Here’s an Adolescent Pac-Man Taking On … Social Issues?

I really regret not writing about Avi Arad’s re-imaging of Pac-Man after seeing a teaser video during E3 last week, but now that GameTrailers has posted the video (minus 3D), you can probably get a sense of how dumbstruck I was at the time. The video debuted at Namco’s party to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pac-Man, and shows an adolescent dot muncher tasked with saving a world overrun by ghosts. It’s corny, for sure, which only adds intrigue to the way Arad, former chief executive of Marvel Studios, talks about it.

“As a filmmaker, it’s a unique opportunity to get to know the characters you play,” Arad told Variety. “… We don’t know what happened to Pac-Man’s parents. He’s the only yellow one in Pac-Land; what does that mean? Is it a social statement? We’ll find out.”

That, or we won’t. Arad hasn’t yet started shopping the idea around to studios and distributors, so really the ball is in the court of anyone who wants to turn this video into a television series. Might be worthwhile just to see what Arad is talking about (You have wondered what happened to Pac-Man’s parents, haven’t you?), though if I were a studio executive, I’d have other Pac-Man projects in the pipeline. [via GameSetWatch]