ATARI Announces ATARI Greatest Hits Volume 1 For Nintendo DS

50 of the most addicting games from Atari’s legendary vault will be compiled into the must-have Nintendo DS title of the holiday season as Atari, one of the world’s most recognized publishers and producers of interactive entertainment, launches Atari’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1. The ultimate DS title for casual gamers, Atari’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1 brings together dozens of the most popular Atari arcade and Atari 2600 titles of all-time, including such blockbusters as Asteroids, Pong, Centipede, Missile Command, Tempest, Lunar Lander, Space Duel, Battlezone and Adventure.  This true treasure trove of timeless gaming classics will hit retail stores in North America this Fall.

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Atari introduced a new era in interactive entertainment with its addictive arcade games and home gaming system.  Now with Atari’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1, a retro gaming revolution will be ignited on the Nintendo DS.  Each spotlighted game will feature the same pick-up and play control scheme as their original arcade and 2600 form, with modern updates to align with the Nintendo DS platform.  Single card multi-player will be available for 20 titles including Space Duel and Pong with multi-card play available for head-to-head games. 

Additionally, Atari’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1 will feature the original game manuals for each title, an Atari memorabilia showcase, and special bonus extras -- including an Atari Trivia game where gamers can race against the clock to answer questions about Atari history and then post their scores to Atari.com.

“The 50 games featured in Atari’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1 have defined a generation of casual gamers” said Jim Wilson, President of Atari, Inc. “By adding a new single cartridge multiplayer mode to such games as Pong, Space Duel and Outlaw, we continue to find new ways to expand our brands to a new generation of gamers.”

The complete Atari’s Greatest Hits: Volume 1 line-up is as follows:

Atari Arcade Hits  

Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Gravitar, Lunar Lander, Missile Command, Pong, Space Duel, Tempest.

Atari 2600 Favorites

3D Tic-Tac-Toe, Adventure, Air-Sea Battle, Asteroids, Atari Video Cube, Basketball, Battlezone, Bowling, Centipede, Championship Soccer, Dodge ’Em, Flag Capture, Football, Fun with Numbers, Gravitar, Hangman, Haunted House, Home Run, Human Cannonball, Math Gran Prix, Miniature Golf, Missile Command, Outlaw, Realsports Baseball, Realsports Boxing, Realsports Football, Realsports Tennis, Realsports Volleyball, Sky Diver, Slot Maching, Slot Racers, Sprintmasters, Starship, Stella Track, Submarine Commander, Surround, Swordquest Earthworld, Swordquest Fireworld, Swordquest Waterworld,Tempest and Video Checkers.

Developed by Atari in partnership with Code Mystics, Atari’s Greatest Hits: Vol. 1 is Rated “E” for Everyone and will be available exclusively on Nintendo DS for a suggested retail price of $29.99.  For more information, please log onto www.atari.com.

WD Announces New Livewire High-Speed Powerline AV Network Kit

Plug-and-play Device Uses Existing Electrical Outlets to Stream HD Video to the Connected Home Theater 

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit (photo), a HomePlug AV compatible solution that enables consumers to use their existing electrical outlets to extend secure and reliable high-speed Internet connections throughout the home. Complementing the WD TV line of media players, the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit enables consumers to easily and affordably deliver HD video streams to the home theater, transfer large files or play multi-player online games, all without running network cables around the home. With four ports on each of two adapters included in the kit, the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit offers users the ability to connect their router and up to seven additional devices to their high-speed network.

According to research from Parks Associates, an increasing number of consumers own connected devices such as HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, game consoles and digital media players such as the WD TV Live Plus HD media player (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009). By the end of 2010, Parks Associates forecasts consumers will own 111 million of these devices, with 37 million Internet-capable devices in the U.S. alone, but "connecting" them can be challenging and costly. In a recent Parks Associates survey, 42 percent of respondents unwilling to connect their TVs to the Internet indicated that either their router was too far from the device or it would be too complicated to set up or both (Digital Media Evolution II 2010).

Featuring HomePlug AV technology, the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit provides users with data transfer speeds up to 200 megabits per second (Mbps), enabling glitch-free playback of Full-HD 1080p video streams on up to seven connected devices. Setup is as easy as plugging in a lamp. Consumers do not need to undertake home improvement projects to route new wiring between rooms. They simply plug one of the two adapters in the kit into their router and an electrical outlet then plug the other adapter into another outlet where they need access to wired network connections. Users can stream video to four connected devices in the home theater and also gain an additional three network ports by their router.

For an integrated entertainment solution, users can store digital media on WD's My Book World Edition home network drive and stream photos, music and HD video via the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit to one of the WD TV line of media players or other DLNA-compliant devices located throughout the home.

"Consumers are accumulating an increasing number of Internet-capable connected TVs, video game consoles and media players providing access to exciting online content through services such as Netflix, YouTube and Pandora," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "Wireless networks, while popular, don't always deliver the reliable high-speed connections needed to sustain HD video streaming. Meanwhile, drilling holes for new Ethernet cables is complicated, expensive and messy. With the WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit, it's truly easy to enjoy all the HD streaming and broadband Internet capabilities of these great new devices anywhere there is an electrical outlet."

WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit
WDLivewirePowerline AV Network Kit features:

• Easy set-up and instant network expansion anywhere in the home;
• Two 4-port HomePlug AV adapters;
• Two Ethernet cables;
• Two power cables;
• Quick install guide;
• CD with WD Livewireutility software;
• Warranty and support guide; and,
• A 1-year limited warranty.

Compatibility
The WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit is HomePlug AV certified and is IEEE 802.3 and IEEE 802.3u compliant. The kit requires an Ethernet router and AC power outlets.

Price and Availability
The new WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kithas a 1-year limited warranty and is available now at select retailers and online at wdstore.com. MSRP is $139.99 USD. 

Practical Tips For Sat Nav Drivers

This guest post was written by Zara Turner from Satellite Navigation UK

Unfortunately it is not always as simple as typing in post code into your satellite navigation system and relying on that system to reach your desired destination as quickly and safely as possible. In reality, users face quiet a few problems along their way using satellite navigation. Here are some useful and informative tips from the fine folks at Satellite Navigation UK for drivers armed with sat nav devices.

Hook into speakers

The smartphone speakers are thin when compared to those on dedicated sat navs, making it very difficult for the drivers to hear instructions on motorways. If your car stereo can utilize the 3.5mm input, link this to your smartphone and use your car stereo speakers to pipe the instructions. Alternatively, the phone can be connected to advanced Bluetooth speaker to achieve better clarity.

This practice will make hearing your directions much easier and provide a much clearer sound for more distinction between odd street names and or muffled directions.

Do not rely on postcodes alone

Your sat nav may support the postcode option, but relying on it completely may not be the most effective use of your system at all times. The postcode search could work fine in cities and towns where a single code covers a handful of houses, however this may not be the case while in rural areas. In various rural areas a postcode search may be completely useless as one post code could cover the entire village. In these cases it would be best to always utilize the complete address.

Beware of Heated Windscreens

Heated windscreens or heat-reflective screens can cause interference with GPS reception making it difficult for your sat nav to receive GPS signals. The problem can be addressed by fixing an external antenna and running the wire up behind the rear view mirror where the heated windscreen usually meshes with the roof of the car. The addition of the external antenna should reduce the interference cause by the heatd windshield thus boosting reception.

Stay up to date

Roads, speed limits and speed camera positions change frequently, hence it is better to take advantage of any updates your sat nav manufacturer may offer. Some sat nav manufacturers only offer free road map updates where as other may other update options such as traffic, road construction and more. This service is not only important for adding in some of the newer roads, speeds limits or other possible issues but it having the latest updates can be very useful for faster, safer and tension free driving to your destinations.

Readers wanting more tips or information on safer use of their sat nav systems or those wanting reviews on popular systems like the LG sat Nav systems, Kenwood systems and Magellan systems can compare sat nav prices and reviews at the Satellite Navigation System Reviews website.

Valve Just Says No To Linux

In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Valve's VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi dished out some bad news for Linux gamers stating: "There's no Linux version that we're working on right now."

Following the interview and the denial of Steam for Linux many gaming sites have begun to question the vague wording of the "right now" statement. Does this mean they had been working on a Linux Steam client that is already complete? Does it mean they are holding off for now and we might see one down the road? No one really knows. Valve, earlier this year released its Mac port of Steam to bring cross-platform gaming compatibility between PC and Mac users so it would seem likely the company would want to port the application over to the Linux community.

Since. for now at least there is no official Linux Steam client Linux users will need to run a work around. One that has been posted via the Value Developer Wiki can be found here "Install and use Steam under a Linux environment."

You can read the whole interview @ GamesIndustry.biz (you'll need an account to read the entire interview but you can register for free).