Google celebrates Pac Man 30th anniversary with icon game: follow-up

Atlanta, GA - Yesterday, Google altered its icon that graces the front of its search page with an online "Google" version of the famous Pac-Man game to celebrate Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary. This blogger made a video-blog of an attempt (well, OK, several attempts) to play the game in the most obvious way: by using the cursor on the screen that's connected to the Apple Mac Book's track pad. This video below:

For reasons that are not logical to this one, it did not work well. In the YouTube video, many video viewers were commenting again and again "use the arrow keys." That was less obvious given my Internet-based orientation, which says that because the game's online and in my face, I should be able to use my cursor. Right?

Well, most commenters were ready with a correction, but a handful were downright psychotic about it, calling me racist names. I banned them - well, OK, not all of them because as a YouTube Partner those comments actually wind up adding to my income from Google. So someone's mental illness can actually work in my favor! Still, the comments were hot and heavy, but I maintain the logical approach is to be able to use the cursor.

The ribbing about my cursor logic went to a higher level this morning during breakfast with my friend Hanna at Atlanta's Flying Biscuit Restaurant at 1655 McClelland. To take an aside for a plug, It was my first time there and in the Candler Park Area of Atlanta, and I loved both. I highly recommend ordering the Smoked Salmon Scramble and the pancakes! (I like putting steak sauce on the grits!)

But I digress.

When I told Hanna about the video and the Pac-Man game, and my approach, she immediately said "Use the arrow keys!" OK, I got the message but then she added some butter to it. "Come on. You're an idiot if you can't figure that out." So the argument was on like Donkey Kong; I restated my point that on an Internet game, one expects to be able to use the cursor to control it, if it's well designed.

And to hammer home my point, I asked our waiter if he saw the game and what controls he used. "The cursor," was his response.

Well, a high-five was given for that answer. But Hanna was having none of our joy: "You're both idiots!," she fired back.

That was one time being an idiot was a cool thing.

I'm not sure if Google intended to cause exchanges like that, but really they should have made the cursor easier to use.

Rock the Casbah!