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A Pac-Man edition of 'Monopoly' includes a mini arcade game
Gobble up ghosts and earn points whenever you pass Go.
Google's best Doodles of the last 20 years
It's hard to believe Google is about to turn 20 years old. And while the company has changed drastically in the past two decades, going from being a simple search engine to a global tech titan, there's one thing that's been there from the very first day: the homepage Doodle. Since 1998, Google has kept its site looking fresh by creating different variations of its logo, inspired by cultural icons, events and phenomenons such as Pac-Man, the birth of hip-hop and more. More than 2,000 Doodles have adorned Google's homepage, each with a unique charm. But there are some that have stood out from the rest and will forever be embedded in people's memories. Let's take a look at the best and most important Google Doodles from the past 20 years.
'Pac-Man' on Amazon's Alexa isn't at all like 'Pac-Man'
Pac-Man might never have left the public eye, but with Wreck-it Ralph, Pixels and Ready Player One, the iconic elder statesman of gaming is now in front of people that may have never touched an arcade joystick. To that extent, Pac-Man's latest 'game' makes sense — it's arriving on Amazon's Alexa as a skill today.
Guinness strips Billy 'King of Kong' Mitchell's world records
Well, that was fast. When Twin Galaxies announced it'd stripped Billy "King of Kong" Mitchell's high scores from its forums yesterday, the gaming record-keeping outfit said it'd notified Guinness World Records of such. Today, Kotaku reports that Guinness will strip all of Mitchell's forged video game high scores including entries for Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong Jr. from its ledger as well.
Google unwraps 19 past Doodle games for its 19th birthday
Google is no stranger to celebrations. In the past, the festivities have brought new features for Google Photos, and Google Earth, and a montage (with a Rickrolling twist) for YouTube's tenth anniversary. Today, the party is coming to its Doodle. To mark 19 years of company history, the latest Google Doodle packs 19 surprises from the past. You'll be able to play a bunch of games, including tic-tac-toe, piñata, and cricket. And access awesome interactive Doodles from the archives, including the lauded DJ and music composition tools launched earlier this year. There's even a Snake easter egg lurking in the mix, which offers a colorful take on the mobile gaming classic that's every bit as addictive. Simply spin the wheel to start playing. And, if you don't like the result, spin again.
Introducing the world's smallest way to play 'Donkey Kong'
Once upon a time, video games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong were the absolute height of entertainment technology, imperfect pixels packed into six-foot-tall cabinets in arcades and pizza shops around the world. Now, those same games run on a machine that fits inside a teacup. Adafruit tinkerer Phillip Burgess created the world's smallest Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator cabinet using a Raspberry Pi Zero computer, 0.96 inch RGB OLED displays and an audio amplifier. It's fully playable and totally adorable.
Tokyo 2020's Olympics pitch: Mario, Pac-Man and co.
In case you didn't notice, the Olympics is wrapping up in Rio, and sports fans now have an endure a whole three years and 11 months until the next one, which happens to be in Tokyo. Japan's Olympic committee decided to highlight that fact by transforming the country's Prime Minister into Mario (naturally), showcasing its distinctive skyline (swoon!), showing some of its athletes you've probably never heard of (sorry!) and a bunch video game and anime characters. It's all backed by a punchy jazz soundtrack, and is likely to give you goosebumps, although I wonder why the creative team wasn't able to book Pikachu in time.
'Pac-Man Championship Edition 2' looks chaotic, wonderful
A few years ago, Bandai Namco figured out the key to reviving the Pac-Man: just make the original top down dot-chomper faster, brighter and more competitive. Pac-Man Championship Edition and Championship Edition DX+ changed just enough of the classic game to make it fresh and exciting. Now, the company is going to try it one more time. Today Bandai Namco announced Pac-man Championship Edition 2, a remix that promises new rules, bigger ghosts and new direction in level design
ICYMI: Smart dumbbells, robot car seat and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864{width:100%;display:block;} #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864{width:100%;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-471864").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: We are continuing our special Las Vegas coverage with a round-up of our favorite tech from Pepcom, a pre-CES event that showcases some of the technology at the show. Bowflex got our attention with a smart dumbbell that can count your reps and sync with an app over bluetooth. The dumbbells will cost $499 and are available later this month. But the stand that makes it fun to use is an additional $149.
With a kids' wearable, I became a human 'Pac-man'
Gesture-based gaming ain't new, but using it to steer Pac-man around a maze is. Moff band, a Japanese gesture toy for kids, has teamed up with Namco-Bandai to bring gesture controls to smart device-based versions of Pac-man. Because it can. It's part of what Moff calls "gamified fitness technology" (you really have to wave your arms around to move the protagonist), but it's also silly and often a little erratic. In Moff's defense, a Bluetooth-connected controller will have troubles in a hectic show floor demo. Watch me embarrass myself for your entertainment after the break. I'm saying it was definitely a reception issue.
Taking gaming into the real world
Playing video games and enjoying the outdoors don't have to be mutually exclusive. Various creative minds have come up with ways to take gaming into real-world environments. Why chill at the crib when you could be out driving a real-life Mario Kart or letting hadoukens fly at Burning Man? We've highlighted just a few of these pioneering projects this week, so head to the gallery for a look at the gaming experiences you've missed by staying home.
'Pac-Man' embraces mobile with an endless running game
Pac-Man is no stranger to the mobile world, but most of his games are just the classic maze runner scaled down to phone size. Wouldn't it be nice if the yellow chomper got a game that's actually meant for small screens? Bandai Namco agrees. It recently launched Pac-Man 256, an Android and iOS game that blends old-school gameplay with the endless runner format that you've seen in big-name smartphone titles like Temple Run. You still have to navigate twisty corridors and avoid ghosts, but this time you're also outracing Pac-Man's infamous level 256 glitch -- no power pellet will save you if you move too slowly. It's an intriguing concept, although you'll want to watch out for the ugly side of modernization... that is, in-app purchases. You can last quite a long time without paying a cent, but Bandai Namco is hoping that you'll shell out anything from 99 cents to $8 to get a credit boost and keep your run going. So long as you don't mind the occasional cash grab, though, this could be a good way to rekindle your nostalgia while you're waiting for the bus.
'Pixels' is somehow even worse than I thought it could be
When the first trailer for Pixels hit I was worried that the movie was going to be a "steaming pile of cinematic garbage." Now that I've actually seen the Adam Sandler and Kevin James vehicle, I can say that was still far too generous a prediction; it's actually much, much worse. Pixels' real villains aren't the admittedly gorgeous renderings of giant-sized Pac-Man and Donkey Kong hell-bent on destroying Earth -- they're the toxic tropes that Hollywood keeps perpetuating.
Play 'Space Invaders' for charity while waiting in Swedish airports
Take a mind journey with us: You step off of an international flight and walk to the baggage claim areas in Sweden's Stockholm Arlanda Airport or Göteborg Landvetter Airport. You're tired, you're waiting for your luggage, and you have a pocketful of foreign coins. Usually, you'd drop them off in the Red Cross donation box, which takes any type of currency, and you'd continue standing, waiting. Now, the Swedish Red Cross and Swedavia Swedish Airports have turned those donation boxes into classic arcade cabinets -- drop in any currency from any country and start playing Pac-Man, Galaga or Space Invaders before grabbing your bags. It's better than letting those coins collect dust, and classic video games have been scientifically proven* to help travelers shake off that "I've been sitting for 18 hours" look.
NYC Museum of Modern Art opens game collection with 14 classics, exhibiting in March 2013
Given the subject matter, this is usually where the author waxes philosophical about whether -- having been accepted by a major international museum -- games are indeed "art." We're gonna skip that needless exercise today and simply tell you that the New York City Museum of Modern Art is officiating its intake of 14 video game classics as the start of an ongoing gaming collection, set to go on display in March 2013 in the MoMA's Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries -- the same galleries that house an original iPod and more. The games range from Buckner & Garcia inspiration Pac-Man to modern classic Portal, and even includes some lesser known gems (vib-ribbon, anyone?). The MoMA blog calls this initial selection just the "seedbed" for a chunkier collection of around 40 titles, all of which will be part of a "new category of artworks" at the iconic museum. Head below for the full first 14.
The most adorable game of real-life Pac-Man you'll see today
As further proof that geek Dads are the very best Dads, YouTube user nglemb demonstrates that all you need to forge a lasting Father-son memory with your progeny is painter's tape, mini-marshmallows and a little imagination.
AI competition pits Ms. Pac-Man against ghosts in the Manichean struggle of our time (video)
While the world breathlessly awaits the Pac-Man reality TV show, the University of Essex held a programming competition starring that other yellow chomper. The Ms. Pac-Man vs. Ghost Team contest pitted 13 competitors from nine different countries against one another, to see who could create the most elusive Ms. Pac-Man or the wiliest ghost gang. The participants coded routines for the titular hero or Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue, with organizers then running the programs against one another on the Java-based playing field. The highest single-game score went to Atif, who racked up 69240 points versus DarkRodry's ghosts, while ghost team Legacy2TheReckoning held RandomMsPacMan to a mere 410 points. Another competition will take place in August, so limber up your coding fingers, Pac-Maniacs. In the meantime, strap on your headgear and cheer on your round yellow hero in the video below.
The World's Biggest Pac-Man game takes over the internet, your life
It's officially the weekend, which means you've got two choices: one, mimic iTr3vor and toss up a YouTube video of yourself dancing in an Apple Store, or two, blow your own mind with the magic of HTML5. In between hour-long Pica-Pic sessions, we'd recommend killing time in The World's Biggest Pac-Man game, which can be "played for fun" or linked to your Facebook account for those who savvy statistics. We'd bother telling you more, but we're fairly sure you're already firmly occupied with the source link. You're welcome. Or, we're sorry.
Pac Machina displays a trivial love of the needlessly complex
Now, you may look at this little project and ask yourself, "what is the point of this thing?" but that would, in fact, be the wrong question. The Pac Man-loving creator of Pac Machina needs no reasons, and honestly, neither do we. While we wouldn't necessarily want one of these clock-like Pac Men in our drawing room, we admire the creativity and time put into what was surely a somewhat tedious project. We are huge fans of tedium, after all. Video is after the break.
Pac-Man reality TV show coming, and not a moment too soon
Not since Hollywood Reporter told us about a possible Asteroids bio-pic have we been excited about a film or TV show: Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Merv Griffin Entertainment has hammered out a deal with Namco Bandai to develop a reality TV show based on Pac-Man. Envisioned by Merv Griffin Entertainment's president of TV Roy Bank as something "big" and "crazy" like Wipeout or Fear Factor, the company wants "to take what Pac-Man is and bring it to life, to bring what is essentially the world's biggest game of tag to television." If this doesn't sound like the definition of a mid-season replacement, we don't know what is.
