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Humans can help AI learn games more quickly
Google taught DeepMind to play Atari games all on its own, but letting humans help may be faster, according to researchers from Microsoft and Germany. They invited folks of varying skills to play five Atari 2600 titles: Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Video Pinball, Q*Bert and Montezuma's Revenge. After watching 45 hours of human gameplay, the algorithm could beat its mentors at pinball, though it struggled at Montezuma's revenge -- just as Deepmind did.
Old-school tank shooter 'Battlezone' comes to Oculus and Vive
If you grew up in the age of arcades, you probably played Atari's seminal first-person tank game, Battlezone. In the arcade version, you'd play the game with your face stuck into a set of faux goggles that helped you feel like you were in the sweaty confines of an actual tank. It felt like stepping into a virtual world. When developer Rebellion rebooted the classic for PSVR, that 1980 promise of actual virtual reality was fulfilled. Battlezone is now making the leap from PlayStation to the PC via the VR goggles of the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive.
Swap your boring coffee table for one that plays 'Pong'
Remember that real-world Pong table that was supposed to become a product you could buy if everything went smoothly? Well, it's here... almost. The creators have launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to launch a production-grade, coffee table-sized version of the design. If you're willing to pledge at least $1,100 ($990 if you were referred by an existing backer), you can get living room furniture that uses magnets, motors and optical sensors to recreate the classic 1972 game. You can hide the controls when you aren't using them, and the table even throws in USB charging ports, Bluetooth music streaming and a coin-op mode to recoup your investment.
Cancelled '90s arcade fighter 'Primal Rage II' released online
Forget Tekken 7, 2017's hottest new fighting game has just arrived - only it's 22 years later than originally expected. After being cancelled in 1995, Kotaku reports that Atari's long-lost Primal Rage II has found its way onto the internet. Downloading an emulator will allow 90's fighting fans to dive straight into a competent build of the ill-fated beat 'em up. While some menus are still incomplete and it has its fair share of bugs, players will find that the dino-brawling itself works.
'RollerCoaster Tycoon' finally goes 3D on mobile
With RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch, the beloved amusement park building series is moving beyond dated 2D graphics and into the modern world. It's strange to say this in 2017, but it's the first mobile version of the game to take advantage of 3D graphics. It's a major leap ahead of 2014's RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile and RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic, a rehash of the series' first two games released in December. The free-to-play title is available on iOS and Android, and you can bet there will be plenty of micro-transactions.
Atari's 'Swordquest' comic returns without the game
Over 30 years after its original release, Atari has decided to resurrect one of its most beloved game franchises: Swordquest. Released in 1982, this ambitious gaming series was a pretty unique proposition at the time. As well as offering $150,000 worth of prizes to players who could solve all the puzzles in the game series, Atari also teamed up with DC to release a companion comic alongside each game. Now, thanks to Dynamite Entertainment, the long dormant franchise is getting a brand new run of comic books starting this May.
Who wants to play games on their smartwatch?
It's always been possible to play games on your smartwatch, but is that really the best way to use that device? The makers of that Minecraft Gameband your niece and nephew won't shut up about think so, and have launched a Kickstarter to prove it. FMTwo's Gameband is a smartwatch that purports to be the first "fully dedicated gaming smartwatch" that's "optimized for on-the-go-gameplay."
Classic 'RollerCoaster Tycoon' comes to iOS and Android
Atari has just released RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic, a "new" game for mobile based on the Atari-produced theme park sims. Classic takes its cues from the original RCT and RCT 2, offering a more simple take on park design, construction and management than more recent titles in the series. It's also the first RTC game for mobile that isn't stuffed full of microtransactions. Instead, you pay $6 (£4.50) once and then you own the game. Innovation!
RZA teams up with Atari on a new video game-inspired album
RZA already made one big announcement this summer, and the member of the Wu-Tang Clan doesn't appear to be done yet. The rapper/producer announced this week that he's teaming up with Atari on a new album that takes inspiration from the audio in the company's video games. "I'm so excited to work on these iconic games to deliver what I believe will be one of my best albums," RZA told Billboard.
Atari returns to hardware with smart home gadgets
Classic video game brand Atari has announced it's making new hardware, but sadly it's not a new console. Instead, it's making connected home and smart devices. There aren't many details about exactly what new gadgets they'll make, but they will range from "simple" to "highly sophisticated," and will be in the home, pets, lifestyle and safety categories. The company also says the new gear is a result of a partnership with Sigfox -- the same company behind the connected Antarctic research base. Sigfox's IoT technology will provide instant the connectivity and the promise of extra long battery life.
Atari has 'Missile Command' and 'Centipede' movies in the works
Atari just won't give up the dream of bringing its iconic gaming properties to the big screen. Back in 2010 we heard the company was shopping a Missile Command movie around Hollywood. It even set up the project with Fox in 2011 -- but that appears to have gone nowhere. Now, Deadline is reporting that Atari is partnering with Emmet/Furla/Oasis films for Missile Command and Centipede films. The idea might seem crazy, but let's not forget that we recently lived through a big budget adaptation of Battleship.
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell is making mobile games
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell has teamed up with a small Amsterdam studio to develop and publish new mobile games. Bushnell created the iconic Atari brand in 1972, and oversaw the release of classic systems such as the Atari 2600. He was ousted from the company six years later and ran a bunch of other businesses before returning to Atari's board of directors in 2010. Spil Games, meanwhile, is a relatively unknown name that specializes in mobile and browser-based titles. Bushnell has signed on to develop three games with the studio, with the first scheduled for release in early 2017. We'll soon see if he still has some of that old Atari magic.
Elon Musk's AI initiative opened an online dojo
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the artificial intelligence you coded in your garage probably doesn't have the type of resources behind it that Google used to make DeepMind a fearsome Go competitor. That's what the Elon-Musk-backed OpenAI Gym is for. It's in open beta right now, and available test environments include Go on 9x9 and 19x19 boards, a ton of classic Atari games and robot control simulations, among others, with more to come.
Atari Vault brings 100 classic games to Steam
At last, you now have a simple way to play hordes of classic Atari games on your PC without resorting to third-party emulators: as promised, the Atari Vault is now available on Steam. The Windows-only collection lets you play 100 arcade and Atari 2600 games, such as Asteroids and Crystal Castles, in an environment that strikes a balance between nostalgia (such as borders that mimic arcade cabinets) and modern-day conveniences. That includes online multiplayer play, worldwide leaderboards and advanced controller support -- Valve's Steam Controller will even mimic a trackball to give you a more authentic experience in Centipede or Tempest. The Vault costs $17 on launch (normally $20), so it's just inexpensive enough that you can relive the good old days without feeling regret afterwards.
Coleco Chameleon will resurrect your favorite Atari 2600 games (update)
The Coleco Chameleon from Retro Video Game Systems won't land on Kickstarter until the end of the month. However, it did hit Toy Fair earlier this week to give the public a little taste of its retro-gaming goodness and score a few deals. And score it did, landing the rights to the Atari 2600 library. That's over 300 games, as well an option for the company to develop new games based on all that classic IP. (Update: We've gotten in touch with Atari; see comments at the end of this post.)
Atari Lynx: A romance of high scores and low batteries
Like most tween crushes, the attraction was instant and overwhelming. I remember the first time I set eyes on the Atari Lynx as if it were yesterday. It was perched on a shelf, center stage, behind a huge pane of glass -- a window display in a branch of Dixons on Park Street, Bristol. There it sat, so near, yet (at about about £85, or $100) so financially far. The Lynx didn't know I existed, even though I was just a few feet away. In my preteen mind it felt unfair. My situation felt hopeless, which of course only fanned the flames of my forbidden desire.
Atari Vault collection brings 100 classic games to Steam
It's been a long time since Atari was a dominant force in video games. The company rarely makes an impression on the industry these days, but there's no questioning the impact it had on the medium's formative years. Soon, players will be able to relive its glory days from the 1970s and 80s through the Atari Vault, a collection of 100 retro games available via Steam. It's being developed by Code Mystics and will feature titles such as Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Tempest and Warlords. They won't be simple ports though, thanks to the addition of online and local multiplayer, Steam controller support and Steam leaderboards.
Battlezone's PSVR reboot is the ultimate fan service
It could be argued that Atari's 1980 arcade classic Battlezone was the first virtual reality game. In a simple duel of tanks, players looked through a small opening in the cabinet to maneuver their lumbering vehicle, firing at a single enemy and avoiding being struck by projectiles. The game's wireframe design was graphically simplistic, but stenciled in thin green lines on the horizon was a single object that drew the attention of fans: an erupting volcano. Rumors swirled of a secret route that would lead players to the volcano's crater where a castle lay awaiting brave explorers. "Of course, none of this was true," Atari engineer Lyle Rains pointed out in Van Burnham's 2001 book Supercade. But that didn't stop the dreamers. In one case, a fan even wrote to Atari to tell the company he'd reached the mythical castle. After decades of speculation, developer Rebellion, best known for the Sniper Elite series, is rebooting Battlezone for Sony's PlayStation VR and taking players into the heart of the volcano.
Watch how game music went from beeps to Sound Blaster
You can't enjoy retro games without digging the music, and a YouTube video (below) shows exactly how those tunes evolved. As explained by the 8-Bit Guy and Obsolete Geek, early PCs and Apple machines used "beeper speakers" that were driven strictly by your computer's CPU. Those only produced crude sounds, because forcing the CPU to do more actually hurt gameplay. Computers and consoles eventually got dedicated sound chips, but each used a different number of "voices," producing the distinctive differences between, say, a Nintendo NES and a Commodore 64 system.
Sale of buried Atari cartridges nets over $107,000
The never-ending saga of the Atari 2600 E.T. cartridges that were famously buried (and later unearthed) in Alamogordo, New Mexico continues to benefit the small town. Last November, a selection of games (including E.T., Asteroids and Missile Command) that were recovered in the excavation were put up for sale on eBay, and now we know just how much cash they generated. According to the Alamogordo News, the game sales totaled $107,930.15, with more than $65,000 going directly to the town. In addition, the Tularosa Basin Historical Society received over $16,000 while more than $26,000 was spent on shipping and other expenses. A total of 881 cartridges covering 60 different titles were sold overall; a copy of E.T. was the highest single sale at $1,535.
