With Pac-Man, Google inadvertently proves web apps are not the future

May 23, 2010 by Bill Palmer

Thanks, Google, for reminding me that I was never very good at Pac-Man in the first place. And thanks for inadvertently helping to demonstrate that even when done properly, web apps are still crap in comparison to real apps. It’s perhaps ironic that Google, the only major technology company that thinks browser-based apps are the future (even as a phenomenon like Apple’s App Store is proving the opposite) helped injure its own cause by offering up a free Pac-Man game on its home page in honor of the outdated yet iconic game’s thirtieth anniversary. While it was fun, and more importantly free, Google’s browser-based Pac-Man was a piece of junk. It sometimes froze up for half a second for no reason (making my gameplay results, which were going to be bad no matter what, even worse). You couldn’t mute the volume until after gameplay began, there was no pause button, and – the achilles heel of all browser based apps – accidentally hitting the wrong combination of keys on the keyboard (such as command – left arrow) meant that the game was irretrievably over, as I helplessly watched some other web page load as the game I had been playing went poof.

Earlier today Google pulled the plug on the Pac-Man game, but by then I had already gotten so frustrated at the limitations of being trapped in a browser that I’d already given up. But, feeling like I might finally be turning the corner from terribly under-skilled PacMan player to blessedly mediocre, I went ahead and did the smart thing: I hit up the App Store and spent four bucks to get my hands on a real PacMan app. So thanks, Google, for reminding us that A) web apps aren’t the future any more than Pac-Man is, B) Apple’s App Store is the future, and C) you get what you pay for. Not that the free gameplay wasn’t appreciated.

Incidentally, Google Pac-Man also helped demonstrate that web apps are crap even when they’re not Flash. That’s right, the game was not a Flash app – here’s proof.

And too bad the Super Mario Bros were too busy being unconstitutionally detained to enjoy it.

UPDATE: the Google Pac-Man game has been reinstated on a hidden page.

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Filed Under: Industry News
Tagged: App Store, Apple, Google, iTunes, Pac-Man, web app

About Bill Palmer

Bill Palmer is Editor in Chief of Beatweek Magazine. His editorial contributions include interviews with musicians and iPhone industry coverage.

Comments

Jackie

This was a little bit steep. For starters, I don't even think it was a web app to begin with. It's a logo made for a special occasion only, so it's not exactly going to be perfect.

Also the need to pause is a little redundant, because the game only lasts until you finish the level, or if you run out of lives. That's all there is to it. Honestly, when I stumbled across it for the first time all I wanted to do was drop everything and play. I know that might not be the reaction everyone had, but it was tailored to the fans so what do you expect?

I'm no good at Pac Man either but I still find it fun. The fact that it crashed was probably down to your computer, as well. Mine was absolutely fine.
Mick

I have to disagree with you there. Good way to recreate the logo in my opinion, it's only a logo, it was fun to play a few times, very creative idea I have to admit.
Mick

I have to disagree with you there. Good way to recreate the logo in my opinion, it's only a logo, it was fun to play a few times, very creative idea I have to admit.
jabalong

This is a silly review. Google's Pacman is just a clever little exercise with its logo and not meant to be taken as more than that. As for the “limitations” of the game play, it worked just fine for me.
jabalong

This is a silly review. Google's Pacman is just a clever little exercise with its logo and not meant to be taken as more than that. As for the “limitations” of the game play, it worked just fine for me.
Nick

Wow, you really lost me at “Apple’s App Store is the future”. Seriously? It's a closed environment, where Apple decides who gets in, who gets “featured”, and who is against their fuzzy terms and conditions. It's full of double standards and bias. To make matters worse, you need a Mac to develop an app. It's not a democracy, not a republic, it is the totalitarianism of Apple.

Also, the volume and pause button issues were by design; Google could have easily included them. I never experienced the half-second freezes on the several computers I played the game on, but they were all Windows in various browsers. Though IE7 wasn't able to play the game smoothly at all; but I expected that. Try playing it in Chrome/Chromium or Firefox, and if it still freezes, it's probably something that you're running in the background.
Some Guy Surfing Around

I, like most people here, think the article was weird, over-critical, and wrong. Better luck next review dude.
jevin

iyhrfvk,
jevin

who ever wrote is a dumbass pac-man is the boom!!!!!!!!!!:D
News Flash

news flash it's a little game in honor of pac mans “x” aniversarry it's not supposed to be a chart topper- it was creative more than anything AND it had two player which was awesome – I was playing with my bros on my bucket computer at the time and it didn't freeze up once – don't blame Google that u suck at Pacman
sewr

gay
dfsdfas
sewr

this izz very dumb
BikeMike

HI . . . . . if you go to apple.com and scroll to the very bottom for the cap words FLASH. You know why FLASH will not work with Apple products. Click on FLASH at the bottom of that page.
sewr

me wuzz here boreedeeddd
Not an iDiot

iDiot!!!
BobsUncleTed

you just proved how much of an idiot you are with this post…
it wasn't even meant for anything but to remember the 30th anniversary of Pacman.

Web Apps are more than just games and entertainment, in fact, games and entertainment is a fraction of what Web Apps were firstly designed for
ras

Wow dude, you sound like a breath of fresh air. Your “analysis” that web apps are no good because of the playful freebie doodle is like someone saying cars will never work because you saw a toy car and you can not see how this is better then a horse..

Do you scowl and roll your eyes 1001x a day and generally annoy all colleagues around you who have the misfortune of being in your vicinity? Lighten up and peruse Craig's List — it sounds like you need a “date”
stella franks

okay google pac-man was awesome and you know it.pac-man is cool no matter what you think! it was free to play. also who cares if it froze up for half a second. it makes you a better player if you can handel a little defult! plus if someone thought it was so bad go and play wii insead of badmouthing google's pac-man aniersery.
PAC-MAN RULZ

i think it was a logo a fun and i agree it was very creative. i also had fun with it even though i never beat it im not very good.. but it was something new and fun.
PAC-MAN RULZ

agreed
C. Barlow

The game wasn't meant to be a game. It was more of a novelty, (A well produced novelty) that google created to commend an iconic game. Your simplistic and consumeristic analasis of this “web app” is very primative.

This wasn't to prove a point about web based applications, it was a kinder-egg suprise. But I can see how a person such as your self, could get that confused.

I enjoyed it. It was well made for a logo, but you've obviously failed to see that. I look forward to the neat things google will offer in the future, and I hope you can learn that a novelty on a search engine isn't a game developed over the course of five years, it's just a novelty on a search engine.
C. Barlow

Also, I look forward to the aniversary of space invaders! Bring it on google!
Pingback: Pacman (not the one Mayweather’s so afraid of) « The Logical Webmaster
Ben in Seattle

Wow, is Bill Palmer sour grapes much? Is he even for real? Google's PacMan was an easter egg, not an app. Reviewing an easter egg is silly enough; saying that it actually *means* something is just dumb.

Also, is this “Bill Palmer” guy actually the Editor in Chief of Beatweek? That sounds like a pretty high-falutin position for someon who can say, with a straight face, “Google [is] the only major technology company that thinks browser-based apps are the future” just weeks after Microsoft cut open its cash-cow, MS Office, and made it available via web browsers..

This “Bill Palmer” guy, if he exists and is not just the latest incarnation of the Mac Talking Moose, needs to get outside of his bubble. Apple is a wonderful company in many ways (I'm proud to be typing this using their hardware, albeit with GNU/Linux), but Apple is not the one true way.

Ben in Seattle
mark

it was a free google game on the home page… it was hardly every gunna have volume controls and other more indepth features
pac-man

the article is sense-less to insanely critical. Google did a good job in providing a good enough gameplay for what was a plain logo. open and free web is the future, not the closed app store. you just wasted 4 dollars for a game u hardly like and even mediocre at it. its pitiful.
Scott

Are you serious? Google only created the little web app to celebrate Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. It was a cool thing for the day and you need to stop worrying about the half second delay. It was a neat logo for Google and I think they did a decent job.
Andrew

Funny, I had no problems with it and made it through 3 levels without dying.
what?

My only problem with the logo Pac-Man was that the AI was a bit off. The ghosts lacked their usual personalities, but I didn't have any problems with freezing or the fact that it was in a browser. I also have a hard time believing that a cute little logo someone made in a few hours not being as good as some application which was made to be sold ($4 for Pac-Man? it better be good) is proof that web apps are a lost cause. By that logic, Apple should pack it up because arcade machines provide a better game experience and have a more intuitive interface.

Also, does the thought of controlling Pac-Man on a touch screen sound like a nightmare to anyone else?
howard

You're a retard. That's all I have to say. Just because they didn't implement the pause feature or whatever, you accused google for not making the full blown app of the game. It was only a demonstration of what could be done on the web, and what it could lead to. Your brain must be as small as a pea thinking that Flash is the future. So much for your support on “Apple's App Store”, which you may know that Jobs is not supporting Flash at all. You must get your facts straight you narrow-minded blogger.
kayla

there is anoing little girl and her name is johoona and shes anoing
Willy Wonka

The Pac-Man game I have on my iPod Touch allows you to control it by D-Pad, Tilt, or Sliding your finger anywhere across the screen. The first two are ok, the third actually made me a better Pac-Man player.
breakyourheart</3

Okay, there was NO NEED to put all that crap about the whole pac-man thing…yeah i know its your opinion and all, but i mean seriously! pac-man is AWESOME!! it will NEVER die out!! And Google was only trying to have a fun, new, creative sign that was woth seeing. I didn't expect to b able to play the game…and was happy even when i did. And guess what…i SUCK at pac-man, but i love it anyway…if i knew you, i would hate you, because you just might be one of the BIGGEST buz kills in the world!!
breakyourheart<3

i am SO there with ya…lol! my comment is directly above urz… haha

wow…
Mero Nam

Not thinking they were looking to set precedent, sir. Just to provide us with a smile. Sometimes a pac man game is just a pac man game.
James

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT QUESTION: Were you or were you not using Internet Explorer 6?