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?

The rumors originate with The Inquirer, which cites well placed sources saying that such a purchase is not only possible, but imminent, as in "any second now". Our take on the rumor? Very iffy. These sort of stories generally don't just pop up one day, though of course Valve's Doug Lombardi has stated that they're willing to be bought. We've contacted Valve for comment and will let you know as soon as we hear back.

Google to buy Valve [The Inquirer]

The first Gizmondo was.. not very successful, but the new device - with its NVIDIA graphics and the option of either Windows CE or Google's Android as an OS is sure to be a winner, right?

A games handheld running Android could be a goer - there should be plenty of decent Android ports of around soon, but when was the last time you went out of your way to play a game on Windows CE? Can you even name 3 games that run on that platform?

Gizmondo 2 Is Here - Sales Start In November/December [The Nordic Link via MCV]

As well as the rather ill-received virtual world Lively, the article points out that Google already has some technologies that could mix well with gaming. Google Earth could make a for an excellent flight sim (in fact, it already has) while streetview might be useful in a GTA-like game.

I'd love to see the Google brain trust attack a problem like enemy AI or random terrain generation. It's just a shame we will have to wade through adverts to get there.

Will Google Play Games? [Forbes]

Everything. Much of the GUI is not as complete or polished as planned in designs. Room creation/publishing/decorating could be a lot easier than it is now - we're working on that. Social functionality needs to be built out further - finding friends and inviting friends should be easier and more productive. There are some aspects of the client that limit how flexible it is as an element of web design - we would like to have it be more malleable in the hands of web designers.

There is a big demand for the ability to create content. We have a tool that our artists and partners use to publish content after its been exported from off-the-shelf DCC tools like Max, Maya and SketchUp. The publishing tool needs a redesign and documentation before its ready for public consumption. However, UI design and development for that is a simpler task than ironing out the policies for user-generated content.

Ruberg's initial complaints centered around Lively's lack of support for cybersex, but she coyly notes that "Earlier conversations with Young may or may not have involved interface design changes specific to cybersex, but since Google has no official statement on sex in its virtual world, those comments will have to be left to your imaginations ...."

Q&A with Google Lively's User Experience Designer [Terra Nova]

Google has announced details of its annual sponsored Code Jam programming contest. In Round Two, programmers are given a 2D grid representation of a Portal level. The portal guns 'work', albeit in 2D.

The coder's task is "Given the maze, your initial position, and the cake's position, you want to find the minimum number of moves needed to reach the cake if it is possible."

Yeah, right. You won't get us that easily, Google. We know the cake is a lie.

Google Uses Portal for Programming Competition [The Escapist]

To complete the illusion, you can import stuff from Play-Asia or NCS while you browse. It won't have the same sort of instant gratification, but at least you'll know where Super Potato is, unlike me, who has never been able to find the goddamn place whenever I go to Electric Town.

Akihabara Street View [Google Maps via Gizmodo]

Lively is already loaded with hundreds of virtual rooms of varying themes, not to mention thousands of furries, one of the stock avatars that one can then further customize. Navigating around the world, which also seems to feature some light game like elements, took some getting used to. The novelty wore of quickly for me, as chatting with strangers on the internet is more frightening than in real life, but we'll have to dig deeper to see what Google has in store.

We'll check back in with it soon.

Lively by Google [Lively - thanks, DaveKap!]

Google hearts the Konami code [CrunchGear, via Boing Boing]

Not a bad deal for zero dollars.

Google Earth Flight Simulator [Marco's Blog via Google Blogoscoped]

Examples cited in the piece suggested that players in MMOs like World of Warcraft that tend to spend a lot of time talking to other users may be shown ads for mobile phones, or players that spend a lot of time exploring may be targeted for holiday adverts.

A Google spokesperson did not admit that this is specifically what the patent was for, only that Google registers many different patents whether or not they plan to implement them in the future. If they do decide to use it, this patent could in addition monitor data from any console that is hooked up to the internet. Perhaps in the not-so distant future, I can also download a Google "Hole-In-The-Head" extension for my browser so I can at least make the collection of crap I don't want complete. Kim Phu

Google to Target Gaming [MCVUK]

It's not bad. RSS readers aren't the sexiest of services, but they're indispensable for internerds like us. I messed around with it for a few minutes before writing this up but highly doubt I'll ever touch it again—not unlike the Wii browser and the Virtual Console. Michael McWhertor

Google launches Google Reader for the Wii [ZD.net]

The dirty details, including video are linked below. Michael McWhertor

Playing Xbox Live over Google WiFi While Driving [via Major Nelson]
Xbox Live Goes Mobile As We Play Rainbow 6 on Google Wifi [XHYD.tv]

It may not be as precise as some crop circles, but it's cool nonetheless. And by "cool" I mean really, really nerdy. Michael McWhertor

On Space Art in Sebastopol... [Plasticbag.org via Waxy]

According to website CNN Money, Google Inc. is currently in negotiations to purchase Adscape Media, a San Francisco company that provides in-game advertising to many major companies. This is just another in a long line of bids by Google to buy up companies so they can stretch their advertising presence in as many types of media as they can. If the Adscape purchase goes through, it would mean that Google would be able to deliver in game ads over the internet, directly into the games. How exactly that would work, I'm not sure, but don't be surprised if you wake up one day to find a big ole' Google Billboard staring you in the face when you load up your favorite game. Flynn De Marco

Google may buy video game ad firm [CNNMoney - Thanks, Voldtaengler]

I hope for Nintendo's sake that the Coke-bottle bespectacled fungineers at Google update their search suggestion spell-checker before the November launch. Right now, looking for news on the Wii asks if you're really interested in reading about is World War II. And thinking about Nazi's and the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki just take the fun out of accessible console gaming.

Come on, Google, help a multi-billion dollar Japanese corporation out!

Wikipedia on the other hand, that's where people are going for news. According to the newly launched WikiCharts, Nintendo's Wii is just barely being beaten out by gay porn stars and oral sex. Here were the top ten accessed pages at time of publish.

1. Main Page
2. Wikipedia
3. Pluto
4. List of gay porn stars
5. Oral sex
6. Wii
7. United States
8. List of Digimon
9. David Bowie
10. The Simpsons

Go, Nintendo, go! Thanks, Yannik! Michael McWhertor

Wii vs WWII
WikiCharts

Here at Kotaku I usually am the one who pounces on these independent game posts, probably because everyone else here is jaded, and covered in an oatmeal-like crust that issues from their sinuses when the term "indie game" is brought up. Especially Bash, who had to be chipped out of his desk chair with an afro pick after I brought Re:Mission into the office.

Enter Goggles, the Google Earth flight simsation that's sweeping the nation. Next time I type something like that, call the police.

In an effort to get a job, Mark Caswell-Daniels decided to create a Flash application that integrates information collected from Google's mapping service, which he had to figure out for himself, to attract attention to his portfolio. The result is this strangely alluring Flash flight sim with which you can fly around the globe to visit destinations of your choosing.

While the app is still in beta, and thus may contain the occasional bug or blank tile, it seems pretty darn functional already. Eliza Gauger

More here [Jay is Games]

Virtual world-obsessed site TerraNova has an opinion piece about something that haunts most of us who were raised in a computer tower: persistant records of our teenage exploits online. A great many of us have ridiculous Geocities pages, embarassing Usenet posts, idiotic forum flames and other errata that comes up when our names or aliases are fed into a search engine.

That low humming is the sound of one thousand Kotaku readers simultaneously typing "Brian Ashcraft" into Booble.

As to persisting public chat, I'm actually rather dumbfounded that Google is currently aware of zero occurrences of "WoWChatLog.txt" on the net. And one could even make an argument that post-WoW games may not provide the convenient chat logging or game API that Blizzard has provided, but if the player is able to access the information on his game screen, eventually there will be enough reason to scrape and persist the data.

There are already tons of WoW mods that turn on logging, and the harder-core guilds use them to parse for stats about the usefulness of each guildmember during instances. It's a short step from that, to publically humiliating that bitch Night Elf girlfriend of yours for cheating on you with that well-hung Gnome.

Confessions of a Virtual Transient [TerraNova]

Over at Xbox Forums, there's a rundown on how to install Gamercards on Google and even add yer buddies. Here's how:

1.A) First you need to make an Google account if you don't have one at this page: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount (you don't need to create a Gmail)

1.B) Log in to http://www.google.com/ig

2.) Press Add Content (at the left upper corner)

3.) Now you see a field below "Create a section", there you need to paste the needed url ending on .XML. To show your Gamercard with up to nine friends, paste http://users.pandora.be/tuned-belgium/GooMGC/GooMGC9.xml in the field.

Once you've got it up and running, go to options, where you can select a Flash version and select various languages.

How To Here [Xbox Forums] Thanks, Sinner!

Google is looking into the possibility of providing municiple WiFi networks for the Playstation Portable and other devices.

One device in Google's crosshairs is Sony's PSP game platform. "There's like five million of those in the U.S. now, they've all got Wi-Fi in them. We're trying to do what we can to make those devices able to log on to this network," Sacca said.

Unfortunately (for me), Google's first test site will be San Francisco and not Denver. Come on Google, we love WiFi in Denver. Bring it on.

The possibility of residents accessing a Google-provided municipal network via Sony's popular PSP gaming platform is among Google's hopes as it seeks to build a bigger Wi-Fi network in nearby San Francisco that is free to both the city and users. The company is working through the city's RFP (Request for Proposal) process. There, as in Mountain View, Google is finding a number of political and technical hurdles, Sacca said.

Let's hope they come up with a good business model and can roll this out nationwide. I need a little more on the go SOCOM.

Google Eyes How Mobile Devices will Use WiFi [InfoWorld, via PSP- Vault]

This has got to be the coolest Google Map application I've seen: an interactive map of Azeroth with 15,000 data points. It works just like the regular Google Maps complete with sliding altitude bar and "hand-grab" scrolling tool. But instead of looking for the nearest EB Games, you'll use this map to find 69 resources and dozens of popular locations in the game. Nar. Lee.

As of Sunday morning, I couldn't get the resource locator to work. It had been disabled because of a huge traffic surge from Digg. Can't wait to see it back up.

Man, why are they making the WoW addiction so much harder to kick?

Map World of Warcraft [Site]

Reader Hiroshi points out that Google Video is offering the ability to download some of the movies found through the search engine in PSP format. I'm not sure how long they've been offering downloads specifically for the PSP, but it's a pretty neat feature. The other download options are for Windows and iPod video.
Google Video [Search Results]