Google brings the nostalgia with Atari Breakout Easter egg

If you had an Atari as a child, the vast differences between the gaming console of today and the digital substance of your youth is enough that every 2D game threatens to break out the waves of nostalgia, and Atari's Breakout is no exception. To commemorate the game's 37th anniversary, Google created a playable online version. Rather than parking it front-and-center on Search, however, it decided to go the Easter Egg route.

The game first came out in 1976, offering players a blue paddle and gray ball with which they would slowly destroy multiple brick layers. Such is the same in Google's version of the game, with one small difference (playing it on a modern device aside) – the bricks are especially small thumbnail versions of the Google Image results that show up upon searching for "Atari Breakout," the same search that pulls up the game. If it doesn't show up for you immediately, be patient – it will.

Not surprisingly, you get a chance to pit your brick-shattering skills against other Google users, with a Google+ "Share Your Score" link being offered at the end of your game. There's audio just like you'd find with the original game, as well as the ability to pause, which helps guarantee that your procrastination will hit a whole new score of its own.

This nicely augments the Pong game iOS users were blessed with back on November 29 via Atari, which released the free app as a way to celebrate its fourth decade. Of course, quite a few Pong games were already available for iOS users, but none had the honor of being titled "official." That release was in addition to a contest for an Xbox 360 with an integrated LCD made to look like an Atari console.

This isn't the first time Google has recreated a classic game online. Back in 2010, for example, the Internet giant celebrated the 30th anniversary of Pacman with an in-logo game complete with a two-player mode, audio, and all the little yellow dots you could eat. Even better, the game featured a "coin slot" via a transformation of the I'm Feeling Lucky button into an Insert Coin button.

SOURCE: Tech Radar