The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Universal is setting its sights on a remake of the classic arcade game Asteroids. This acquisition apparently came after a bidding war between four studios.

Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is on board to oversee this project, and Disney newbie Matthew Lopez will write a first draft of the script.

Asteroids was released in 1979 and put gamers in the seat of a triangular spaceship. The aim of the game was to then traverse space while zapping countless asteroids and the odd UFO. It proved to be a big success and spawned three sequels in Asteroids Deluxe, Space Duel and Blasteroids. The game didn’t follow any real narrative path, so with a blank canvas to work from Universal can take this possible franchise in any direction.

Asteroids is in the very early stages of production and at this time there are no details regarding dates of release and casting.

Want to find out more about the history of Atari? Then visit NowGamer.com to read our Arcs Of Atari feature; http://www.nowgamer.com/features/180/the-arcs-of-atari

Story via NowGamer.com

I know Darran’s already reviewed this in the magazine, but this weekend I got some proper playtime with Bionic Commando and enjoyed it so much I thought I’d chime in with some quick thoughts about the game.

Like Rearmed, what makes this current-gen update so enjoyable is the main character’s bionic appendage. It’s obvious Grin has spared a great deal of thought to how the bionic arm could be used to best benefit the combat. And while it takes a few levels before you fully settle into using the bionic device, when it happens, and the game is in full flow, taking out the (albeit generic) enemy soldiers and gorilla-looking droids can be very satisfying. Equally, using it to scale and swing from the huge dilapidated buildings, and kite cars and enemies into the air, keeps the action feeling fresh and organic.    

 There’s nothing staggeringly brilliant or original about the game, but the lavish visuals, intuitive controls, cinematic score - even elements of the story (although the twist at the end was pretty dumb) - all work together to make Bionic Commando an enjoyable action title.

 Don’t let recent reports of dwindling sales figures put you off. If you’re a fan of third-person action games, this is one of the most enjoyable to come out for a while.  

We’ve had a lot of interest in Road Runner since yesterday, with a lot of people wanting hints and tips. Well, we’re certainly some way off the current high score on Twin Galaxies, but we can give you a few pointers.

First off you need to play with analogue controls, as a digital pad will stop you from gaining the tongue bonus. Whenever Road Runner allows Wile Coyote to get near him, you’ll eventually gain 2,000 points after a limited amount of time. You’ll know if you’re doing this correctly because Wile’s arms will be outstretched. By using this hand tip we’ve been able to double our score for the first level.

Be warned though, controlling the analogue stick is quite tricky and it’s going to take a fair while before you fully master it. Another handy piece of advice is that you should never miss a seed. If you do your multiplier immediately resets to zero, undoing all your hard work. Loosing a life makes no difference to the multiplyer, so sometimes it’s best to simply cut your loses and let Wile get you.

You need a steady hand to get into the big leagues.

Regular readers of the forum will know that I have something of a soft spot for Magic the Gathering, so it should come as no surprise to learn that I’m quite enamoured with the game that’s just gone up on Xbox Live Arcade.

Available for 800 points, Duels of the Planeswalkers is a pretty good representation of the original game, and while certain elements have been dumbed down for this new iteration, it’s nevertheless well worth picking up.

The included cards are from the Magic 2010 core set that will be available in July.

The game itself is split into a variety of different sections. There’s a campaign that sees you facing off against increasingly stronger opponents, as well as the ability to play online, either solo or with another player. Best of all though is a selection of puzzles that give you one turn to win the game. It’s a brilliant little edition that was extremely popular in the long defunct magazine The Duelist.

The actual game itself is very solid and plays very well. Although the stack has been removed (something that will no doubt annoy hardcore fans) the core gameplay is still intact and it’s as good as it has ever been. Beat an opponent in the campaign mode and you’ll be rewarded with a card that can be added into your core deck. It’s a nice little touch that harks back to the old days of ante, but it does highlight one of the biggest issues that we have with the game.

Presentation is absolutely superb. It's always easy to work out exactly what's going on.

To keep everything on a fair and even level, Duels of the Planeswalkers deck editing capabilities are virtually non-existent. Wizards apparently want to ensure that people can play online and not have to worry about facing killer decks, so they have ensured that you can’t mix and match from all your available cards.

Deck building in one of Magic’s greatest strengths, so it’s a real pity that it’s been implemented so poorly here. On the other hand, Wizards is offering additional downloadable decks in the future, so future online play should hopefully have a solid following.

It’s obviously not a patch on the official online version of Magic that’s available on the PC, but this is nevertheless a fantastic introduction to the game, and for the measly price point, something that everyone should have in their collections.

The above clash was always going to end in tears. That's a 7/7 monster you're taking on.

We’ve not had a high score competition for a while, so why not join us by playing Atari’s Road Runner. Yes it’s controls are best described as skittery as hell, and the less said about those loopy theme tunes the better, but we still cannot tear ourselves away from it.

This lunchtime drew quite a crowd from our sister mags gamesTM and Xbox 360 as Stuart and myself went head to head and while Stuart was able to make further progress than myself, he missed a few seed mounds.

Anyone who’s played Road Runner will know that missing seeds resets your multiplier, so if you want a chance of beating our high scores then you’re going to have to pick up every last one.
We’ll give you an update if we succeed in beating our current efforts, but in the meantime here’s some scores to try and beat.

As a special treat for hitting 2,000 fantastic profiles on Retrogamer.net, our talented IT guys have put together a fantastic new website for you. The Retro Gamer Face-Off has been specifically designed so that you can choose your favourite titles from the 2,000+ profiles that are now available.

All you need to do is head on over thttp://www.retrogamer.net/retrofaceoff/ and you’ll be presented with two available profiles. Choose your favourite and you’ll be given two more to decide on. Choose those and… well, you get the idea. In addition to choosing your favourite profiles, you can also chart the most popular choices by genre, or the overall top 20. So if you want to find out if the rest of the readership love Strider as much as I do, it’s now really easy to find out.

So what would you choose between The Way of the Exploding Fist and Final Fantasy V?

Anticipation is a bit of a NES curio; it’s a board game you can play on your console. Which begs the question, why not just play a board game? Anyway, after looking at this box for all of six minutes the answer should be clear: apparently this game has the power to make you and your badly dressed friends pull excitable face expressions at the hit of a start button. The game is basically a board game of ‘join up the dots’ and the ‘anticipation’ comes from of knowing what easily distinguishable object you are going to asked to draw and then seeing your jerky friends act like jerks while they guess the answer. Brilliant. Check out the guy at the front who looks a little like Garry Shandling, he is taking a simple game of ‘join the dots’ far too seriously? Oh and why’s that girl in the middle waving at the television screen? Ignoring her hair and attire for a moment, perhaps she is a prophet bringing us a message that in the future people will be able to play games of this type by simply waving their arms and performing wild hand signals? Oh and why is it there always seems to be a blonde guy in red spectacles pulling a goofy face in these types of images? Anyway, that’s all we have to say about Anticipation.

There’s a beat-’em-up revival going on at the moment and it’s all thanks to Capcom. Not content with delivering last year’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for the 360 (or this year if you own a PS3) and creating the sheer awesomeness that is Street Fighter IV, they’re at it again!

It’s been one of gaming’s lousiest kept secrets – rumours have been circulating for months now – but Capcom has finally revealed that Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is heading to Xbox Live Arcade and Sony’s PlayStation Network. Boasting enhanced 1080p backgrounds and the ability to play online, we’re already predicting all sorts of awesomeness for the popular fighter and have already started pestering Capcom’s PR, Leo Tan with flattering emails in the hope of getting free codes.

One thing that’s particularly interesting is that all the characters – that’s 56 in total – will be unlocked from the very beginning, meaning the Dreamcast’s excellent unlock mode will be nowhere to be seen. Still, I only play with Strider, Ryu and Zangief anyway so it’s no skin off my nose.

There’s no news on prices yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it sells for a similar price to HD Remix (around £12). Needless to say we’ll bring you more news as soon as we get it.

Hulk smash! The green one takes on Spidey and Venom.

Spidey pulls off a devastating super. Go Spidey!

These are obviously PS2 shots, but you get the idea.

If you tried ordering our lovely binder recently, only to be told that it wasn’t in stock, then you’ll be pleased to know that it’s once again available. Yay!

Currently available in a truly astounding offer where you save an entire fiver if you buy three binders at the same time, it’s an amazing piece of kit that’s been perfectly designed to hold 13 issues of your favourite retro magazines, as adds that certain I Don’t Know What to any bookshelf.

We’ve also been informed that postage costs will be going up very soon, so be sure to order as soon as possible.

You can buy the Retro Gamer binder from www.imagineshop.com for just £9.99. Alternatively you can buy three issues for £24.97.

The sexiest binder in the world is now available for just £9.99.

Yowsers as Inspector Gadget would say.