Pac-Pix chomping on the DS

Namco Hometek today announced that Pac-Pix has shipped to retail outlets for the Nintendo DS. The game stars Pac-Man, one of the legends of the gaming industry in unusual territory--a puzzle adventure.

The ghosts have returned to haunt Pac-Man with more nuisances, and it's up to him to do what he does best--eat 'em. After a wizard creates "ghost ink," everything subsequently drawn with the fluid turns into ghosts. Pac-Man tries to trap the ghosts in a book using his own trusty pen, but he gets stuck in the book along with his foes.

"Pac-Pix lets players express their creativity through the DS's stylus and touch screen by drawing Pac-Man and a variety of items to track down pesky Ghosts," said Yoshi Niki, business unit director at Namco Hometek Inc. "People have been drawing Pac-Man for 25 years, and we now have the capability to let players bring these drawings to life in an all-new adventure."

Gamers will wield the DS stylus as Pac-Man's pen, and control the hero by drawing walls that direct him one way or another. As the game progresses, both ghosts and Pac-Man will travel between the dual screens. In order to attack enemies on the top screen, gamers will doodle arrows and fire them upward, coaxing the specters to the lower screen and into Pac-Man's gut.

Pac-Pix is rated E for Everyone and retails for $29.99. For more information on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.