Video game:Atari Q*Bert

Unchanged for decades, the titular character of Gottlieb's 1982 arcade game, Q*Bert, is still little and orange with a nose that shoots projectiles. Created by Warren Davis and Jeff Lee, this 2D isometric platform game became both a huge critical and commercial success during the golden age of arcade video games. It also prompted sequels such as Q*Bert's Qubes and Q*Bert 3�which feature different villains and new cube-filled planes of gameplay�not to mention television shows, console games, and innumerable merchandised products. The original Q*Bert sold 25,000 arcade cabinets, many of which are now collector's items. Q*Bert's gameplay focuses on jumping around a pyramid of cubes, changing the color of a cube when Q*Bert lands on it. On the arcade cabinet, players use a joystick to help Q*Bert avoid his enemies�a purple snake named Coily, two purple creatures named Ugg and Wrong-Way, and Slick and Sam, two green creatures who alter cubes' colors. From a third-person perspective, the player views the pyramid as a puzzle which must be altered to match a target color or pattern despite Q*Bert's obstacles. Stages increase in difficulty, and the player may have to change a cube multiple times to achieve the target color. Q*Bert dies upon colliding with enemies or falling off the pyramid, swearing both audibly and visually @!#?@! as he does so. Some aspects of the game such as additional characters or items aid Q*Bert in his task, freezing enemies or helping Q*Bert hover safely off the pyramid. Critics praised Q*Bert for interesting and addictive gameplay, plus extremely well-utilized graphics and colors for the time. Several companies have since published 3D remakes of Q*Bert, most notably on the PlayStation in 1999 and the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, which featured new modes of play�classic, adventure, and competitive multiplayer�but were not as well-received as the original. In 2007, a version of Q*Bert became the first classic arcade game to appear on the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network. It features newer graphics, online leader boards, and compatibility with Sixaxis motion controls.