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Ms. Pac-Man's still got it

DigitalLife 2007 visitors flock to Namco booth for old-school gaming despite <i>Halo III</i> and <i>Guitar Hero</i> presence.

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headshots_Candace_Lombardi_140x100.jpg
Candace Lombardi
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.
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Candace Lombardi
Candace Lombardi/CNET News.com
Cell phone on arcarde game machine.
Namco attached phones to arcade games to show off mobile gaming. Candace Lombardi/CNET News.com

NEW YORK--It seems people like any excuse to play any video game.

While Halo III and Guitar Hero may be drawing a crowd at DigitalLife 2007, so were classics like Ms. Pac-man.

Namco had a large space at DigitalLife to remind gamers that video games of the '80s are now available for their phone.

Namco offers games like Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Mr. Do, Popeye, Snoopy and the Flying Ace, Galaga and even board games like Scene It?.

The games are available, regardless of your carrier, for the Palm OS, Windows Mobile phones, the iPod and the Sidekick, as well as others.

To show this off, the company had working cell phones attached to arcade machines for the corresponding game.

Do you think people would really flock to play games they've played hundreds of times before on a large screen, just to try it on a cell phone?

Apparently, lots of people love just that.

People did not seem to mind at all that they were standing at an arcade machine, yet playing on a 2-inch screen.

The Namco area has been drawing a crowd for two days, which I can only imagine will grow as the show is opened to the public.