Atari
Twist: Atari is back on the market. The popular publisher and developer appears to have woken up from sleep and is ready to release its first original game after years of inactivity. The announcement came earlier today and the company's new title is truly a product we could have expected.Atari's new game is Kombinera. It is a puzzle game, where players take control of different colored spheres and use them, along with their skills, to be able to escape from over 300 game environments. The spheres move in unison, but the different colors interact with the various puzzles and riddles in a different way. Kombinera was presented with a trailer and various details on the output consoles.
if (jQuery ("# crm_srl-th_gamedivision_d_mh2_1"). Is (": visible")) {console.log ("Edinet ADV adding zone: tag crm_srl-th_gamedivision_d_mh2_1 slot id: th_gamedivision_d_mh2 "); } As reported by Atari, Kombinera is by no means far. Developed by Graphite Lab, a US development team, the game will be available starting next April. However, this is only the first game that the company founded by Nolan Bushnell will publish in the next few. Kombinera is in fact a starting point, which will lead to the release of a new game every 13 months. Clearly Atari, at least in this first phase, will not develop internally but will rely, as in the new case this puzzle game, on external development studies. "You can expect a number of collaborations with different studios, from the smallest to the largest," CEO Wade Rosen told IGN. What will be the next titles, however, is still to be seen, but any announcements could be disclosed in the next few weeks.
Kombinera will be available from next month on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), as well as on Atari VCS and devices mobile Android and Apple. Keep following geekinco for all the news and announcements in the pipeline from the world of video games.
Craving retrogame? The Atari Flash Edition is a mini console for you: you can find it on Amazon.
Atari Is Publishing Kombinera, Its First Original Game In Years
Today, Atari has unveiled a brand new puzzle-platformer game called Kombinera, which is coming to pretty much any platform you can think of this April.
Kombinera is a new Atari IP where players take control of differently colored balls and use them and their unique abilities to work their way through over 300 environments and puzzles. The balls all move in unison, but different colors will interact with puzzles in different ways, requiring concentration and puzzle-solving to move forward.
The game is developed by St. Louis-based Graphite Lab, with Atari publishing. Atari's role is, per CEO Wade Rosen, a recommitment to publish more games going forward after a significant loss of momentum in the last decade. Since September, Atari has published a number of 'Recharged' versions of older arcade games such as Brick Breaker, Asteroids, and others. But Kombinera is the first new IP to come out of this initiative, and according to Rosen, the first of many to come.
Rosen tells IGN that Atari's upcoming release calendar has the publisher releasing, on average, a new game every month for the next 13 months. That includes a mixture of classic IP (like the Recharged games), brand new IP, and new games from existing franchises. For now, Atari is working entirely with external studios, though Rosen suggests they may one day bring development in-house. He says that in the coming months and years, we can expect to 'see Atari collaborate with a variety of studios, from small independents to larger studios with well-established reputations.'
One key component of all of Atari's plans, including the brightly-colored Kombinera, is to reinvigorate the arcade-y feel that was synonymous with Atari games back in the day.
'Kombinera is a puzzle-platformer that has some of the personality traits of an Atari arcade game,' Rosen says. 'What made those arcade experiences memorable, and something you wanted to return to, was that they were immediately accessible and yet layered with depth and surprises that you discovered as you mastered the game.'
Kombinera Reveal Screenshots
What Rosen is surprisingly candid about is Atari's place in the wider gaming consciousness in 2022. He recognizes that it isn't the same well-known company it once was with the disappearance of arcades and its move into a quieter publishing role. But he wants to change that, beginning with Kombinera:
'We are in an interesting moment in the lifespan of Atari,' he says. 'It is an iconic brand that has a natural place in pop culture as much as it does games. Atari appears in film, television, art, music and fashion — and it feels natural. It belongs. Yet, despite the brand's roots in video games, today’s Atari has less presence and less relevancy in gaming culture. You might say the brand is out of balance. A modern Atari will find that balance, where its role in gaming culture is in parity with its role in pop culture.'
Kombinera is planned for launch on PC via Steam and Epic, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Atari VCS, iOS, and Android in April 2022.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.