To celebrate a half-century of pressing joysticks and mashing buttons, the company is pulling out all of the stops, including an intriguing partnership with Google Stadia. Google’s cloud gaming platform will soon be home to several Atari classics like Breakout, Centipede, and Asteroids. Of course, video game graphics have come a long way since (checks notes) 1972, so these Stadia releases will all be updated to reflect current-generation standards as part of Atari’s Recharged series. The complete list of Atari games on Stadia includes the trio of classics mentioned above, Black Widow, a legendary twin-stick shooter that wowed arcade gamers in 1982, and recently-released puzzle game Kombinera. The company also says more games are forthcoming but did not provide additional details. These games will release throughout the year on Google’s platform, with Centipede: Recharged launching first on July 1. This remake includes co-op play, new stages and power-ups, and an original soundtrack. All games will be available for purchase via the Stadia store, though they will be free for Stadia Pro subscribers. In addition to these retro releases, Atari is selling limited-edition 50th-anniversary t-shirts on its web store and offering exclusive deals on the company’s VCS line of Chrome-based gaming consoles. Atari has also released a video interview with company founder Alan Bushnell and current CEO Wade Rosen to commemorate 50 years.
