Google Pixel Laptop Gets Konami Code Treatment

If you'll allow us to get personal for a moment, we almost wish that Google hadn't spilled the beans about the latest feature to hit its (arguably expensive) Pixel laptop. Say what you will about the cost and capabilities of this one; It's not as if Google's touchscreen laptop lacks spirit. We just wish we could have found out about the hidden fun ourselves.

Which is to say, Google's gone ahead and built and Easter Egg directly into the device. Yes, an Easter Egg ? when's the last time that your desktop or laptop came with a bonus "gimmick" feature beyond the standard, shared capabilities that all computers tend to have?

In the case of Google's Pixel, activating the aforementioned bonus feature is as easy as typing in a special little code on Google's $1,300 (or more) device. And that code should come as little surprise to most gamers: It's the Konami Code, jumping back out of the world of websites and making its return appearance on a piece of hardware.

The Konami Code?

Here's the history. Entering a certain code on one's video game console controller whenever the Konami logo appeared upon launch of the game would (more often than not) unlock a set of bonuses for a number of the company's earlier titles ? Contra for the original Nintendo perhaps being one of the best examples thereof.

This code ? up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, "B," then "A," ? doesn't exactly give Google Pixel owners extra lives, bonus ammunition, or invulnerability, but it does allow their laptops to perform a cute little light show with the strip of LED lights on the top of the device.

That's it! Type in the code and receive a little fun, blinking pattern from the laptop's multi-colored lights. We're not sure whether the blinking pattern has any actual significance beyond the fact that it just? blinks. Wired's put together a little animated gif of what happens for those who don't intend to purchase or play with Google's Pixel, so feel free to check that out if you want to see what the Pixel does post-code.

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For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

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Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/sRTPWDlEaLw/0,2817,2415795,00.asp

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