Atari Announces Reboot for Classic Star Raiders Franchise

Following on the recent announcement of a modern remake for Atari 2600 classic Haunted House, Atari today confirmed rumors that a new version of early space strategy game Star Raiders would be coming to the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC early next year. The original game, programmed by Doug Neubauer and released for the Atari 400/800 computers in 1979 and the 2600 in 1982, as detailed in a Gamasutra retrospective, involved navigating a 2D grid of enemy ships and participating in 3D dogfights seen from a pilot's-eye perspective. The new title, developers by Incinerator Games, will also include tactical battles and energy management but expand on the gameplay in some important ways. "We are building on that great feeling that the original had of dogfighting in space, while adding another dimension through ship transformations, where the combat vehicle changes its flight characteristics on the fly," Incinerator Studios president Joel Goodman told Gamespot in an interview. Listings from online game rental outlet GameFly also suggest a similar remake of Atari arcade classic Centipede may also be coming from the publisher in the near future. The company also announced today that fifty classic games from its catalog would be released as part of Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1 for the Nintendo DS.