Namco signs deal for Peanuts
Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the stupid yellow birdie to appear in videogames for the next four years.
Everyone loves the Peanuts characters, except those of us who find them depressing and unnerving in ways we can't quite explain and don't really want to explore, and now Namco has decided to put Snoopy and chums in a load of videogames.
The company has just signed a deal to create and publish titles starring Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, the one with the blanket and all the other ones right up to the end of 2009. The games will appear on "all current and upcoming game platforms."
"Charlie Brown and his friends have firmly cemented their place as American icons of the highest order," said Namco bigwig Jeff Lujan. "We are honoured to introduce this cherished property to an all-new generation of gamers."
The Peanuts comic strip was created by Charles M. Schulz back in 1950, and today it can be found in 2400 newspapers in 75 countries worldwide. Schulz's characters have also been used to create books, TV shows and more merchandise than even Lucas could dream of.
Previous Peanuts games include Snoopy Tennis on Game & Watch and Game Boy Colour, Snoopy Silly Sports for the NES and Where's the Blanket Charlie Brown? on PC. Puns that could have appeared in this news article but were rejected for being so painfully obvious include "Namco shells out for Peanuts licence." Oh, damn.
