atari

industry news

Infogrames Completes Atari Buyout

Posted by Owen Good at 3:40 AM on October 12, 2008

Finally, some news about a troubled, bankrupted former household name getting bought up by someone other than the government. Infogrames has completed its purchase of Atari, for all of $US11 million. The French publisher already owned about 51 percent of Atari. In April, Atari pretty much threw in the towel, was de-listed from the stock exchange, and accepted Infogrames' offer to buy the rest of its shares at $US1.68 per. Oh, Infogrames also loaned junior $US20 million to make it through to the completion of the buyout.

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ds

Three Dragon Ball Z: Origins Trailers

Posted by Adam Barenblat at 6:20 PM on October 7, 2008


We got not one, not two, but three Dragon Ball Z: Origins trailers to satisfy your needs. Luckily, you don't have to wait much longer. You can pick up the game for Nintendo DS November 4th. More videos after the jump.

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role-playing

New Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Trailer

Posted by Adam Barenblat at 7:30 AM on October 3, 2008


We know there are a few of you guys still playing Neverwinter Nights 2 and for that very reason we got a new trailer for those of you patiently waiting for your next expansion pack. Luckily, your wait is almost over because Storm of Zehir will be shipping to North America in November.

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humour

Australia's first R18+ video game! Oh, they did wha... ?

Australian Post Posted by Seamus Byrne at 11:03 AM on October 2, 2008

witcherR18.jpgAmazing news from tipster Josh, who picked up a copy of The Witcher Enhanced Edition and was overjoyed to discover it was actually Australia's first R18+ videogame! Or... maybe it was just a very unfortunate printing error? Has Atkinson changed his position yet? No?

OK.

Anyone else with a copy of this illustrious 'Enhanced Edition'?
[Thanks for the photos, Josh!]

UPDATE: Commenter 'philomglol' points out this is probably the rating for video content on the disc. So it's not a mistake, just another good example of the farce that is the local rating system. R18+ rated video can slip under the radar on an MA15+ rated game disc because the game scrapes under the bar while the video is rated where it probably belongs. OK, nope, it was an error... thanks Leesa. Is this an example that helps our cause, or just muddies the waters?

retro

Wall$treet, Indeed: Financial Games of the '80s

Posted by Maggie Greene at 3:30 AM on September 29, 2008

I've mentioned the unfortunately named Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection blog a couple of times, but I really do love it — I'm always curious to see what gems will be dredged up from the archives. Following on the heels of a post from Owen on five games to play during a stock market crash comes a post showing what (some) people were playing during the financial downturn of 1987. In addition to some less stimulating titles from 'Blue Chip Software,' we get the fantastic box art of Wall$treet and the dismal sounding Black Monday, among others:

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mobile

Atari Classics Land On iPhone

Posted by Mike Fahey at 12:20 AM on September 25, 2008

Ah, so this is why Atari went and attacked the developers of iPhone Breakout clones. Nothing sucks more than having to compete against better versions of your own product. Up now on the Apps Store are brand new versions of Atari classics Super Breakout and Missile Command, both redone with an added Xbox Live Arcade-style glossy finish. The missile command, seen above, looks particularly nice. Super Breakout, on the other hand, looks like Super Breakout, which basically amounts to all the cool clone versions Atari put a stop to without all the nifty bits that made them cool. Both games support two players as well as streaming your own music while you play.

Atari calls the games "true evolutions of the original hits", and promises more to come in the near future. Both games retail for $4.99 and are available now via the App Store. Nice, but not quite for me. I've bought Missile Command too many times already, and I've always been more of an Arkanoid man.

Atari fires onto App Store [Casualgaming.biz]

industry news

Ghostbusters' Future Not So Ethereal

Posted by Brian Crecente at 2:00 AM on September 24, 2008

Among the many games killed, sold-off or in some sort of nebulous video game purgatory is frightening shooter Ghostbusters.

The game made a splash earlier this year with some demo time at a few events, some wayward promotional lanyards and even a bit of time in my house, but since hitting everyone's radar Ghostbusters has essentially vanished.

Now we hear that among the publishers looking to snatch up the game is Atari which hopes to not only publish the game but make it the crown jewel of their turn-around.

Emails to Phil Harrison (and hassling of the gaggle of clone Harrison running around the tower) have netted us exactly nothing. The official words from Activision are "no comment" so take this one with a grain of salt until things find a bit more solid ground.

mobile

Atari Going After iPhone Breakout Clones

Posted by Stuart Houghton at 8:20 AM on September 19, 2008

Atari has fired off some stern letters to iPhone games developers, citing infringement of their Breakout intellectual property.

Bootant has received a takedown for Break Classic and BreakTouch 3D and SpiffyWare was given a talking to for SuperPong 2 - citing both Breakout and Pong infringements.

Thing is, while the Tetris clone Tris was pulled, this was due to the too-similar name - the gameplay was almost certainly not actionable. If Atari are applying the same legal principles, shouldn't they also be going after the producers of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo?

Atari's Legal Team Attacking iPhone "Breakout" Clones [Touch Arcade]

events

Atari Gamer's Day Roundup

Posted by AJ Glasser at 10:20 AM on September 13, 2008

September is turning out to be a hell of a month. A hurricane is heading for my homestead, my dental appointment got pushed to the morning after the Atari event and Atari fell the day after the Guitar Hero event I'm not allowed to talk about until next week. Which happens to be right when I start Stanford.

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wii

Hands On: Backyard Football 09

Posted by AJ Glasser at 8:00 AM on September 13, 2008


I'm not even going to pretend I play these kinds of games - and it's not because I've got the double X-chromosome dislike of football. It's because I can honestly thing of other things I'd rather be doing than watching the Muppet Babies version of pro football.

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