14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft and web standards didn't belong together in the same sentence, unless it was "ironic," for more than a decade. With the release of IE9 though, the software giant embraced HTML5, CSS3 and their friends, albeit a bit more reluctantly than Chrome or Firefox.
With IE10, Microsoft is doubling down on that and adding support for even more HTML5 and CSS3 features and, just like the last time around, it's showcasing the new capabilities with a few games/demos.
Unlike the last time around though, we're not talking about a canvas Fish Tank, Microsoft has partnered with Atari to bring a sleuth of classic games to the browser, starting with Asteroids, Pong, Centipede and a few others, eight games in total.
All of these games have been recreated using standard web technologies, which means they should work in any modern browser, even if Microsoft is boasting about them.
All the games are built with HTML5 and CSS3, in JavaScript of course, and make the most of other technologies, like Websockets, which Microsoft is only now getting behind.
What's more, since the games are designed to showcase IE10 on Windows 8, they all support touch, though they work just as well with a keyboard and mouse.
What's more, they make the most of hardware acceleration, if it's available, so they should be fast and good looking, though they will default to a 2D mode if no hardware acceleration is available.
There will be a difference between browsers though, the games will be free if you're using IE10, but will be ad-supported in any other browser.
Missile Command, Pong (with online multiplayer), Lunar Lander, Combat, Centipede, Asteroids, Yars’ Revenge and Super Breakout are part of the initial lineup, though plenty more are on the way, there are plans for over 100 games to be made available over the coming months. You can check them out over at arcade.atari.com, though the site is down or hasn't been launched just yet.
