Pac Man Founder Calls It Quits with New Version

For a video game legend, Wednesday's release of "Pac Man Championship Edition" for Xbox 360 will mark the end of a nearly three-decade career for one of gaming's most illustrious developers.

Toru Iwatani, now 52, will retire from Namco -- the company that helped propel his game to worldwide acclaim -- and turn his focus to mentoring the next generation of developers by teaching at Tokyo Polytechnic University.

The new Pac Man title was personally designed by Iwatani and is his last with the company. Its debut came at the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championships, where finalists got the first chance to play the game.

While new games based on the popular franchise may be released in the future, Iwatani will not be directly involved with them. He did open the possibility of working in an advisory role or letting his students create the next sequel.

Pac Man Championship Edition operates much like the original version, yet offers some enhancements over previous versions. Iwatani said that he wanted to capture the feel of the original game when creating the new one.

Those interested in the game would be able to download it from the Xbox Live Marketplace for the equivalent of about $10.