Atari preps six for XBLA

With Microsoft already hosting retro arcade classics from Namco, Konami, Midway, and Capcom on the Xbox Live Marketplace, it was only a matter of time before the service's pantheon of coin-op colossi was joined by Atari. Today Microsoft announced that it had signed the publisher of Centipede, Missile Command, and Battlezone to bring those hits and a handful of others to the Xbox 360 beginning in January.

Six Atari titles have been announced for the downloadable games service, and each will come with classic and "evolved" versions, in addition to standard features like leaderboards and achievements. The half-dozen games set to release include Centipede/Millipede, Battlezone (with new multiplayer modes and Xbox Vision camera support), Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Missile Command, Tempest, and Warlords (which lets gamers import pictures for their castles). No prices were announced for the games, although older arcade games on the Marketplace have generally been priced at 400 Microsoft Points ($5).

To help keep players busy until those titles hit, Microsoft today also announced the Wednesday release of Konami's Contra, as well as a short slate of games expected to see release on the Marketplace later this year.