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October 7, 2008 12:30 PM PDT

Play 'Pong,' answer trivia. Wash, rinse, repeat.

by Eric Franklin
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You may have to read the instructions a few times to get the gist of the game.

(Credit: ABC.com)

Itching to play Pong on the Web? Well, you're in luck since there are tons of sites that offer Java or Flash-based versions. One of my favorites--since about 20 minutes ago--being this one.

Maybe however, you're looking for something a little different. Perhaps you'd like to play Pong and have the game interrupted every few seconds to answer trivia questions about a show you've never heard of and just last night saw a commercial for. Well, that was my experience at least.

ABC, in an attempt to promote its new '70s cop drama Life on Mars, is offering Pong for play on its site and as a widget.

From the few minutes I've spent with it, I can say that the controls are responsive, but the A.I. isn't challenging at all on the first few levels. I would have played further but I just couldn't deal with the game constantly pausing to ask me '70s- and Life on Mars-related trivia questions. Otherwise, it's a pretty good version of Pong.

As for the show, as I mentioned, I saw a commercial for it last night for the first time and had no idea what it was about. Seeing Harvey Keitel with a huge flowing mullet kicking in a door didn't excite me much either.

After doing a little research I learned that it's actually a sci-fi show based on a BBC series. Of course, being the geek that I am, as soon as I learned about the sci-fi aspect I became intrigued. Also, with Clarke Peters from The Wire involved, I have to at least give it a try now.

Eric Franklin refused to write a bio, saying, "Why are you bothering me about this bio business again? If I wanted people to know more about me, I'd send them to the Inside CNET Labs Podcast" (shameless plug). E-mail Eric.
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by spoJohnny October 7, 2008 1:00 PM PDT
Michael Imperioli (from Sopranos) with that stache made me laugh. That was enough catch my eye and get me to look it up. The sci-fi aspect was enough to get me to add it to the TiVo list. We'll see though...
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by p1nkgirl October 8, 2008 7:29 AM PDT
I'm going to totally age myself, but i loved that game as a kid. I'm also pretty excited about the premiere of Life on Mars. The British version was good and with Harvey Keitel and Jason O'Mara, this is going to be great. Check out this clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEWpWM7Iyhc
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by JimmyJJames October 8, 2008 7:41 AM PDT
I have to say that I am more than a little curious about this show. ABC tends to do cop shows pretty well. I saw that preview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEWpWM7Iyhc and it looks pretty interesting.
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by BobGibson2000 October 9, 2008 11:01 AM PDT
If your popup ad wasn't in the way, I could read the article and provide a useful comment.
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