Pac Man 30th Anniversary

Pac Man 30th Anniversary:Two of the most amazing things of my childhood are celebrating their thirtieth anniversary this weekend: Pacman and Empire Strikes Back. It’s hard to believe it’s been thirty years since Pacman fever reigned, but even harder to believe that this is the weekend I got sick in the cinema because I made my dad take me to see Empire Strikes Back and tell him that there was no flu.

My friends and I played in direct Pacman Atari, and when we were not playing on the Atari, we were in the gallery of local feed quarters into the console. I even raised my daughter on Pacman, and today you can find him with his Game Boy in the corner chewing pellets and chasing ghosts around the maze.

Google celebrates birthday with a special game of Pacman can play right on the search screen, but if you do not want to leave the site and the opening of Google, I embedded a Pacman game you can play right here: http://www.neave.com/games/

1980 was a year of life shaping, as Empire Strikes hits theaters. Along with the Pacman game, my friends and I played Star Wars, the new film reviving the best possible way it would not be able to see outside the theater for years after its launch. You can often find walking around with cardboard laser guns, me with my hair in cinnamon buns, our Han Solo Chewbacca saying (the neighbor’s dog) to the “laugh up, Fuzzball.”

The world was not like today, but both Pacman and Empire Strikes Back had a huge impact on the youth of yesteryear. Even if they were alive in 1980, you probably have heard and enjoyed so much at some point during the last thirty years.

Take a moment to celebrate today. I mean, come on … Not every day get Han Solo is frozen in carbonite.

Insert Coin

Insert Coin:Over the years, I played Pacman on platforms from the original game coin-operated, in my PC, my Xbox, PSP, Nintendo DS, and my iPhone. I never thought I could add playing Pacman on the inside of the Google logo to the list. Now I can, and what you can, in a special ‘Google Doodle’ out today.

Pacman Google logo today goes far beyond any special logo that Google has ever done. Believe me, I know. I’ve been up close and personal with the logos of Google as part of my recent history, Google’s special logos, sliced and diced, over the years. This is the first time that people have been able to interact with the logo. To play a freakin ‘game!

It’s in honor of the 30th anniversary of Pacman (or Pac-Man, for the purists who prefer the spelling with hyphen). Pacman released on May 22, 1980 in Japan, then came to the U.S. In October of that year.

But today May 21! one day early Google!

Yes, but that is what the logo can run for a total of two days from when it launched at 8AM Pacific today. That is a long time for anyone wishing to test their fighting skills Inky (blue), Blinky (red), Pinky (seriously?) And Clyde (orange) and reach the final, the index 256. This level shows what the screen is known as “kill”, one only partially rendered due to a programming error in the original Pacman. The version of Google-recreates this.

To play, click on the currency of “insert” button below the search box to the right of the “Google Search”. Google That’s another first. Usually the button on the right says “I’m Feeling Lucky” and when pushed, it automatically takes you directly to the first site that Google otherwise would be included as part of the search results. Google had its peculiar “I’m Feeling Lucky” button from the start. It has never been replaced so far.

You can also play do nothing for 10 seconds. After that time, the game will start automatically.

Google has had an animated logo before, exactly once, on 4 January this year. That was in honor of the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton and showed an apple falling from tree (from Google of Issac Newton Apple Tree Logo history has a video of it, or try it yourself by clicking the logo on file here at Google) .

A falling apple is far from interactive glory today. Behind the scenes is Googler Wichary Marcin, a user experience designer and lover than Pacman. He handled the programming, working with the Google logo artist – “Doodler” – Ryan Germick.

Incidentally, getting a high score? Make a screenshot. No high scores ranking, Google tells me. Wow. It would have been very good to leave your initials in the Google logo.

Happy Birthday, Pacman!

PS: Click Insert Coin twice for two-player mode with Ms. Pacman (via @ Madhava). At the same time! Ms. Pacman To control, use the W up, down S, A and D for the Left to the right (via Josh Weinberger et al.) On the iPhone or IPAD? You can play there, too. Simply slide your finger in the direction you want to go. It works – barely.