From GamePolitics.

PAC-MAN TO BE HONORED AT INTERNATIONAL VIDEO GAME HALL OF FAME



"Pac-Man will be the first game to be inducted at the International Video Game Hall of Fame in Ottumwa, Iowa with four days of ceremonies starting Thursday. Certainly The ghost chomping, power pellet eating Pac-Man deserves such an honor. The Hall will have 29 inductees that includes Pac-Man as the first game with the help of Shigeru Miyamoto, Namco founder Masaya Nakamura, and gaming champs Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe and Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel.

Supporters of the International Video Game Hall of Fame are hoping that this event will spur some funds for the museum, which has a goal to eventually collect more than 100,000 coin arcade and home video games produced in the last 25 years. A tall order for sure, but something that the founders - like William Day of Twin Galaxies - are committed to. Day and Otummwa officials compare the museum to the great sports museums in the United States like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY or the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Ma.

"This is something Tokyo, Los Angeles or New York should be doing, but it is Ottumwa that is stepping up and taking a swing," he says. A valid point given the origins of many classic arcade videogames.

Still, it is a win for Pac-Man's creators, who deserve to be honored for creating such a long lasting cultural icon."