Sadly, it's a static set-up, so you won't spend ages hypnotized by Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde's attempts to catch the little yellow pill-gobbler. It should, however, let those memories of hours spent feeding quarters into a machine down at the arcade come flooding back. On display at the recent Maison & Objet 2008 show in Paris, we don't know if the Pac-Man lighting system is available to buy yet. [Technabob]

Sure, it would have been cool for the tree to be fully animated, with characters moving freely around the tree. But for now, we'll just appreciate the time honored tradition of ghost chomping. Between the tree and his Christmas special that's on Cartoon Network every year, Pac-Man clearly loves the holidays. [Clipset via Technabob]

That's your pie chart quota for the day, we promise we shall not make your brains implode by posting any more for 24 hours. [Shirt.Woot, Flickr]

ETRI built KOBIE and RABIE as "Mental Commitment Robots,'' geared to help mentally ill people by providing psychological comfort. When you poke KOBIE the robotic koala, he rolls over and stares grumpily into your face, until he recognizes you. If you hit him once, he will be frightened, but if you hit him several times, his surprise turns to fear. "He can calculate whether you like him or not," says a head of research at ETRI.

KOBIE's target audience is the elderly, and its koala form was chosen both because it is cuddly and because koalas are known to be lazy, so KOBIE's lack of quick motor skills would be less noticed. In spite of this deficiency, he is "by far the most advanced robotic pet made in Korea," according to the the Korea Times. KOBIE's less comfortingly named brother RABIE, the world's second known networked rabbit, is aimed at children, and it uses clear emoticons to express itself, rather than more nuanced facial ticks. He also doubles as a nannycam, transmitting video of his playtime to PCs and mobile phones.

ETRI should probably work on the names, though. It's a little creepy for me to think of giving my kids RABIEs—and letting my grandma sleep with KOBIE. [The Korea Times; Akihabara News; Video from B2B Story]

Volunteers were asked to try and outrun a virtual predator who was stalking them round a maze. If he caught up with them, Bzzzzzt! they were given a shock to the hand.

If the ghostie was far away, players used the prefrontal cortex region of the brain, which deals with complex planning tasks. If the ghostie got up close and personal with Pac-Man, brain activity shifted to the periaqueductal gray, a more primitive area which governs quick-response survival mechanisms, such as fight, flight or freeze.

The research will be used to help scientists better understand anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks. [Guardian Unlimited]

The Pac-Man Plush-Head costs $29.99 for eternal delinquents and $24.99 for kids. Something tells me they'll be gobbled up faster than Pac-Man pops pills. [ClubNAMCO via Shiny Shiny]

Ms. Pac-Man now available for iPod [iLounge]

Jump for Tetris and Pac Man

Watch A Chimp Play Ms. Pac-Man [Kotaku]

Our second favorite class from when we were in grad school at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program was taught by game designer Frank Lantz of area/code. The best project—certainly the most copyright infringing one—to come out of his Big Games class this past semester might just be the Nintendo Amusement Park, "a real life obstacle course which a player jumps through using a power assist harness."

The current set-up is as basic as basic can be: it uses bungee cords, with the player attached to a fixed point on the ceiling. If they manage to get funding, the group behind the project will build a 2-axis ceiling track with a haptic winch, which "would be responsible for determining where the player wanted to go in 3D space and delivering them there safely." Watch the lovingly-crafted commercial (in Japanese, with English subtitles!) on the site to get an idea of what they're trying to do, and how much fun it could be; we're looking forward to trying it out ourselves sometime soon. Hopefully they get their wish and a big company pays them to develop the idea further to make a fun booth for E3 2007.

(Extra bonus item, which some of you may have seen before: our favorite project from 2004's Big Games class (a.k.a. the one we couldn't get into because NYU's registration software screwed us over), was PacManhattan, an urban game that used the streets of Manhattan to recreate the PacMan grid. )

Nintendo Amusement Park [via teendrama]

The machines in the game room are not all—Hirshberg has even more in another room that he's refurbishing. He has tons of pinball machines, too. Who is this guy, and how can we get him to invite us to his house? Amazing.

Luna City Arcade [via Digg]

Tiny Armour: Ghost Pendant (Large) [starsandinfinitedarkness]

Product Page [ExtremToysforBoys via Red Ferret]

Yes, I know it seems like a video game kit may be the perfect Valentine's Day gift for your lady, but guys, I'm here to tell ya that unless she's really, REALLY cool, you may want to skip the Dream Arcades limited edition Pink or Red-themed Arcade Kits with pink or red ball-top joysticks and t-molding. Though the "gift of game" is being marketed as the perfect way to please her this February 14, maybe the limited-edition Valentine's Day version of the head-to-head and side-by-side arcade kits isn't really worth the $1049. In fact, I can assure you that two nights at the Four Seasons will make you a much happier man than a few hours of Ms. Pac Man—unless she's a Real Doll and/or is really into pies with pink bows. The Arcade kits are compatible with PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 and upgrade control panels can be added to the kits for $169. That's just in case you don't take my advice.

Dream Arcades offers special themed arcades for Valentines Day [Dream Arcades]

Product Page [Gamebrink]