Atari revives BattleZone for PSP

In yet another case of mining the past for modern-day hits, Atari today announced that it's resurrecting BattleZone for the PSP. The new title is a remake of the 1980 tank game, which wowed arcade rats with then-revolutionary 3D wireframe graphics and a look-into-goggles-to-see-the-screen cabinet.

Goggles and wireframes are things of the past, obviously, but aside from a graphical update, Atari is giving BattleZone something else it never had: multiplayer action. The new BattleZone seems to be very focused on Wi-Fi battles, letting players pit their customizable hovertanks against up to three other combatants. As of press time, the multiplayer match-ups will include traditional deathmatch, capture-the-flag and team deathmatch, as well as "Hotzone," "Knockout" and "Fox and Hound," whatever those are.

The arenas players will fight in are inspired by real-world battlefields, including bombed-out cities, jungles, tundra, desert and islands. Throw in downloadable content and an online level editor, and PSP owners hungry for handheld deathmatches have something to look forward to this November.

May 4, 2006

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.