Atari and Microsoft launch browser-based arcade

Pong, Asteroids, Yar's Revenge, Centipede, Lunar Lander, Missile Command - if you visited an arcade in the 80s you'll feel right at home on Atari Arcade.

If you've got a hankering to play some 'reimagined' arcade classics this weekend, we've got some good news for you: Atari and Microsoft have teamed up to port some old arcade hits to HTML5 for free play in any modern browser, no coins required.

Part of Atari's 40th anniversary celebrations and an attempt to convince hordes of third-party browser users that the upcoming Internet Explorer 10 release is a good time to return to the Microsoft fold, Atari Arcade takes a selection of classic titles and gives them a spit-and-polish work over with new graphics and sound before porting them to JavaScript and HTML5.

The result: shiny new versions of games including Missile Command, Lunar Lander, Pong, Centipede and Combat which operate in any web modern web browser.

The technology behind the games is a JavaScript library developed specifically for HTML5 gaming called CreateJS. As well as underpinning Atari's retro-remake efforts, the library is to be opened to third party developers - which could be just what browser-based gaming sites like Newgrounds need to make the shift away from Adobe's Flash Player.

In case you're wondering what the catch might be, there is one slight one: the gaming service is supported by advertising, which pops up before each game is launched. If you're particularly anti-advertising, there is an alternative: use Internet Explorer to play the games and, thanks to Atari's partnership with Microsoft on the project, the adverts disappear.

"Atari and Microsoft have had a long and successful history on Xbox Live and in the digital space," claimed Jim Wilson, Atari's chief executive, of the site launch. "The reimagined Atari Arcade expands this partnership in a new direction, in keeping with our current digital strategy, making it easier than ever for gamers around the world to access our renowned franchises, through the power and flexibility of an HTML5 based platform."

All the games can be accessed by hitting up the Atari Arcade website in any HTML5-capable browser, or if you need a little more convincing here's company founder Nolan Bushnell shilling for Microsoft:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/news/~3/Fxp97EyKw_4/1

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