155
votes
Accepted
Was Pac-man originally named "Puck-man"?
Was his name originally Puck-man? And if so, was it changed for the stated reason?
In a 2010 interview with Wired (archive link), the creator of Pac Man, Toru Iwatani, explicitly verified this:
...
- 1,182
84
votes
Was Pac-man originally named "Puck-man"?
YES.
If the only thing suspicious here is the PAKU -> PUCK transformation, consider this website's picture of a Pac-man poster, also featured right above this text. In smaller katakana symbols above ...
- 1,283
58
votes
Can video games cause seizures?
Yes, video games can cause seizures, even in people without a prior history. For example, as described in the 1994 paper Video game induced seizures:
Fifteen patients who experienced epileptic ...
- 34.1k
46
votes
Do video gamers tend to be conservative and have a large voter turnout?
The small print on the pdf declares that it was from an online survey targeting american adults who play video games. Online surveys have pretty bad self-selection issues.
ESA looks like it's not ...
- 3,677
32
votes
Accepted
Did Minecraft sell 600 million copies?
Minecraft has not sold 600 million copies
As far as I've been able to find, Microsoft has not released a new total or annual count of Minecraft sales since the 238 million figure. Comparing to past ...
- 2,401
20
votes
Accepted
Do video gamers tend to be conservative and have a large voter turnout?
Here is a press release that gives slightly more information about the survey.
The first-of-its-kind survey explored the political attitudes of video game players, providing a snapshot of their ...
- 1,214
17
votes
Has Pokémon Go caused hundreds of deaths?
This is the research paper in question.
The research paper was just released Nov 18th, 2017. Typically it takes some time for a proper peer review, and with a proper peer review, the next step for ...
- 1,176
17
votes
Are most gamers unable to complete the first level of Super Mario Bros.?
The Wired article links to a less-than-reliable source that appears to be a personal blog. That article links to a most reliable source, a transcript of Nintendo's 73rd annual stockholder meeting, in ...
- 369
12
votes
Are most gamers unable to complete the first level of Super Mario Bros.?
It's simply lazy journalism on Wired's part. The blog they reference, p4rgaming.com, is clearly a 'joke' news site:
http://www.p4rgaming.com/ign-changing-review-score-range-from-1-10-to-7-10/
http://...
- 221
9
votes
Accepted
In 1982 did then President Ronald Reagan send a letter to an 8-year-old kid congratulating him on getting a Pac-Man high score?
There are two 1983 references that say he got a letter from Reagan
The 18 May 1983 article SF's Pac-Man Whiz Jeffrey Yee Scores Big East West: The Chinese-American News Magazine, page 11, says:
...
- 109k
8
votes
Can video games cause seizures?
Yes. Unlike television or movies, video games are an interactive medium, giving each player a different experience. This unpredictability makes it difficult for developers to catch potentially seizure-...
- 191
6
votes
Has Pokémon Go caused hundreds of deaths?
I think the Science take on this is noteworthy in that it didn't mention the extrapolation, but only
The gaming-related accidents, which increased by 26.5% near Pokéstops over the first 5 months ...
6
votes
Can Doom run on a car's infotainment system?
Is this video legitimate?
This particular video appears to be a hoax:
The video above is a joke that some people seem to not be getting. RIffing off the "you can put Doom on anything" meme, ...
- 147
2
votes
Did a woman go blind after playing a mobile game?
According to a 看看新闻 news report, yes, an (at the time) 21-year-old Chinese woman regularly binge-played the mobile game 王者荣耀 and lost vision in her right eye (via retinal vein occlusion or "eye ...
- 9,280
1
vote
Accepted
Who coined "gamification" term?
The thesis GAMIFICATION AND THE CREATION OF ACADEMIC WRITER’S IDENTITY says
The history of the term gamification is not necessarily a clear one. According to Burke; Nick Pelling coined the word “...
- 109k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible