If you were an obsessive video game fan in the summer of 1994, you'll remember where you were when Edge magazine's August issue dropped. By then, Sony had already announced its intention to develop the PlayStation console – the previous October – but it was the cover feature in the world's most forward-looking game publication that really blew open the possibilities of the machine. As well as listing its specifications in full, Edge secured enthusiastic statements of support from Capcom, Namco and Konami. One breathless developer told the mag: "It's going to revolutionise the way computers are at the moment." Suddenly, the whole structure of the console games business was being threatened. All it needed was a push.

My parents were somewhat sceptical of video games when I was growing up. I did have a SNES and then an N64 as a child, but I was allowed to play them only at weekends, so on Fridays I would come home from school and binge on Mario 64 with a huge pack of Haribo Tangfastics. My gaming horizons didn't broaden until I was a teenager, when I started earning enough of my own money to buy myself a PlayStation 2 and I started hanging out on forums with other nerds whose gaming worlds were significantly broader than mine. And the PlayStation 2 had some weird games. The N64 did to an extent – I nurture an enduring fondness for Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon – but not like Sony's console.

A bundle of classic Namco games called the Namcot collection is making its way to the Nintendo Switch. One of the titles you can get with the bundle is a NES version of Pac-Man Championship Edition, which was (as The Verge notes) originally created as a remake of Pac-Man for the Xbox 360. So technically, Namco reimagined an HD remake in NES-style graphics. Unlike the original, each level for this 2007 version of the beloved classic is played within a certain time limit. The game gets faster the longer you stay alive, and the goal is to get the highest score possible.

It was on this day in 1980 that one of gaming's most iconic characters made his debut. The idea for the character came to him when he removed a slice from a pizza. "When you think about things women like, you think about fashion, or fortune-telling, or food or dating boyfriends. So I decided to theme the game around'eating'." Blinky constantly chases Pac-Man, Pinky attempts to ambush him, Inky is randomised depending on Pac-Man's position and Clyde will get close to the player then attempt to flee to the bottom left corner, potentially cutting off escape routes.

If you're a gamer on a budget, you don't have to drop hundreds of dollars on a console or $60 a pop on the latest triple-A titles. Chances are you already have a fantastic gaming machine in your pocket: your smartphone. While you won't get the graphics of a high-end PC or the community of PSN, your phone can scratch that gaming itch for a fraction of the price. Smartphones are especially powerful these days, making them ripe for a massive number of legitimate gaming experiences. You'll be able to find console ports available for far less money than on a PS4, Switch or Xbox, as well as mobile-only titles that can be just as fun (if not more) than anything you'll find at Best Buy or GameStop.

More games are coming to the Nintendo Switch this summer. Among the titles that players should watch out for are Namco's classic arcade games from the '80s. The Japanese video game developer and publisher has just announced that it is a releasing a compilation of its famous games on Nintendo's new console. On Tuesday, Namco announced via a YouTube-uploaded video that it is launching "Namco Museum" this summer. The new compilation is said to bring the classic arcade games to the console hybrid.

Masaya Nakamura, founder of Namco and frequently referred to as the father of Pac-Man, died on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 91. What we know today as developer and publisher Bandai Namco began as a Japanese company that made children's rides for department stores, called Nakamura Manufacturing, founded by Nakamura in 1955. The Namco name is an acronym that was eventually derived from the 1958 reorganization as Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company. In 1974, the company acquired Atari's struggling Japanese division, a move that would see the launch of several iconic arcade games in the 70s and 80s, though the companies would eventually part ways in 1987. Nakamura is recognized as a pioneer in the golden age of arcade video games, which includes the major commercial success of Pac-Man in 1980.

Masaya Nakamura, the founder of game developer and distributor Namco Ltd. and known as "the father of Pac-Man," died Jan. 22, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. announced Monday via a corporate website. The cause of death was not announced. After graduating in 1948 from Yokohama Kogyo Senmon Gakko (now Yokohama National University), he founded Nakamura Seisakusho in 1955, which was renamed Namco in 1977. The company developed numerous hit video games, including "Galaxian," "Pac-Man" and "Ridge Racer," that could be played on home consoles or in entertainment facilities such as game centers. Namco merged with Bandai Co. in 2005 to form Bandai Namco Group, and its game production assets were branched into Bandai Namco Games Inc. in 2006, which is now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Nakamura was a chairman and a supreme adviser of Bandai Namco Entertainment since 2006.