Google celebrates Pac-Man's 30th anniversary with playable logo

In keeping with its tradition of celebrating historical events, the Maestro of Search has created a custom "doodle" to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man. This doodle, however, isthe first ever fullyinteractive Google logo- just give it a second or hit the "Insert Coin" buttonand it'll kick in, then watch as whatever it was you were about to do wakka-wakkas into oblivion.

The simulation is surprisingly complete - according toCNET, Google worked with Namco-Bandai to recreate all 255 levels with authentic sounds, animations, and "coffee breaks" (the animations between stages). Protip: Hit "Insert Coin" twice for two players, with Ms. Pac-Man!

Now that you've seen it, if for some reasonyou hadn't already(Grandma? Is that you?), don't be the last person to say to your friends, "Hey guys did you see the Google homepage today? That was cool." Go on... update your Facebook status, and inform Twitter that you, too, have seen Pac-Google. And if you want to sound really snooty, talk about how it was built entirely in Javascript, HTML, and CSS, and then say something vague about the future of web standards.

May 21, 2010