Atari reviving Tempest with designer Jeff Minter at the helm

Atari has announced that its classic arcade game Tempest is headed to modern platforms through the release of Tempest 4000 later this year.

While the classic revival itself is something of note, what’s particularly interesting here is the designer Atari has brought on board for Tempest 4000. 

Llamasoft founder and longtime designer Jeff Minter is taking point for the development of this latest Tempest title. Minter played a significant part in the creation of Tempest 2000 in 1994  and has created a number of games like Gridrunner Revolution, Space Giraffe, Polybius, and TxK throughout his career that all occupy the same genre as Tempest.

Atari, however, was less than pleased with the similarities between Tempest and Minter's 2014 Vita game TxK. Just two years ago, Minter and Atari were locked in a heated back-and-forth as Minter accused Atari of acting as a "copyright troll" while Atari argued TxK was too similar to Tempest and reportedly threatened Minter’s right to dabble in Tempest-esque games on any level.

But, given Minter's central role in the development of Tempest 4000, it seems that the two parties have put past differences to rest. The modern take on the classic game is due out later this year.