LB's Rambles

High Im-Pac Sport

Pac-Man is turning 30. According to Seven Sided Cube, Pac-man was first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. To mark the occasion, Google - which never misses a trick, right? - has turned its home page logo into an interactive, fully-playable version of Pac-man. You use your mouse, clicking where you want the gobbling disk to go, while Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde try to chase him down (I think I remembered those names correctly, right?). He still moves pretty fast for a 30-year-old.

So why are you sitting here reading this? Go play Google's Pac-man. Unlike the original, you don't even need to drop quarters into the computer.

Video Games for...Me?

OK, I'll admit it. As far as video games are concerned, I am distinctly uncool. My timewasting on my computer (beyond this blog) is largely limited to peaceful games such as Burning Monkey Solitaire. I don't own a game console. I don't lust after Halo. I don't like violence, even cartoon violence beyond Tom & Jerry or Roadrunner. I still have fond memories of Zork, Wizardry and Might & Magic, not to mention Myst.

But it appears that Nintendo may have found a way to lure me - and people like me, the Baby Boomers and pre-boomers, to their console, with its Brain Age games for their DS system. According to the Bulldog Reporter, these games are aimed at sharpening the mental skills of, er, mature players like me. There is some evidence that the games slow mental deterioration, and may have a role to play in helping to retard or delay the development of memory loss and dementia. Maybe it's time for me to take another look at a new game console.