A Playable PAC-MAN On Google Doodle

Kilrah_il and several other readers made sure we noted Google's tribute to PAC-MAN on its 30th anniversary — a playable game implemented in JavaScript. "'To play the game, go to google.com during the next 48 hours (because it's too cool to keep for just one day) and either press the "Insert Coin" button or just wait for a few seconds.' There is also an Easter egg for those who want to recall one of the first multi-player games, but you'll have to RTFA to find it." This doodle may overshadow the Official PAC-MAN 30th Anniversary Destination.

Re:Productivity

[djdavetrouble]

Yes, how can you NOT play once you see it?

Question for the lawyers....

[Anonymous Coward]

One lingering questions about this: Did Google have to get permission from copyright holders to make this game? I'm assuming that it would be a no-brainer to let google create this game, because anyone with a financial interest in the game would certainly welcome a free ad of this magnitude, but what are the rights of Namco, et. al. regarding this now 30 year old game? Do they still "own" the game-proper? What about the soundtrack?

HTML5 audio deficiencies

[tepples]

In that case, it is a shame they did not do the sounds using HTML5. It would be nice to a reworked version using HTML Audio.

I've been told HTML5's <audio> has five deficiencies:

• Waveform files only; no decompression or synthesis on the client side. (XNA has the same problem.)
• No single audio codec works in all browsers due to the various browsers' different patent policies. Some support only MP3 and/or AAC while others support only Vorbis.
• No way to play the same sound on top of itself, such as two car engines using the same sample.
• Some browsers don't even support playing two different sounds on top of each other.
• No way to play any sound in released versions of Internet Explorer.

I could be wrong; feel free to post links to web sites demonstrating how to overcome these deficiencies.

Thanks for crushing my self-esteem, Google

[Call Me Black Cloud]

I've been a programmer for a few years but within the last 8 months have been working on a project using Javascript.

I've been struggling with forms and trees and autocompletes and getting the css to look the same across all browsers and then I see that.

I'm amazed at what they were able to do in Javascript...if I had 1/10th of that skill I'd be done with my project by now.

Clearly it's time for me to put in an application at McDonald's...

Virus fears

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not just a productivity issue. Some users are also panicking that the Pacman game could be the result of a virus.

Sophos has reported on the scare at http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2010/05/21/panic-pacman-virus-infected-google/ [sophos.com], although personally I prefer the bit of their blog post where they describe *genuine* game-related viruses from the past.

Re:This is awesome!

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is a picture of the killscreen: http://mahdi.milanifard.com/blog/?p=1944