New Atari Console Announced

EwanGleadow — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 15:03:29 +0000

A sleek nod to their previous console, what does the Ataribox have to offer?

Atari have finally announced their intentions to produce another console. The French based company stated that the “Ataribox” is in the works and will presumably be similar to that of the NES Classic. A collection of the best Atari games made available on one console.

The console itself will come in two styles. The wood grain version as seen above, and also the black and red version. Atari as a company stated that they wanted to “create something new, which appeals to both new and old Atari fans”.

As far as reports go, the console itself will supposedly have a HDMI input, along with SD support and four USB slots. Along with this, the console will feature “modern internal specs” so it can deliver both new games and older classics. Full specs are still yet to be announced.

Atari has stated that the console itself will feature a number of classic games but also some more recent content. It is unclear whether or not this means popular Atari games such as Rollercoaster Tycoon will be available, but it is definitely possible.

In an official statement, Atari stated: We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, pricing, and timing. We’re not teasing you intentionally; we want to get this right, so we’ve opted to share things step by step as we bring this to life, and to listen closely to the Atari community feedback as we do so.”

What’s interesting about this statement is Atari’s intention to work closely with the community of Atari console fans. Presumably from this they can get a greater understanding of which games should be carried over and which games should stay forgotten.

After the disaster that was the Atari Jaguar in 1993, we can only hope that this new Atari console is what the fans truly want. 1993 was the year we saw Atari exit from the console market and specifically focus on video games, so it’s nice to see them return after so long.

Although the Ataribox does not have a release date, a similar console is scheduled for release in September of this year. The SNES Classic Mini, similar to the NES Classic, is scheduled for release in September. Nintendo have reaped the success of porting older classics to the new age, so Atari will hopefully have the same luck with their new console.

There is of course a feeling of scepticism over the new Atari console. Not just because of the use of emulators, which can provide anyone with access to any Atari game, but also because of how Nintendo has handled releasing these similar consoles. Demand will most likely be high, let’s hope Atari can meet that demand head on, otherwise they’re going to have a major problem on their hands.

Main Image caption:

After almost thirty years, Atari are trying to be relevant once more

12 Awesome Star Wars Games That Need New Remakes

distantshores — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 11:59:25 +0000

Over the past 40 years, there have been an avalanche of Star Wars video games—the series got popular right around the time video games were starting up. There have been games featuring events from the movies and their characters, as well as all new adventures. Fans were willing to play anything they could get their hands on while waiting for new movies, especially in the long years between trilogies.

There have been some great games, and some not-so-great games. There have also been some games that have been good ideas that didn't work out, or games that were great when they released, but age has made them less fun or accessible. So here's 12 Star Wars titles that we feel would make great new games if they got a remake or HD remaster.

12. Jedi Arena (1983)

Although the gameplay was simple, the idea of doing Jedi training is great.

Originally released for the Atari 2600, this game was pretty simple: two Jedi Knights squaring off against one another with the training remote droid in the middle firing random laser blasts. Players had to deflect shots towards the droid or at their opponent using the Atari's paddle controller. This blaster-deflecting is a common training we see for Jedi in the movie, and the ability to dodge and reflect attacks is a basic Jedi skill.

A remake for Jedi Arena on one of the VR headsets would be amazing. It could be as simple as using the controllers to move your lightsaber to deflect, or could feature a bunch of Force-based puzzles to solve, almost like Portal. The setting could even be the Trials, which a Padawan trainee must complete in order to become a Jedi Knight.

11. Star Wars Jedi Power Battles (2000)

Hacking and slashing with a friend turned out to be surprisingly fun, and is something I'd love to do again.

I may be the only person who wants this remake, but Jedi Power Battles was one of my early favorite Star Wars games. It let you choose from 5 prequel-era Jedi (including mysterious fan favorite Plo Koon).

In the prequel movies, we never got to really see Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan fighting side-by-side, except in the opening scene. Selecting the two of them, and playing it out with a friend in co-op was so fun, and I still have fond memories of the game.

There were 5 unique Jedi to choose from, which all played slightly differently.

Local co-op is one of my favorite types of game to play, especially with RPG upgrading and progression. The game never originally released on PC, but I'd love to see a co-op PC dungeon crawler similar to Torchlight or Diablo, where two or more players can just battle droids, get power ups, and do combine Force abilities for combos like Ezra and Kanan do in the Star Wars Rebels TV show. The game's simplified approach to combat would be a perfect fit for the sort of combat those games have, while being faster and more action-oriented than that of The Old Republic.

10. Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (2001)

You could command large groups of troops for the different factions at war in the game.

Star Wars has experimented with RTS-style games several different times throughout its game history, finally striking gold and having success with the Empire at War series of games. While Empire at War would still be perfectly fun to play if you were to boot it up on your PC right now, there was another game which gets less attention, but would be really fun if it got an HD update: Galactic Battlegrounds.

The original Galactic Battlegrounds was essentially Age of Empires with a Star Wars skin placed over it, and was built using Age of Empire's Genie engine. It would be great to see them just do that again, this time using the updated Age of Empires engine, or even something like the engine for the upcoming Civilization 6.

When I say the game is basically Age of Empires: Star Wars, I mean it.

While I would enjoy just another clone copy of Age of Empires with Star Wars settings and units, it would be even more interesting to include some galactic politics and backstabbing similar to what you see in the Mount and Blade series, or a decision-focused narrative like the Telltale Games choose-your-own-adventure games.

9. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997)

Stepping into the cockpit of Star Wars's iconic spacecraft was fun, and would be even better with new graphics.

E3 2016 saw an upcoming VR-based X-Wing piloting game as part of EA's strategy for virtual reality gaming, and a remake for X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter was even begun in 2009, so out of everything on this list, I feel like this game is the most likely to actually receive a remake.

The original 1997 release was well-loved for its fast-paced dogfighting in space, which tried to capture that excitement from the films. The games featured high-resolution graphics and detail on the ships, which players could select and customize before each mission. The game let you build up points for successful missions and keep track of your record.

Each fighter has a slightly different layout and style of control you had to learn.

For a remake, you could have that same level of high-definition detail on this generation of hardware, but have it all happen immersively inside your VR headset, stepping into the cockpit of several different fighters, surrounded by the sights and sounds of a space battle, with your hands on a real joystick for a true cinematic flying experience straight out of the movies.

8. Super Star Wars (1992)

The art in the games was beautiful, rendering the world of Star Wars in 16-bit.

Super Star Wars was a series of action platformer games released for the Super Nintendo, which let you play with a selection of characters from the movies while running, dodging, jumping, gunning, and lightsaber swinging your way through some really difficult levels. The three games, based on the original movies, are still remembered fondly by fans, and the past few years have seen a resurgence in interest for old-school platformers. The original games actually got a re-release in 2015, featuring new save and leaderboard features.

It'd be great to see classic scenes from the new movies done in the same style.

A retro-art platforming game set during The Force Awakens would be a great downloadable title, featuring the same variety of characters and challenging levels. The game could bridge the events between The Force Awakens and Episode 8, or could serve as a prequel to the new movie. Seeing the different ways that Finn, Rey, Kylo Ren, Han Solo, and more fight and go through levels, in beautiful 16-bit style, would be a great experience for old-school fans.

7. Star Wars: Episode I Racer (1999) + Super Bombad Racing (2001)

Episode I Racer captured a good sense of speed for the podracers.

When it first came out, people were pleasantly surprised by Episode I Racer, which showed a lot more of the various podracers that would be in the first movie, and provided a lot of fun, fast action. Fans were less impressed with Super Bombad Racing, an early PS2 title which mostly tried to copy Mario Kart's success, but was still a fun and lighthearted adaptation of the prequel characters and settings.

While either of these games would be a great choice for a racing-focused HD remake, I think a combination of the two would actually be best. Episode I Racer's podracing provided a great sense of speed and danger, while Super Bombad Racing had lots of Mario Kart-esque powerups and items to use.

Bombad Racing featured items and powerups for a lighter style of racing game.

A remake of the game wouldn't need to be overly serious, but could recreate several famous races mentioned in the Star Wars universe. In addition to podracing, you could recreate Luke's Beggar's Canyon run, for example. Players could have fun competing in races across tons of different planets, either on land or in space, and all the game would need to do is feature tight controls and a great selection of vehicles.

6. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002)

The whipcord allowed you to subdue and capture your bounties as you progress through the game.

Bounty hunters like Boba Fett have long been a central part of the Star Wars universe, and their collection of tools, skills, and fighting abilities have made them fan favorites across all the movies. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter tried to bring some of this non-Jedi action to gamers with a game focusing on Jango Fett. Players could pursue and capture bounties using their jetpack, grappling cable, sniping darts, flamethrower, and more. There were tons of cool toys to try out, and flying through Star Wars settings was really interesting.

The jetpack is the most popular bounty hunter equipment seen in the films.

Episode 2 teased a more film noir, Bladerunner-esque Star Wars that I would love to see more of. Up until a few years ago, the title Star Wars 1313 was in development, and looked to be a darker game focusing on Star Wars's criminal underbelly and possibly starring a young Boba Fett. A current generation game with those themes and all the bounty hunter weapons and gadgets would be great to play.

5. Star Wars Republic Commando (2005)

The tactical shooting gameplay, with interesting squadmate characters with their own unique abilities, is still fun today.

It seems crazy that we never got a sequel or update for Republic Commando, considering how well the formula worked, and how much fans liked it. Perhaps the squad-based tactical shooter genre started to become less popular, but I think we're more than overdue for a new release focusing on Star Wars troopers.

The characters all have their own interesting backstories, which is the highlight of the game.

A story showing us the other side of The First Order, the 'bad guys' of The Force Awakens, using the same kind of squad-command gameplay, would offer players a great look at a different story. Republic Commando's class-based puzzle solving and combat, with its inside-the-helmet HUD view in first-person, was a unique Star Wars experience that should absolutely be updated and released again.

4. Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi (1997)

You could have any number of showdowns between characters who never fight in the films.

As the “worst Star Wars game” to be released, Masters of Teräs Käsi definitely deserves a second chance in the new generation! The idea itself wasn't bad: a 1-on-1 Star Wars fighting game where you can play out every imaginary battle you ever had in your mind while watching the movies. In fact, the official game for Episode III had an extra versus mode tacked onto the main game's story, and that was super fun, so I think a fully-developed HD arcade fighting game would be great.

The things that really dragged Masters of Teräs Käsi were its terrible (even for the time) graphics, clunky controls, and bad balancing. Some characters were absolutely useless while others were overpowered, meaning the same character got picked over and over, while others were no fun to play.

It's a shame that this is the only game that Mara Jade has appeared in.

If we could get a fast, well-balanced, fun fighting game in the style of Injustice, with the same kind of ridiculous story to tie the whole thing together, it would make for a great, silly competitive game to go along with the racing game I'm also imagining.

3. Star Wars Yoda Stories (1997)

Yoda Stories is an adventure game, where you must complete puzzles using your items and skills.

Here's one that no one is likely to remember. Yoda Stories was an adventure game released by LucasArts during the PC adventure game boom. What made the game interesting was its procedurally generated levels and goals, where each new area of the screen would take you to a different place on Dagobah and gave you new things to accomplish, first looking for Yoda, and then completing missions as Yoda assigned you random Jedi training tasks.

The story is pretty loose, but does fill in some time between the events of the movies.

I'm imagining a remake of this game as a roguelike adventure similar to Don't Starve, Dangerous Dungeons, or Binding of Isaac, where the level screens and objectives would be randomized, and you had to survive while accomplishing goals. The time that Luke spent training on Dagobah is such a big question mark for fans, and being able to play it out in a very different style of game would be interesting.

2. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

There are different types of lightsaber you can use, as well as a variety of guns and items.

Even without a remake, the game is still popular and still being played online. But imagine how good it could be with all new graphics, powers, RPG progression levels, and a Horde-style mode where you fight waves of enemies. Class-based multiplayer games have always been popular, and recent big releases like Blizzard's Overwatch have only increased the market and demand for fun, unique online games to play with friends.

Dual-wielding lightsabers is just as fun as you would think. A new game with dual-wielding lightsabers would be very welcome.

A remake of Jedi Academy could feature different classes like Overwatch, but with not only Jedi, but a good balance of non-Force users as well. You could have classes like Stormtroopers and bounty hunters, or even engineers and commanders, all across different species. There are so many amazing possibilities for competitive online chaotic Jedi combat!

1. Knights of the Old Republic

The worlds of KOTOR were great to explore, and would be even better in HD.

You can probably just start to expect that, if I write an article about Star Wars games, Knights of the Old Republic is going to be on the list somewhere. I would take just a simple HD remake of these games, as a graphics update would make all the worlds and characters look brand new, and be a good excuse to play through the story again, but what I and many fans really want is a sequel!

The story in Knights of the Old Republic 2 leaves off on something of a cliffhanger, and there was still more to explore with that world and characters. It's a shame the trilogy never was completed, and a new-generation release of Knights of the Old Republic 3 would be certain to get fans passionate and excited. A proper sequel to the series is what fans were hoping for when The Old Republic MMO was announced, and while the game is fun, it's not quite what fans wanted. A huge, open-world Star Wars RPG, with the amazing story and characters that BioWare is known for, would be like a dream come true.

It would be great to revisit the beloved characters we saw in the first two games, and give them a proper ending.

Or, maybe we could really just get a proper re-release of KOTOR 2 with the original ending and cut content intact without mods. The game was basically unfinished! It's time for BioWare to right some wrongs here.

There you have it! 12 Star Wars titles that would be amazing if they got a remake for the new generation. With modern-day graphics and features, we could go back to these worlds and stories, and enjoy even more Star Wars goodness.

What are your thoughts? Any other Star Wars games you'd like to see remade? Let us know in the comments!