atari posts

An Asteroids movie? Yep

by John Callaham Jul 3rd 2009 @ 8:00AM

There are only a few games with less of a story than Asteroids. The classic sci-fi shooter from Atari is bascially you shooting stuff that are supposed to be rocks in space with an icon that's supposed to be a laser-armed space ship. Pac-Man has more of a plot. Yet, the Hollywood Reporter states that several studios were actually in a recent bidding war to get the movie rights to the game.

The story repors that Universal "won" the bidding war and that screenwriter Matthew Lopez is handling the "adaptation" (he basically has a clean slate to write whatever he wants, we imagine). Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who also produced the awful Doom movie adaptation, is one of the producers of this flick. We hope Universal will get its money back from this deal.

Filed under: Culture, Action

Ubisoft takes over publishing Heroes Over Europe

by John Callaham Jul 2nd 2009 @ 6:00PM

It's a game that was in danger of being canceled but now a new publisher has flown in (hehe) to save the day. We are talking about Heroes Over Europe, the WWI action-flying game from developer Transmission Games. Today Ubisoft announced that they are the new publisher of the title and plan to release the game sometime in September.

The game's future was in doubt earlier this year when it was revealed that the developer had not received a payment from its co-publisher Red Mile Entertainment and as such pulled out of their agreement with Red Mile. Atari, the other co-publisher, also decided to terminate its agreement at the same time. Ubisoft' s new publishing deal announcement also came with nine new screenshots from the game that we have added to our gallery.

Gallery: Heroes Over Europe

Filed under: Action

Rumor: Champions Online open beta to begin in August?

by John Callaham Jun 28th 2009 @ 3:00PM

With Champions Online now set for release on September 1, many are asking, "when will the open beta begin for the game?" A good question and one which a fan site said it has learned during a visit to the game's developer Cryptic Studios.

According to the Champions Online Daily News site, "I can say that a firm date has been penciled in and although it's not 100% confirmed it is slap bang in the middle of August." While we are putting this in the rumor column since Cryptic itself is not the source of the info this date seems like a very good guess considering that the actual launch date is set for Sept. 1.

Gallery: Champions Online

Filed under: Betas, MMO, Champions Online

Atari and Threewave comment on lack of multiplayer in PC Ghostbusters

by John Callaham Jun 17th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Gamers were upset when it was learned a few days ago that the PC version of Ghostbusters would lack the multiplayer features that its Xbox 360 and PS2 counterparts have. We asked the game's publisher Atari for comment on this issue and they sent over a response from Dan Irish, the CEO of the game's multiplayer developer Threewave Software:

Multiplayer for the PC version of Ghostbusters is something that Threewave and Terminal Reality always wanted to do. However, our focus was on making the console version the best that they could be - an experience that allows multiple players to re-live and re-fight many of the themes from the movies. When we looked at the resources necessary to pull off multiplayer on the consoles and the PC, it became a question of what could we do and still be excellent in our execution. We couldn't do all versions with multiplayer simultaneously with the resources that we had available - there was simply too much to do. Something would have to suffer. Therefore, we kept our focus on making the console versions deliver on the promise of being an integral player on the Ghostbusters team.

We have yet to receive a response to our other question on if Atari plans to add multiplayer support for the PC version of Ghostbusters via a patch.

Gallery: Ghostbusters

Filed under: Action, Multiplayer

Recent Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion does away with install limits

by John Callaham Jun 17th 2009 @ 7:00AM

In late April Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate was made available for download as an official expansion to the popular fantasy RPG. However, many gamers were not happy that publisher Atari put in a limit to installs of the expansion (just three in fact). Now it looks like Atari has actually listened to consumers.

According to a note on the Ossian Studios web site (the developer of the expansion pack) Atari has now removed the install limit which means gamers can install the expansion as many times as they want on as many PCs as they want. The one-time online activation for the expansion is still in place, however.

Filed under: Downloads, Expansions, RPG

New games and sales on Steam and Impulse today

by John Callaham Jun 16th 2009 @ 5:00PM

As we reported a few days ago, Steam has now added a number of library titles from publisher Bethesda Softworks to their line-up of downloadable PC games today.Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, the two acclaimed open world fantasy RPG titles and the first person horror action-adventure game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth are currently available for 20 percent off their usual Steam prices for one week.

Steam has also added four Strategy First games (Ankh 2 - Heart of Osiris, Ankh 3 - Battle of the Gods, BC Kings and Port Royale 2) with all four also available for 20 percent off their normal prices for a week. Two recent Atari games, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and Ghostbusters, are also available via Steam today but no discounts for them.

Over at Stardock's Impulse site they have added three Ubisoft games (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2 and Heroes of Might & Magic V: Tribes of the East) to their library and are currently on sale for 10 percent off their normal price.

Filed under: Downloads, Action, FPS, RPG, Far Cry 2

This Week In PC Games: June 15-21

by John Callaham Jun 15th 2009 @ 8:00AM

This week, PC gamers can look forward to getting slimed and getting shot at with a new retail release and the next version of a popular free multiplayer shooter.

Ghostbusters: After switching publishers and getting delayed for several months, developer Terminal Reality and publisher Atari release this long awaited movie-based action game made with the assistance of several of the original film's cast and writers. Time to cross the streams as you get to play a new Ghostbuster alongside the classic team to fight new and returning beasts. Unfortunately the PC version lacks the multiplayer modes that most of the other ports of the game will have.

Gallery: Ghostbusters

Continue reading This Week In PC Games: June 15-21

Filed under: Action, FPS, Meta BD, America's Army 3

Sorry PC players; no multiplayer for your Ghostbusters game

by John Callaham Jun 14th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Atari is about to ship their long awaited Ghostbusters game to stores this coming week but a few folks have gotten their copies a bit early and such as the Ghostbusters fan site Ecto-Web. They have discovered something that hasn't been mentioned once in any of the previews of the Terminal Reality-developed title. While the Xbox 360, PS3 and ports will have some sort of multiplayer options, the PC version of Ghostbusters has no such multiplayer features . . . at all, offline or online.

Quite frankly this is pretty appalling on the developer's part. We can't remember the last time a multiplatform game nixed PC multiplayer features while the console ports got to have that privilege. Oddly enough the PC version does require an Internet connection for authentication before you can play the totally single player experience.

[Via Blue's News]

Gallery: Ghostbusters

Filed under: Action, Multiplayer

Star Trek Online and the new Star Trek movie

by John Callaham Jun 14th 2009 @ 3:00PM

It's currently the biggest box office hit of 2009 but the success of the new Star Trek movie has made many die hard Trek fans wonder what happened to the timeline of the previous TV shows and movies. Now Cryptic has answered that question in their new timeline chart for their upcoming MMO Star Trek Online.

While this is explained as a quick sequence in the movie, the timeline gives a clearer picture of how the new Star Trek movie fits with regular Trek canon. In short, the new Trek is set in an alternate timeline from the original Trek universe. However the events that caused that alternate timeline to be created (namely the destruction of the Romulan homeworld and the time travel jump of Nero and Spock) will indeed affect the Trek "prime" universe which Star Trek Online is set.

Gallery: Star Trek Online

Filed under: MMO

Champions Online box art has comic book look

by John Callaham Jun 12th 2009 @ 11:00AM

As developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Atari get ready for the September 1 launch of Champions Online they are also prepping their marketing and ads for the long awaited super hero MMO game. This week the game's official web site has posted up the final artwork for the game's box cover.

The painted box art has an appropriate look that might be found on the cover of a trade paperback collection of comic books and certainly fits the mood of the game itself. Hopefully the game will fit the manner of the artwork. In the meantime Cryptic has recently released new screenshots that we have added to our gallery.

Gallery: Champions Online

Filed under: MMO, Champions Online

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