot muncher’s legacy.

Level 257 stands as the latest entry in a long series of tie-ins and franchising opportunities for one of classic gaming’s most enduring tentpole characters. Fans hungry for more recent Pac-Man appearances in popular media can also catch him in Disney‘s 2012 paean to arcades Wreck-It Ralph, Nintendo‘s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, and upcoming Adam Sandler movie Pixels.

CREATIVE: Get Behind The Wheel Of Honda’s Civic Type R With Xbox One

BY Lauren Arevalo-Downes

December 17, 2014, 12:00AM

Honda has teamed up with Microsoft Advertising to create a lap trial around the world famous Nürburgring through Microsoft’s Xbox One as a track in the game Forza Motorsport 5. The whole thing is to promote the Civic Type R, which Honda recently showcased in a beautiful campaign on their YouTube page.

Users record and share their fastest times using Xbox Upload. The whole competition runs until the end of the month where 10 winners will be chosen and featured in the next video.

CREATIVE: Top Trailers Of The Week: December 17

BY Lauren Arevalo-Downes

December 17, 2014, 12:00AM

Grand Theft Auto V – Online Heists Trailer

“I know you’ve been… complaining, but you weren’t ready.” People have been none too pleased that their copies of GTA V still don’t include online heists, and Rockstar put everyone in their place in the first line of this trailer. Alas, we can all cool our jets (pun intended, you’ll see), because they’re finally, almost, here. Though, it’s not like your time in GTA has been a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch v=Oj02uCuanWE" target="_blank">waste of time thus far</a>. Take a look at the explosive bank robbing goodness you’ll be partaking in with GTA V Online Heists.DMC Devil May Cry – Announcement Trailer  <div class="videoWrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7pmTb2esZHY" frameborder="0">

With reissues and HD Masters being all the rage these days, Devil May Cry becomes the next prior gen title to be given the current gen treatment. Not only will players get DMC in 1080p at 60 frames, but the disc comes chock full of new game modes and all of the DLC ever released for the game. Oh yeah, and it’s only $39.99. If you were a fan of the original or have been looking for an excuse to give it a spin, this is the time.

Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor – Lord of the Hunt DLC

Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor has been widely lauded (it’s already winning Game of the Year awards) for its excellent Nemesis system: an ever-evolving hierarchy of Orc War Chiefs and Officers with unique strengths and weaknesses for you to cut your way through. When you took out the top dog, another would get promoted in his place, and they remember who you are and what you’ve done to them and their fallen comrades.

Warner Bros. is hanging on to the classic rule “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” With their newest DLC instalment; Lord of the Hunt introduces a new set of War Chiefs for you to stalk and take down. Have at you, dirty orcs!

Mark Zuckerberg gave his second Q and A today on a dedicated Facebook page, giving Facebook users a way to interact with the head honcho of the world’s biggest social media platform in the same way Facebook’s employees do.

This Q and A followed much the same format as the last one, with questions both from an actual audience at the event and popular questions on a Facebook thread posted beforehand.

First up was insight on whether or not Facebook will implement a “dislike” button. Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that “sometimes people don’t feel comfortable pressing ‘Like’ for sad news,” but ultimately, he doesn’t think Facebook needs a “voting mechanism” to judge whether or not a post is good or bad.

When a question pooled from the Facebook thread called out Facebook as being a “time waster,” Zuckerberg rebuffed the question by saying he didn’t think there was anything wasteful about building relationships on the platform.

“We try to give everybody the voice to share the things that matter to them in so many ways,” he said.

One of the biggest issues at hand for Facebook as of late is their username policy. Very early on in the Q and A, this policy was addressed when Zuckerberg said other social platforms are more separate from reality, but the goal of Facebook is to be more connected to real life.

“If you’re connected to your real-life identity, there’s more accountability,” he said, going on to say it is an important part of what makes Facebook a safe platform. “We take our role in civic debate really seriously.”

Throughout the Q and A, there was a recurring theme of Facebook being taken more seriously than just a social platform. After all, in sheer user numbers, Facebook’s “population” would be higher than many countries. Zuckerberg feels that Facebook should be used like a public service, seeing the platform as a sort of social catalyst that makes a difference in the real world. Zuckerberg even called for politicians to connect with their constituents on Facebook:

“It’s important to know what people are talking about, not just analysts and people in charge of companies.”

Zuckerberg voiced his impatience in getting Graph Search off the ground for non-English speaking users now that the feature has rolled out for the mobile app. “A lot of Facebook right now is day-to-day; however, there’s a big opportunity to keep knowledge around, learn from wisdom,” he said about accessing and searching for the data in Facebook’s over a trillion individual posts.

Also touched on was Facebook’s very controversial study on how users’ emotions could be manipulated by the platform. Zuckerberg fumbled through the answer, saying it was important for Facebook to know how people could be affected by good or bad posts and how that influenced their behavior.

“We need to make sure that when we make changes, they’re positive social changes.”