Last Friday Google added a mini-version of the classic Pac-Man game on its home page in honor of its 30th anniversary. A productivity firm calculated that time spent playing Pac-Man on Friday cost firms 4.8 million hours of productivity.

According to Kotaku "RescueTime, makers of productivity tracking and optimization software, looked at the average time that 11,000 of its users spent on Google's pages on Friday and found it more than quadrupled. Normally they spend 11 seconds on a Google page, but on Friday they spent 45." Usually the time spent on Google's main page is so low because people search for something which exits the page quickly.

Google also had more than 500 million pageviews on Friday. RescueTime, assuming its user base was representative, ran some numbers and came up with:

• 4,819,352 hours of time lost (This is above the 33.6 million man hours of attention Google gets on a regular day)

• More than $120 million in lost productivity, assuming the cost of the average Google user is $25 an hour (pay + benefits)

• According to RescueTime, "For that same cost, you could hire all 19,835 Google employees, from Larry and Sergey down to their janitors, and get 6 weeks of their time."

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To start off the month of April, Battle.net announced the launch of its first ever dating service called Matchmaking. It's shown with the tagline "Find someone to pwn noobs with" and caters to Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft Players.

The front page of the site features testimonials from users (who must have had access to a top secret closed beta) such as:

Google is up to its normal April Fool's Day hijinks, first of all renaming the website in honor of Google, Kansas, aka Topeka. Early last month Topeka, Kansas announced they would be changing the town's name to Google as part of the competition to become one of the choosen cities for Google's 1Gbit Fibre Broadband.

According to the company formerly known as Google, the official name change to Topeka was due to the kinship felt with the city and its important American history. The company formerly known as Google has released some simple guidelines for use of their new name.

It also seems that since the change of the company name, all vowels have disappeared from the Gmail site.

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A fight at a Chinese internet cafe over a suspected wall hack nearly cost one teenage Counter-Strike player his life. An argument erupted between two players when one accused a 17 year old of using a wall hack, which allows the player to see through the walls on a Counter-Strike map.

The fight ended when the assailant stabbed the 17 year-old in the head with a foot-long knife. Miraculously, the teenager survived; arriving at the hospital conscious and undergoing 10 hours of surgery to remove the knife. The blade missed major arteries, which kept him from hemorrhaging, and managed to somehow avoid affecting motor skills even though the blade passed through areas that control those functions. The physician who operated on the gamer said that the chances of surviving such a wound were one in ten thousand. 

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There's no place like home in Google, Kansas. Topeka, Kansas has changed its name temporarily to Google for the month of March. Why? In the quest to be chosen for the Google 1Gbit Fibre Broadband. This publicity stunt hopes to land Topeka a spot in the exclusive high-speed internet trials.

Google fever has spread in Topeka where local restaurant The Break Room hosted a Google Fiber party and gave free dinner coupons to the first 20 people who filled out an online petition. "We are from here, born here, and want to see our home do as well as possible," says co-owner Chris Schultz.

Google's 1Gbit fibre broadband would be 20x faster than the highest performance package by Verizon, and Google has promised to drop a lot of dough on the project in hopes to eventually bring this high-speed broadband service to up to 500,000 homes.

Other cities are not to be outdone by Topeka's honorable name change. Greensboro, N.C. is preparing an "Operation Google" gift package for Google headquarters and has set aside $50,000 for promoting a Google broadband effort. They plan on making a YouTube channel dedicated to residents videos on why they need Google's broadband services. They are also considering renaming their city Googlesboro. 

Duluth, MN posted a YouTube video response to Topeka stating "that all first born males in the city shall be named “Google Fiber” and all first born females shall be “Googlette Fiber.” According to the mayor ""Just because Topeka was the first to make an obnoxious symbolic gesture to suck up to the good folks there at Google doesn't mean that we can't suck up even more."

Many Facebook fan pages have sprouted for cities like Eden Prairie, MN, Grand Rapids, MI, Columbia, MO, and Ventura, CA. 

"Level of community support is certainly one of the factors we're considering," says a Google spokesman who asked not to be identified. Google is taking applications for trial areas until March 26th, more information can be found at the Official Google Blog.

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Kevin Singer had been a devoted Dungeons & Dragons player ever since he was kid. When the now 33 year-old was handed down a life sentence for first-degree murder, he turned to his D&D books to pass the time. Singer started playing regularly with other inmates until his books, and a 96 page campaign he had written were confiscated based on an anonymous tip from another inmate that him and the three other inmates had formed a "gang" focused around playing the game.

Singer was told by prison officials that he could not keep his books & magazines because D&D "promotes fantasy role playing, competitive hostility, violence, addictive escape behaviors, and possible gambling." The policy was expanded later to include all fantasy games.

Singer appealed the punishment, but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against him stating that "punishment is a fundamental aspect of imprisonment, and prisons may choose to punish inmates by preventing them from participating in some of their favorite recreations."

An Italian teen, ironically named Mario, was arrested after allegedly stabbing his father in the neck after an argument about game tactics. 46-year old Fabrizio was recovering in the hospital after being stabbed by his son with a 15-inch kitchen knife.

The argument stemmed from Fabrizio giving Mario advice on how to play his game, FIFA Soccer 09. Mario had received the game a few days earlier as a birthday present. He then turned off the television when his son's behavior took a turn for the worse. The mother reported that she saw her son come into the kitchen and rinse off the knife in front of her, and leave it on the counter to dry. She didn't have any clue what happened until her husband stumbled in, clutching his bloodied throat.

"I saw Mario come back into the room, he seemed calm, he went to the sink and I noticed him washing a knife," she told the newspaper. "Then my husband came into the room with a hand round his neck, dripping blood."

After the attack the teenager shut himself in his bedroom, but made no resistance when the police came to take him away.

"Mario is obsessed. He's forever playing on his PlayStation, and we bought him FIFA 2009 because we didn't want him playing violent games," according to his mother.

You might have a problem if you've collected 139 games on your Steam account. What better to cleanse the soul than to sell your whole Steam account? That's what dave311 freak did when he put his Steam account up for sale on eBay.

dave311freak Steam account included 139 games, a good VAC standing. Upon payment dave311freak would change all of the information including email and password over to the winner.

Bidding ended Friday for the listing using Buy It Now for $1,000 (and free shipping).

Assassin's Creed (19.99)
Audiosurf (9.99)
Battlefield 2 Collection (29.99)
Beyond Good and Evil (9.99)
Bioshock (19.99)
Borderlands w/ Dr. Ned Expansion (59.98)
Braid (9.99)
Burnout Paradise: Ultimate Box (29.99)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (39.99)
Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2 (59.99)
Call of Duty 5: World at War (49.99)
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (19.99)
Cogs (9.99)
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (29.99)
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising (19.99)
Commander Keen Complete Pack (4.99)
Company of Heroes (19.99)
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (19.99)
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (29.99)
Counter-Strike: Source (19.99)
Crysis (29.99)
Crysis Warhead (29.99)
Dark Messiah: Might and Magic (9.99)
Darwinia (9.99)
Day of Defeat (4.99)
Day of Defeat: Source (9.99)
Dead Space (29.99)
Deathmatch Classic (4.99)
Defense Grid: The Awakening (9.99)
Doom 2: Hell on Earth (9.99)
Doom 3 (19.99)
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (19.99)
Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe Edition (64.99)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition (19.99)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY Edition (29.99)
Empire: Total War (49.99)
Everyday Shooter (9.99)
Fallout 3 (49.99)
Far Cry (9.99)
Far Cry 2: Fortune's Edition (19.99)
Final Doom (9.99)
Football Manager 2009 (29.99)
Football Manager 2010 (39.99)
Frontlines: Fuel of War (29.99)
Ghostbusters (19.99)
Grand Theft Auto 4 (29.99)
Half Life (9.99)
Half Life 2 (19.99)
Half Life 2 Deathmatch (4.99)
Half Life 2: Episode One (9.99)
Half Life 2: Episode Two (14.99)
Half Life 2: Lost Coast (9.99)
Half Life Deathmatch: Source (9.99)
Half Life: Blue Shift (4.99)
Half Life: Opposing Force (4.99)
Half Life: Source (9.99)
Hearts of Iron 3 (29.99)
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders (4.99)
Hexen II (4.99)
Hexen: Beyond Heretic (4.99)
Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Cathedral (4.99)
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 (4.99)
Jade Empire Special Edition (14.99)
Killing Floor (19.99)
King's Bounty: Armored Princess (39.99)
King's Bounty: The Legend (29.99)
Left 4 Dead (29.99)
Left 4 Dead 2 (49.99)
Mass Effect (19.99)
Master Levels for Doom II (9.99)
Medeival II: Total War (19.99)
Mirror's Edge (19.99)
Multiwinia (9.99)
Order of War (29.99)
Osmos (9.99)
Overlord (4.99)
Overlord: Raising Hell (4.99)
Overlord II (29.99)
Portal (19.99)
Prince of Persia (29.99)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (9.99)
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (9.99)
Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within (9.99)
Prey (29.99)
Quake 1 (9.99)
Quake 1 Mission Pack: Scourge of Armagon (4.99)
Quake 1 Mission Pack: Dissolution of Eternity (4.99)
Quake 2 (9.99)
Quake 2: Ground Zero (4.99)
Quake 2: The Reckoning (4.99)
Quake 3 Arena/Team Arena (19.99)
Quantz (9.99)
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (9.99)
Red Faction: Gurrilla (39.99)
Resident Evil 5 (49.99)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein (19.99)
Ricochet (4.99)
Risk II (9.99)
Rome: Total War Gold (9.99)
Rome: Total War Alexander (9.99)
Saints Row 2 (29.99)
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (9.99)
Section 8 (49.99)
Shattered Horizon (19.99)
Sid Meier's Civilization 4 (19.99)
Sid Meier's Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword (19.99)
Sid Meier's Civilization 4: Colinization (29.99)
Sid Meier's Civilization 4: Warlords (9.99)
Space Siege (19.99)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (9.99)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (19.99)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (9.99)
Stormrise (29.99)
Street Fighter 4 (39.99)
Team Fortress Classic (4.99)
Team Fortress 2 (19.99)
Tomb Raider: Underworld (29.99)
Torchlight (19.99)
Trials 2: Second Edition (9.99)
Tropico 3: Steam Special Edition (39.99)
Trine (19.99)
Ultimate Doom (9.99)
Universe at War: Earth Assault (19.99)
Unreal Tournament 3 (39.99)
The Void (19.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (9.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade (19.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm (29.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault (9.99)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (39.99)
World in Conflict (19.99)
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault (19.99)
Wolfenstein 3D (4.99)
Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny (4.99)
X2: The threat (4.99)
X3: Terrain Conflict (19.99)
X3: Reunion (9.99)
Zeno Clash (14.99)
Zombie Driver (9.99)

WEC mixed martial arts fighter Jamie Varner suffered a major injury a year ago when he broke a metacarpal bone in his hand. In order to rebuild strength, the doctor had only one prescription for him: more video games. Constant movement of the hands and fingers would strengthen the broken bone, thus aiding its recovery.

The 25-year-old, 155 lb. MMA fighter underwent two rounds of surgery after the injury on January 25, 2009 (Cerrone fight for the WEC followers) one of which was due to the bone healing incorrectly. After his doctor's advice, Varner retrieved his Xbox 360 which was on loan to a friend (fellow fighter Ryan Bader) and picked up a copy of the popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. According to Varner "I've been on that non-stop pretty much." This is confirmed on his official site in a post from 11/24/09 stating "Call of duty has taken over my life…lol training went well today I lifted, did a photo shoot for Mma unlimited, sparred then grappled. It was a long day then ofcourse I got a couple kills in today on COD! Bader,CB and Ryan Diaz all played tonight. So tomorrow I’ll be grappling, swimming then Thai pad work!"

According to Varner, his hand is now 100%. If you're interested in taking him on in MW2 on Xbox 360, his gamertag is champ155.

An unfortunate Orange County, Florida GameStop employee was shot in the leg during an armed robbery minutes after he opened the doors. The gunman walked in minutes after the store opening and held the clerk and another customer in the store as he waited for the security timer on the safe to expire.

After spending more than 10 minutes in the store the robber also took a Wii system and a number of games. When the safe opened the robber shot the employee, who had been in complete cooperation with the robber, in the leg and took off.

“From what we know so far, there doesn't appear to be a struggle and it's preliminary, but it looks like the suspect got what he wanted and had no reason to shoot, but he did anyway,” said Lt. Eddie Appleby, Orange County Sheriff's Office.

According to police, the suspect is described as an older black male with a mustache, wearing a dark sweater, baggy jeans and a dark Nike baseball hat, weighing between 220 pounds and 250 pounds. This suspect may also be related to another robbery at the store after Thanksgiving.

This news comes on the heels of an FBI crime study last week finding that there has been a 285% rise in game console theft in the last three years with 42,615 cases in 2009 (up from 11,074 in 2007).

A man who turned off power to a Netherlands hospital while he thought he was playing Silent Hill, was found not guilty because he couldn't know the true consequences of his actions. The 35 year old Jan H. thought he was playing Silent Hill as he wandered into the hospitals basement and turned off the power with hopes of getting a toothbrush to solve a puzzle. Jan H. has volunteered to undergo treatment.

The man was suffering from psychosis when he turned off the power at the Sophia Hospital in Zwolle, Netherlands. The power was out for 45 minutes with people reported as stuck in elevators, and hospital staff manually respirating patients in the intensive care unit. According to reports, no one was hurt or suffered any lasting consequences.

As for the man, there was no word whether he found the toothbrush to finish the puzzle.

One of two new roads in the city of Derby in the UK has a chance at being named after one of the most recognizable girl game characters, Lara Croft. Voting is underway through Derby's city website and will go until January 31. Why Lara Croft? Derby is the home of the original studio behind the Tomb Raider series, Core Design.

The city accepted suggestions for what to name two new stretches of road, and the eight options up for vote are: John Flamsteed Way, Griffon Way, Merlin Way, Lara Croft Way, Sorocold Way, Steve Bloomer Way, Eagle Way and Mercian Way.

http://www.derby.gov.uk/

Joey Lombard is not like any other of the 11 candidates running in the Minneapolis, MN mayoral election. Along with being a member of the never-before-heard-of "Is Awesome" party, Joey is an unemployed, 22 year old, musician, with years of experience with Sim City. Though he admits he’s never managed a real city, he has a good idea of how a city should be run due to his Sims experience. He also claims that his lack of “real-life” experience means he’s unable to become corrupted.

According to an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Joey got his start in politics thanks to his girlfriend. "My girlfriend was always whining about how I don't do enough for the world," said Lombard. "So I said, 'OK, I'm going to run for mayor of Minneapolis and make everybody love each other."
 
The ever ambitious Joey Lombard quit his job at Macy's ("Not a good idea, in retrospect") and coughed up the $20 required and joined the Minneapolis Mayoral. Girlfriend still wasn’t happy, according to Lombard, "She thought I was making a mockery of the electoral system." His parents are growing on the idea and beginning to see their son’s potential.

Lombard has vowed to swear off big political campaign spending and spend no more than $100 for his campaign. He believes his odds are fairly good as well. “I looked at the people running, and they don't have any more experience than I do," Lombard said. "I might be able to do some good."

Was that enough for his girlfriend? "She dumped me," he said with a sigh. "She said I didn't care enough about hegemony."
 
He may not care enough about hegemony but he sure has an interest in Minnesota! He lists Prince, Soul Asylum, Semisonic and Quietdrive as some of his favorite musicians; Prairie Home Companion, Mighty Ducks, Grumpy Old Men and Fargo as some of his favorite movies; and Mary Tyler Moore and Little House on the Prairie as his favorite TV Shows. Girlfriend doesn't know what she's missing with this guy.

According to Joey's Facebook page "I'm Joey, your soon-to-be mayor-elect, I hope. At the moment I have no position on any issues. Politicians shouldn't run just to do what they want, they should run to do what you want. Tell me what you want out of your mayor, and I'll find the most popular opinions and that's what I'll be. Sound like a plan?"
 

November 3rd is election night, if you're a Minneapolitan remember the name Joey Lombard!

 

http://www.facebook.com/joeyformayor

http://joeyformayor.com/

Undercover cops conducting a raid on a drug dealer decided that victory was best rewarded by playing Wii bowling. A security camera wired into the suspects home picked up on some members of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force playing Wii while others conducted a search of the premises. The Wii playing began only 20 minutes after the police broke down the door. One female detective repeatedly put down evidence she was cataloguing to pick up the Wii remote, and is even shown jumping up and down with excitement of having bowled two strikes in a row. Others are shown bowling frame after frame in heated competition. It's reported that the Wii time totaled to a little over an hour.

Besides being bad press for the force, a Florida local defense attorney offered "The real question here is have they seized property that wasn't described in the search warrant? Clearly if they're using it, they've seized it and for totally improper purposes, because it's for entertainment. Investigations are not for entertainment."

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd denies the video and actions of the police will have any effect on the case.

"That absolutely is not true; that doesn't invalidate the search at all," Judd said. "Now the defendant would like for it to invalidate the search, but unfortunately for him, it won't." He called the situation embarassing and initiated an internal administrative investigation of the incident.

According to others involved:

"Obviously, this is not the kind of behavior we condone," Lakeland Police Chief Roger Boatner said. "There was a lot of down time, but that does not excuse the fact that we should act as the consummate professionals."

"Certainly this was a case of bad judgment," Auburndale Police Chief Nolan McLeod said. "We will handle it appropriately."

Winter Haven police Sgt. Brad Coleman said Chief E.C. Waters had not viewed the video. "If there is any indication that someone did something inappropriately, we will do something about it," Coleman said.

Police had been monitoring the suspect since 2008, and a warrant was issued to search for drugs, stolen property and the fruits of any illegal drug activity. Documents filed with the courts revealed detectives had removed methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, weapons and more than $30,000 in stolen propertyThe suspect had served previous prison time for rafficking drugs, owning and operating a chop shop, and grand theft.

The raid cost taxpayers more than $4,000, but Judd, Boatner and Mcleod argue that though the Wii bowling at the scene was inappropriate, the raid was worth every cent.

Officials from the PAX Expo (which ended on Sunday) have confirmed H1N1's presence at the show. The official PAX Twitter account wrote today "Just heard of our first test-confirmed swine flu case at the show. PLEASE if you feel symptoms (fever, etc) go to the doctor."

PAX had 60,000+ visitors. "This is the real thing. If you get this number of people together in this close a proximity it is the perfect storm for these kind of wild fire virus spreads," Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo told Kotaku. "We just want to make sure everyone is informed."

The confirmed infection was in a Boston based developer (who's identity has yet to be released) who contacted PAX officials after doctors confirmed H1N1.