The application was filed in February, but only published this month. While it's heavy on fluff, the gist of the patent is that Google would like to be able to alter existing YouTube videos in order to create "interactive games" within the service.

There are many possibilities as to what this would leave us with; we could get custom vids created with games in mind, we could get "choose your own adventure" deals, we could get something...else that I just can't wrap my head around at this moment.

Google Might Get Into Hosted Gaming Via YouTube [bnet, via Slashdot]

ZeniMax, which of course now owns iD software, filed the DMCA complaint with Google. Developer L!TH!UM told the site Android and Me that Doom for Android, offered for free, was built with open source code but "My mistake was allowing the download of the Plutonia and TNT WADs, at least that is what I suspect."

"Although I may not be able to distribute the application through the Market, the APK can still be downloaded and installed through the web," the dev said.

Other ports pulled include: Ultimate Doom; Quake Platinum; Doom II; Wolf 3D: Spear of Destiny (two versions); Wolfenstein 3D; Quake GL; Wolfenstein 3D Lite (Beta 2) and Doom Soundboard.

iD Software frags Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein ports for Android [Android and Me via Game Politics]

According to the seach giant, here are the ten most popular gaming searches, which as you'll see, have no bearing whatsoever on sales or quality:

1. ghostbuster
2. ufc
3. saw
4. bakugan
5. batman arkham asylum
6. twilight
7. fifa 2010
8. modern warfare
9. transformers 2
10. resident evil 5

Modern Warfare at #8? Remember, this is only tracking individual searches. So Modern Warfare 2, MW2, Call of Duty, etc etc etc wouldn't have counted.

Some gaming stuff made the overall lists, too, with the Wii making the "Fastest Falling" top 10, while "Wii Games" made the top 10 in the category of...exercise.

There's plenty more data at the link below, roll your sleeves up and get sifting.

2009 Year-End Google Zeitgeist [Google]

Get to around the 1:49 mark of the clip and you'll see that somebody on the Chrome team likes their coffee. And their Kojima Productions crew. And we also find that Snake would be far more punctual, if only he subscribed to Google's particular brand of task management.

[thanks Re-l!]

Google apparently has an... enthusiastic Legend of Zelda fan on staff, as Google Blogoscoped points out, highlighting eight of who knows how many appearances of the Nintendo trademark in various specialized corporate logos. Commenters on the blog dug up four more. What's the secret?

They just employ a talented Zelda fan. And when I say "fan," I mean cosplaying Link-caliber fan. All signs point to Google web illustrator and web designer Susie Sahim, whose many doodles feature a Triforce signature.

While Sahim has been deferring requests for comment to her Google overlords, we'd think her obvious interests are reflected in her work. And that if anyone found this Google-Triforce crossover mysterious, that mystery should be considered solved.

Or is it?!!

(Yes, it really is.)

The Great Google Doodle Triforce Conspiracy [Google Blogoscoped - thanks, Ulysses!]

This map is real (though not provided by Google), and accurate, and can be used to plot your course or find landmarks as easily as you can on Google Maps (it helps that the UI mimick Google's service). Now all it needs is a rampaging UFO and a view of its boring waterpipe network and we're good to go!

Honey, Someone Shrunk Hong Kong [Gizmodo]

The new themes were revealed last niught during a Game Developers Conference meeting that hardly anyone attended, possibly due to the invitation's last-minute arrival and the lack of mention of free booze. All they really are is pretty video game pictures that surround your personalized iGoogle home page, should you choose to use it.

They've got a great variety to choose from at least, from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles to Street Fighter, Magic the Gathering to World of Warcraft. Worth taking a look at least. Who knows? You might just find your new home page there. Probably not, but it sounded good, didn't it?

Introducing gaming themes for iGoogle [iGoogle]

I scrolled right by this message in my inbox, mostly because it's a dull black matte image and also because I'm pretty much booked solid for GDC.

I only gave it a second thought when VentureBeat pointed out, quite rightly, that the marketing strategy of the last-minute invite in the middle of a gigantic conference week is what Apple does when it wants to launch a hot, new product that makes the Internet explode.

Granted, gaming themes for iGoogle doesn't sound nearly as newsworthy as the iPhone OS 3.0. But if they make good on that promise and somehow manage to bring Mega Man to life... Then I'll sweat blood to fit this party into my schedule. And the Internet may indeed explode.

Announced yesterday was an Android-ready version of Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile. It differs from the standard version of GHWTM by featuring touch-screen gameplay, as gamers literally tap the fret button at the base of the screen.

For those unfamiliar with GHWTM's particular brand of exploitation, the game features 15 tracks, most of them of the classic rock variety. Which is fine. Our question: if they can do a version for the Android, why can't they do one for the iPhone?

Android Phone gets Guitar Hero app [The Guardian] [Image: Gizmodo]

See for yourself, it's right there, dominating the nearby streetscape in Manhattan's Chinatown. Not a bad way to get some free, dorky advertising if you happened to have your ads up at the time.

That's why the annual Year-End Google Zeitgeist report is so important to check out. Each year the folks at Google look through a year's worth of searching to spot trends. What did people search most often for? Which searches had the biggest increase during the year? Their list offers a fascinating insight into the world, or at least that part of the world populated by techies and computer owners.

Digging through the data I could find only one video game related search that made the list.

The Wii, it seems, is huge in the Netherlands where it showed up as the sixth most popular search word. Maybe Wii means something else in West Frisian?

So there you go, a year's worth of "big gaming news" of hardware sales, of video game launches, an entire billion dollar industry is boiled down to a single search term in the Netherlands.

Zeitgeist 2008

The official word on cancellation from the Lively Team was that Google wanted to "ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business."

While interesting as a technical project — it let users import photos from Google owned Picasa and YouTube into virtual rooms — it wasn't much more than Second Life minus the scope. And while Fahey may disagree, Second Life's not particularly interesting to begin with.

The premature death of Lively may make the argument that Google should, could or would get into game development more moot, it at least gives Sony's upcoming Home project one less virtual world competitor.

Lively no more [Google]

A co-worker just explained this game to me. Apparently the player gets to create a life form and watch it evolve from a single-cell organism, basically, into some sort of creature. The idea, apparently, is to see if there is some sort of divine intervention that has a hand in the creature’s evolution. So, not only does the music offend Muslims, the concept of the game offends creationists.

...yeah. She might be talking about Spore there.

Now you might say, "But that's just a tiny blog no one reads!", but it's a little blog that shows up when I type 'LittleBigPlanet' in Google News, so somebody out there thinks it's important, and now a number of somebodies out there think LittleBigPlanet is about evolution. Lovely.

PlayStation 3 game offends Muslims, creationists [Republican American Blogs]

YouTube to sell music, games in revenue push [Reuters]

I think the biggest proof point in the death of consoles in my thesis is the Wii. The most successful, most difficult to acquire console in this generation is at least a generation old in hardware. The advances are in software and peripherals. Why do you need a box for that? If the real expansion is occurring because of what Nintendo has done, why do we even need a console? The technology could be adapted to run on your average set top box, at least in the next generation of set top boxes.

Welch does concede that console are more streamlined and easier to use than, say, PCs. His crystal ball gazing is more along the lines of Google-type cloud that doesn't even use hardware at all. Agree? Disagree?

Q&A with PlayFirst’s John Welch [VentureBeat via EDGE] [Pic]

Google Lively to become online games platform [GI.biz]

Hang on, though - Gameloft has just announced that it will be launching 10 Android titles in the new year and Glu is rolling out a new Android-exclusive title - the Zuma Deluxe-like Bonsai Blast.

Gameloft have not revealed what their titles will be, but they have a load of decent licenses to choose from. Midnight Pool and Lumines, anyone?

Game on with Google, Gameloft and Glu

US, September 23, 2008 - Namco Networks, a leading publisher and developer of mobile games and entertainment for mass-market casual gamers, today announced the availability of the arcade classic Pac-Man on the first Android-powered device, announced today by T-Mobile. When the phone launches, Pac-Man will be available to consumers in the Android Market at no charge, giving owners of the new T-Mobile G1 handset full access to the game which usually retails for $9.99.

"We are thrilled to launch Pac-Man on the flagship Android-powered device," said Scott Rubin, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Namco Networks. "To encourage consumers to checkout Pac-Man on the G1, we are picking up the tab for the game. We want consumers to see how great Pac-Man looks on this device and how well it plays on the Android platform."

Who can forget the countless hours and quarters spent avoiding the pesky ghosts while chompin' on the dots? In addition to the classic and addictive game play, Pac-Man, the most popular video game in American arcade history, has been upgraded to fully utilize the T-Mobile G1's features. Taking advantage of the device's large screen, Pac-Man on the T-Mobile G1 includes three unique control schemes:

Swipe Mode allows players to direct Pac-Man's path by simply swiping in the direction you want to travel.
Track Mode lets players zip through mazes using the phone's trackball.
Accelerometer Mode allows players to control Pac-Man by tilting the phone in the direction they want to move.
For more information on Pac-Man for the G1 or other mobile games by Namco, please visit www.namcogames.com.

While the idea seems crazy at first blush Valve's Doug Lombardi has said they're willing to be bought. So we checked in with Lombardi himself this morning and he put our minds at ease, telling us it is purely a rumor, a bit of fiction.

With Google out of the picture, I guess the real question is who exactly would Valve like to buy them.

Google Entering Game Industry Through Valve?