Asteroids making a comeback on Xbox Live

Microsoft is bringing the world of old school arcade shooters to the Xbox 360 with the release of Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe, both available as a single download on Xbox Live starting today, November 28, 2007.

Asteroids was one of the first shooters available on the arcades and it will surely strike a chord with fans of classic games. Released on 1979, it was a pioneer in the graphics department and started a craze that had people flooding by the hundreds to the arcade halls. For those not familiar with this classic, players get control of a spaceship in charge of defending the Earth from a deadly asteroid rain. Every time one of the asteroids is hit, it breaks up into smaller chunks that also have to be dealt with. The spaceship can fire in every direction and move forward, but the ship’s inertia will keep it on the move as long as thrust is applied in a different direction.

Asteroids Deluxe was a sequel to the original and it offered the same classic gameplay but it added a couple of extra features like the ability to use shields and new types of enemies.

Both games will feature updated visuals for high definition with 4:3 and 16:9 aspects available as well as well as full screen anti aliasing. The sound has also been remastered and it will be presented on Dolby Digital surround. Some new game modes will also be available including a high speed version called Throttle Monkey.

This game has been widely available almost everywhere for some years now and it won’t offer something new or different like other LIVE games, so I’m not sure about the success of this one but maybe casual gamers from older generations will be attracted to this download. Both games will be available for 400 Microsoft points or about $5.

Read [Ars Technica] Also Read [Videogame Playerz] Product Page [Xbox]