The Google Doodle for today is a fully functional Pac-Man game complete with 256 levels and a 2-player mode and everything. That is cool – it’s the first time they’ve done it – but the really cool thing is how the world reacted. News of the doodle raced through national media and social media sources like NYDailyNews, CBS, NPR, Twitter, and Facebook, at blazing fast speeds. Of course, since it’s related to the Internet, all of the web sites that cater to computer geeks spread the word even faster: CNET, geek.com, pcmag.com. It certainly caused a spike in Google Trends.
It seemed like the whole world – or at least America – was playing today. It was so bad some people were asking the question, “How much is this costing us (American companies) in lost productivity?” It also seemed like it wasn’t tied to the generation that played the original Pac-Man when it was release in 1980. Kids to seniors were on google.com playing the game.
It’s the Pac-Man 30th anniversary this weekend, and Google is celebrating as only Google can: with a free online game embedded in its homepage logo. Source: Pac-Man 30th anniversary: Google celebrates with free online Pac-Man game hidden in logo – go play! | NYDailyNews.com