The Arcade Flyer Archive

Here's another one of those passage-of-time moments that may make elder geeks groan: Thirty-three years after Missile Command blew up the arcade scene, gamers can now play a pint-size version within YouTube.

To play the game, all you need to do is direct your Web browser to any video on YouTube, make sure you aren't in a text field (for instance, search), and type in 1980. Within a second, your video slides down and a basic version of Missile Command appears on top of the video. To get you in the mood, "Defend this video from attack\For great justice!" amusingly appears before you start the game.

If you slip up and let missiles strike your video, a glass-shattering effect appears over the content, as well as an accompaniment of loud explosions that, if played at a loud enough volume, will totally startle any cubicle neighbors.

In related news, you can also type in 1337 to change all of the comments on a page to leetspeak. In some respects, that's probably a more preferable viewing option to beautify the obscenities and squabbling often seen in this colloquium.

Screenshot by Christopher MacManus/CNET

(Via Gizmodo)