Canadian Man Will Compete in First-Ever Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship

TORONTO, ON — May 30, 2007 — More than 30,000 “Pac-Man®” players in 25 countries recently spent thousands of hours eating up Power Pellets and avoiding Pinky, Inky, Blinky and Clyde– all in the quest to advance to the championship round at the first-ever Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship, presented by Quiznos. Players competed by playing for the highest score on “Pac-Man” – one of the most beloved video games of all time – on Xbox LIVE® Arcade on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from May 4 – May 10, 2007. Today, Microsoft Corp. and NAMCO BANDAI Games, Inc. revealed that Dwayne Richard, age 38, from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada will be flown to New York City to compete for the right to be crowned as the first-ever Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Champion by Toru Iwatani – the creator of Pac-Man – on June 5, 2007 in New York City’s Times Square.

Dwayne Richard has been playing Pac-Man since its initial launch in the early 1980’s. In fact, it is the first video game he learnt to play and he’s been a die-hard fan of the ghost gobbling pop culture icon ever since. In addition to shattering multiple video game world records, Dwayne is a graduate student interested in Theology and Philosophy, a soccer player as well as an aspiring author.

Including Dwayne Richard, the ten finalists for the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship are based around the globe on four continents and in eight countries: U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Austria, New Zealand and Singapore. The Xbox 360 “Pac-Man” World Champion will receive worldwide acclaim from being the first-ever Xbox 360 “Pac-Man” World Champion and gain a place in gaming history. The winner of the finals will also receive other great prizes, including 26 years of free Quiznos toasted subs (one sandwich a week for 26 years, a $13,520 (U.S.) value), 100,000 Microsoft Points for games, movies and other fun content available on Xbox LIVE, and a one-of-a-kind Xbox 360 featuring a special design inspired by “Pac-Man” and autographed by Toru Iwatani, the game’s creator.