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Atari games on the phone
thanx to iFONE
Source : www.ifone.com
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iFONE - THE COMPANY the story so far...
iFone was founded in April 2000 as a wireless entertainment company. Based
in Manchester, England, the company develops and supplies games, music,
and lifestyle content and services to business-to-business customers for
download to mobile phones and wireless devices such as pocket PCs.
iFone holds the wireless rights to the world's largest catalogue of major
games publisher Infogrames Entertainment, the company behind a fifth of
the world's most successful gaming properties. This is a four-year global
licensing agreement that gives iFone access to games from Atari, Hasbro
Interactive, Gremlin, Ocean Software and GT Interactive, and includes past
and future titles. In return, Infogrames holds a 20 per cent stake in the
company. iFone's current release schedule includes games such as
Playstation Driver, Atari Asteroids, Atari Breakout, Monopoly and Mission
Impossible.
The Offering
iFone brings popular gaming and music to the wireless platform, be it
mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or pocket PCs, while its
lifestyle content and services are designed to enhance the wireless
entertainment experience. iFone's content is multiformat - WAP, SMS, Java,
EPOC, WindowsCE - and multiplatform, which means iFone content can be used
equally on today's mobile phones as on next-generation 3G devices.
The premise on which the iFone offering is based is quick, disposable
entertainment to suit the medium. For example, PC and console gaming is a
distinct proposition that commands more time and attention in a captive
environment - your home. Wireless gaming, conversely, is a fast consumable
designed to entertain in 20 minutes or less and to be played repeatedly on
three or four separate occasions in a single day.
Games can be downloaded in under a minute, then played offline so that
users do not incur unnecessary call charges. Once the game is over, the
user has the option to replay the game but will need to delete it at the
end of the session.
Suggested retail pricing for games is between 30p and 50p per title per
play. Premium brands such as Playstation Driver will be priced at the high
end of the range, and non-branded titles at the low end.
The Games
Here is what iFone has to say about its forthcoming classic Atari games...
* Asteroids
Overview:
The Atari brand is back with one of the true Atari classics.
Asteroids was a massive hit in the arcades and is a very welcome
blast from the past.
Trapped in a gigantic cloud of asteroids, your struggling spaceship
hurtles towards its doom. You'll have to pulverise all the asteroids
with lasers to save your ship and your life.
Key features:
* Timeless, classic Atari arcade game
* Infuriatingly addictive gameplay
* Learnable, repeatable strategies to conquer
* Fast and furious gameplay
* Hundred+ levels
* Pong
Overview:
Timeless and addictive, Pong represents a slice of gaming history
that kicked off the mass-market gaming revolution of today. The
original Pong was created by Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, and
was the first coin-operated video game.
A computerised adaptation of table tennis, you control a paddle with
a wheel you turn (which was and still is actually called a "paddle"
in honour of its origin) and bounce a ball. Miss the ball and your
opponent scores a point.
Key features:
* Timeless, classic Atari arcade game
* Learnable, repeatable strategies to conquer
* Hundred+ levels
* Breakout
Overview:
The object of Breakout is to demolish rows of coloured bricks. Each
time you hit a brick with the ball, you score the appropriate number
of points and the brick disappears.
Hitting the wall in the same place each time results in breaking a
path through it. Once the ball breaks through, it rebounds between
the top of the wall and the top of the screen, knocking out bricks
until it breaks back through to the bottom of the wall. Obviously,
this scores a good number of points.
The bad news that accompanies breaking through is the immediate
reduction by half of the paddle's original size, making it more
difficult to keep the ball in play. However, with a little extra
concentration and a finer touch on the paddle controller, the wall
can be totally demolished. The key to hitting the ball back
consistently is anticipating where it will hit the bottom of the
screen. If you wait to see where it's going to land, you'll get there
too late to catch it.
Breakout is like Checkers in that it's incredibly easy to learn, but
difficult to master. It's simple enough for novices and children to
pick up and play, but pros will also get a lifetime of enjoyment out
of this classic Atari masterpiece.
Key features:
* Timeless Atari classic arcade game
* Learnable, repeatable strategies to conquer
* Hundred+ levels
* Galaxian
Overview:
Not much has changed from the glory of the original arcade classic.
Brilliant in its simplicity, the game operates similarly to Space
Invaders, as you control a 'ship' that moves laterally across the
bottom of the screen firing upwards, while waves of aliens descend
upon you. Clear out the successive rows of enemies to advance to
faster and more difficult stages.
Key features:
* Internationally-acclaimed retro gaming
* Hundreds of levels
* Swirling attack patterns
* Game strategies to learn and master
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