Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley assembles Atari old boys for 'new arcade' age on iOS
Scan through the App Store and you'll happen upon a host of titles that, to varying degrees, take their cues from old arcade classics.
It's a state of play that's resulted in Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley dubbing iOS as the 'new arcade', with the former Microsoft man launching a studio that doesn't just ape such titles, it employs the luminaries behind them.
Come one, come all
As detailed by VentureBeat, Blackley's new outfit Innovative Leisure set up with Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 author Van Burnham (Blackley partner) has launched with the express intention of releasing games on iOS that tap into arcade's golden age in the 1970s and 1980s.
To do so with any authority, however, Blackley has hired some of the names behind the big releases that defined the era.
That includes Atari legends such as Battlezone creator Ed Rotberg, Major Havoc and Space Duel creator Owen Rubin, Gravitar creator and co-developer on Missile Command Rich Adam, Asteroids and Centipede co-creator Ed Logg, Black Widow creator Bruce Merrit and Touch Me and Shooting Gallery creator Dennis Koble.
Adding to this so-called Jedi Council will be one non-Atari veteran Rip-Off creator Tim Skelly.
The old band
In all, 11 arcade developers of old have come together in Innovative Leisure, combined with a number of interns in their 20s to create a 30-strong outfit from day one.
"Once we figured out the iPhone is the new arcade, that games from the old days fit this new audience and their on-the-go lifestyle, we knew what to do," said Blackley.
"There is already a group of people who know how to operate and innovate in this space. They had the longest string of hit games in history. And they wanted to get back together again."
Pitched as something of a 'band reunion', the studio partners each luminary with an intern and lets them work on any ideas they happen upon, with funding courtesy of Blackley, but mainly from THQ.
Into innovation
Indeed, Blackley claims said partnerships resulted in an initial band of 30 games ideas, which the studio stripped down to 10 and pitched at THQ accordingly.
Blackley claims THQ wanted to back each and every one, with seven games in all already in the works for iOS.
From a business perspective, THQ's funding gives the outfit first right of refusal on games, though projects can then be touted at rival publishers if THQ which is has been in a spot of financial bother of late turns them down.
"We are carrying on where Atari left off, focusing on innovation in gameplay," concluded Blackley.
"We have to create a quality experience, hone it, and tweak the crap out of it so that you get the same level of gameplay that people demanded in the arcade era. Its scary as shit if you dont understand gameplay."
[source: VentureBeat]