Google says its Pac-Man logo is its first animated, playable commemorative
logo. Productivity likely took a precipitous drop on Friday as office
workers discovered an animated, playable version of Pac-Man in Google's
logo on its home search page.
The company unveiled the logo, a Pac-Man maze oriented around the word
"Google," on Friday morning to commemorate the game's 30th anniversary.
Pac-Man, developed by Namco and released in 1980, became one of the most
popular video games of the decade and helped usher in a boom period for
arcades and home consoles.
Google said users will have 48 hours to play 255 levels of the game before
it goes down.
The logo's designer, Marcin Wichary, said in a blog post that Pac-Man and
Google were a natural fit for each other.
"Theyre both deceptively straightforward, carefully hiding their
complexity under the hood," he wrote. "Theres a light-hearted, human touch
to both of them. And we can only hope you find using Google at least a
quarter as enjoyable as eating dots and chasing ghosts. You know, without
actually needing any quarters."
The company has often celebrated historic dates, inventions and events
with customized logos, known as "doodles." The first was introduced in
August 1998 to celebrate the annual Burning Man arts festival in Nevada.
The first animated doodle, featuring a falling apple, was introduced
earlier this year, in January, to honour Sir Isaac Newton's birthday.
Other doodles have commemorated the invention of the bar code, Lego,
Albert Einstein's birthday and the 25th anniversary of Tetris, an online
video game.
The Pac-Man doodle is the first to be animated and playable, the company
said.
--
Blue skies.
Dan Rossi
Carnegie Mellon University.
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