Atari has been digging into its classic catalog as of late for a new generation of games.  A few months back, it brought out the entertaining Asteroids Gunner, a twist on its rock-shooting classic from the 80’s.  And just recently, it broke out the old ball-and-paddle for Breakout Boost, complete with new modes and features.  Now another classic gets a remake, and this time it’s Circus Atari.  A game that originally started out on the Atari 2600 as a humorous collaborative effort, where you had to balance two people on a bouncing see-saw as they collected balloons, it has since been turned into a variation of Doodle Jump for the iPad.  While that’s bound to entertain a few folks, I can’t help but think what might’ve been had Atari taken the development in a different direction.

Sonic the Hedgehog has been around for years now, entertaining us with his platforming adventures on the Genesis before moving on to other platforms and, eventually, multi-system success on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  But the ride hasn’t always been the greatest with him, thanks to lackluster efforts since Sonic Unleashed (seriously…a Werehog) and the iffy next-gen debut of Sonic the Hedgehog, where he fell for a…human girl.  Ick.  Anyway, that said, he did have some great games over the years…so why not count down the best?

How do you top one of the most creative games made over the last few years?  Well, you go back to the beginning and do another one, silly.  Kim Swift, the mastermind who helped put together Valve's Portal a few years back, is striking new ground with her latest project, the quirky puzzle/action game Quantum Conundrum. Despite its different approach, however, she's still putting quite the emphasis on being creative and having fun while you do it.  Plus, you get to throw around fluffy things!

The IOS market has been around for roughly six years and has helped revolutionize everything tech related from movies, music and games. It has given artist and developers a new platform to communicate and speak directly to audience and that’s exactly what Aoineko Studios is doing.

Kart racers are usually a dime a dozen, especially back in the old days, when it seemed like every gaming company wanted to make its own version to capitalize on the popularity of the Mario Kart games.  But Sega did it quite effectively several months back with Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, a smorgasbord of racing goodness stemming multiple characters and tracks inspired by various Sega classics, including the House of the Dead, Samba de Amigo and more.  The formula worked extremely well for both the company and players, so it should be no surprise that the long-rumored sequel was finally announced today.

Disney Cruise Line is pushing interactive entertainment even further with its latest game experience for the Midship Detective Agency. The new Disney Fantasy cruise ship, which offers seven-day cruises throughout the Caribbean, has an exclusive Muppet adventure game called The Case of the Stolen Show. During the cruise, guests can take an interactive adventure quest around the ship, uncovering clues through two dozen Enchanted Art pieces as well as physical evidence. Walt Disney Imagineer Karen Leung discusses the brand new game experience in the exclusive video interviews below and on the next page.

Retro/Grade has quite the story behind it.  This downloadable game for PlayStation Network has been in the works for some time, introducing a new style of music/rhythm gameplay that ties in with a space shooter -- in a way.  We've seen it at a number of events, including last year's PAX Prime in Seattle, but upon seeing it at this year's PAX East 2012 event, we were treated with some good news.  The game is finally coming out later this year, as part of Sony's push to bring innovative new downloadable experiences to the PlayStation 3.

Over the past few years, Konami Digital Entertainment has worked closely with school districts in Hawaii and West Virginia to integrate its bestselling DanceDanceRevolution (DDR) game into their physical education programs. Now the game publisher is taking things a step further. This fall, schools around the nation will be able to use DanceDanceRevolution Classroom Edition, a PC-based game crafted specially for schools and fitness classes. Sweeping the nation one classroom at a time, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. has collaborated with  the nation’s leading health and fitness organizations including the American Diabetes Association, The National Foundation on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and Let’s Move in Schools to promote fitness in schools through the new DanceDanceRevolution Classroom Edition.

Disney Cruise Line has a lot of cool new technology on board its newest $1 billion ship, the Disney Fantasy. One of the things passengers can do while sailing the Caribbean is play an entire round of golf without ever leaving a virtual reality simulator. Using the latest simulation technology, which includes lasers that calculate the speed and angle of real balls hit with Calloway golf clubs, guests can improve their real game. Take a look inside this next generation videogame technology in the exclusive video below.

Some games take a lot longer than others to finish.  There can be various reasons for this.  Funding runs out on the project; a new publisher takes over and requests subtle changes to the finished product; longer development time is needed to work out the “kinks”, such as bugs or glitches (yet games still ship with them, sigh); or various other reasons that act as hurdles before reaching the finish line.  And, to be quote honest, Phil Fish and his team at Polytron have seen a bunch of these with Fez.  First introduced around five years ago and seeing all sorts of development snafus and release hitches, it almost seemed like the game was never going to come out.  But today, it’s finally arrived – and it turned out to be worth the wait.

Over the weekend at PAX East, we had the opportunity to talk with several folks about upcoming projects.  Among them was Zen Studios, a company that didn’t have a booth on the floor, but still had some exciting details about what was coming down the line in the future in terms of pinball content.  While we can’t reveal everything JUST yet (they’re saving some surprises for E3), we can talk about Zen Pinball 2, an improved pinball experience coming for the PlayStation 3 – and PlayStation Vita – starting next month.

Digital pinball is in a bit of an upswing as of late, thanks to the folks at Zen Studios, who continue to make quality tables for both Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball.  And they aren’t done yet, as four new Avengers-themed tables will be available next month.  But in the meantime, let’s not count out Farsight Studios, the makers of the Pinball Hall of Fame games.  Like Zen, they have the art of a digitally created table nailed down, except they actually recreate tables that once existed.  Not an easy feat, I’m sure.  But they continue to do everything right with their latest release, The Pinball Arcade.