Atari games now available for iPad and iPhone

Would you like to have ALL of the classic Atari arcade games and Atari 2600 games at your fingertips?

It's easy enough nowadays with the release of the Atari's Greatest Hits app for the iPad and the iPhone. If you're interested (and you should be), head on over to iTunes and get this app.

But first, how about a preview of this new Atari app? Check out the video below to see all the amazing games (and there'e a lot of them -- including nearly every Atari 2600 game) available for the iPad and iPhone.

New Grand Theft Auto 5 might be revealed at E3

First off, if you don't know about E3, it's the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Still clueless? Okay, E3 is the biggest, baddest trade show in the world for video games. Anybody who wants to get a preview of the coming year in video games, E3 is the place to go. The 2010 E3 is at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 15 to June 17.

Grand Theft Auto? If you've not heard of Grand Theft Auto, you must have been living in a box for the last ten years. Or, at least, you don't play too many video games. Grand Theft Auto is a game where you get to roam around a city committing crimes. Yes, I said "committing crimes." You can do everything from jacking cars to shooting people to ... well, let's just say there's a lot to do. It's an adult game, you might expect. Much of the Grand Theft Auto games are free form, meaning you can do pretty much whatever you want whenever you want within the game world, but there are storyline missions to follow. And not everything is easy in the GTA worlds, because there are cops who will bust you or take you down and there are often gang bangers or mobsters who will shoot first and not ask questions at all. The current version of GTA in stores is Grand Theft Auto IV, made by RockStar.

Now we've got all that settled. You're in the know.

So what's the big news?

Actually, it's more like a rumor. According to several online sources, including Gamereactor International, RockStar is possibly going to unveil information about a new GTA 5 game. This information was apparently leaked from an internal Entertainment Software Association e-mail that lists exhibitions at the 2010 E3.

This is big news for fans of Grand Theft Auto. For one thing, RockStar is still living high off GTA IV and most fans and video game industry media did not expect news of a new GTA for at least another year or so, maybe longer. Admittedly this is just the beginning stages of its public relations campaign for GTA V, so RockStar probably won't have much to release about the game other than maybe a title and possibly a few pieces of artwork; it would be extremely fortunate if RockStar would actually make public images from the game itself, but that's not likely to happen.

Another interesting thing is that according to this alleged leaked e-mail, this next GTA game has the word "Vice" in the title. Though not totally unexpected, this could be even bigger news. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was the second title released under the old GTA 3 series of games and to this day it has been one of the most popular GTA titles ever. And I personally have to admit Vice City was one of the most fun games in the series. So, could the GTA 5 game once more be taking players to the fabled land of Vice City? It seems more than possible. It seems downright likely.

Now I'm going to backtrack a little. In all fairness, rumors about upcoming video games are all over the Internet all the time. At least half of them turn out not to be true, but there's always the half that turns out to be real. I can't say for sure a new Grand Theft Auto will be shown at E3, but rumors keep flying, so maybe it will happen. Fans of the series can hope.

Movie Versions of Classic Video Games in The Works

Remember the arcade game Asteroids? Where you flew a tiny triangular spaceship around an asteroid field while blasting away at asteroids and enemy spacecraft?

What about Missile Command? Where you protected a planet's bases by launching missiles into the sky to knock out enemy missiles?

If you do remember those games, you're probably pretty old, at least if you remember playing them in actual arcades or at home on your Atari.

But apparently you are right in line for a demographic Hollywood is attempting to tap into, those in their 30s and 40s.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a movie version of Asteroids is currently in pre-production after Universal Pictures earlier this year won a four-studio bidding battle over the game originally released in 1979. As the film is still in pre-production, there have been no public releases on a possible plot nor information on who will star in the movie.

A film version of Missile Command is not quite that far along yet. The Los Angeles Times has reported Atari, the company which released Missile Command in 1980, is still shopping around the game, pitching it to various studios in hopes of finding interest. Will they? Time will tell, but the studios might be waiting to see how well Asteroids will do at the box office before biting on another arcade classic.

Pac-man Video Game Celebrates 30th Birthday

May 22, 1980, was the date thirty years ago when the Japanese company Namco released one of the most popular video games of all time. I'm talking about Pac-Man, the game where you control a little round yellow ball around a maze while munching dots. And let's not forget the four colorful ghosts who chase Pac-Man around the maze.

Soon released in the United States by the company Midway Games, Pac-Man became an enormously-popular icon of the 1980s, and to this day is still one of the most recognized video games of all time.

The game was originally called Puck-Man in Japan, but renamed Pac-Man in the U.S.

Pac-Man has proven so popular it has spawned 16 sequel arcade games, two pinball games, at least a half dozen versions of the original game for classic (1980s) home gaming systems, at least 16 spin-off games for modern home video game systems and 11 games for mobile phones. Also, there have been several hand-held Pac-Man video games and even a small tabletop version of Pac-Man. There has been a Pac-Man animated cartoon television show, a Pac-Man board game and the song "Pac-Man Fever" which went all the way to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1981.

Besides its sheer popularity, Pac-Man had a huge influence on video games of the day and continues to have an influence today. Pac-Man might not have been the first maze game, but it definitely was the first popular maze game, and it changed the faces of video games during a time when the majority of games where science fiction or military shooting games.

So, Pac-Man, I salute you. Happy 30th birthday!

Classic Gaming Expo draws video game fans

Pac-Man lives! So does Donkey Kong, Frogger, Mario and all the Space Invaders. How can this be?

Thank the folks in charge of the Classic Gaming Expo. They keep alive the video games of yesteryear through the annual event, in its eleventh year this year.

With dozens of arcade games available to play, setups with the classic home video game systems such as Atari and Intellivision, guest speakers, representatives from video game companies, and much, much more, the Classic Gaming Expo provides plenty of fun for those seeking a blast from the past.

For the 2010 event, the Classic Gaming Expo is scheduled to run July 31st and August 1 at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Nevada. The festivities are open to the public with children 8 and younger getting in free.

Also available will be live music, a Classic Gaming Expo Museum, a swap meet, a live auction and other fun events. Also attending will be numerous celebrities from the classic video game world, including designers of some of the original games.

Economy Taking Toll on Video Game Sales

Sales of video games have tanked over the last few months, especially in the month of April, according to the NDP Group, a retail market research organization which follows the sales of many products, including video games.

Software sales alone were down 22 percent in April, which meant a loss of almost millions of dollars for the video game industry. Overall the industry was down 26 percent, still accumulating $766 million dollars though expectations had been better.

Hardware sales also were hit hard, though the Nintendo Wii continues to lead the pack with 277, 200 sales despite the fact those sales were down a whopping 50 percent. Overall, hardware sales were down 37 percent. Sony's sales dropped 48 percent while Microsoft was down 45 percent.

Why are video game sales down so much?

According to the NDP Group, there were a couple of reasons. For one, there were few new releases of games in April. Secondly, the Easter holiday was moved, which threw off gift sales somewhat.

Maybe the weak economy is finally catching up to the video game industry. Or maybe it was just a blip. Either way, expect cheaper video games later this year as companies try to reel back customers.

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