Gaming companies Atari and Anima have joined forces to give Atari’s iconic characters, like Centipede, Adventure, Crystal Castles, and Pong, a new life in the form of Anima’s Onlybots. Onlybots are artificially intelligent companions and pets powered by augmented reality and AI. They act as next-generation Tamagotchis and can talk with their owners and even appear in AR through the camera of a smartphone.
Using AI, the characters have backstories and personalities based on the original Atari games, for instance, Centipede has an amusing voice with plenty of attitude. For the first time, fans now have the ability to have deep conversations with Atari software and hardware, with each character having their own unique twist, such as Atari Jaguar VR, from an alternate universe where the device was released and changed the world.
Anima is a gaming and interactive technology company specializing in the use of AI and AR to bring digital characters and imaginary worlds to life. Backed by Compass, Dillon, Not Boring, and Polygon and headed by creators Neil Voss and Alex Herrity, the team has already raised over four million dollars in their first year, with their flagship game being Onlybots. This game allows users to collect, trade and customize their own digital companions powered by a powerful augmented reality engine and a large language model-agnostic platform.
Users can interact with the characters through the public beta of the Onlybots VMO app, which is based on initial handheld devices such as the Dreamcast VMO, Atari Lynx and the Game Boy Camera. The limited edition of the 200 characters from Atari will be available for purchase on their website, Onlybot.com in June.
Anima’s plan for the upcoming year is to continue developing the platform, including the mass-market version of Onlybots as a creative game platform by the end of 2021. Additionally, the characters inherently have digital ownership, as the company relies on blockchain technology to track the buyers and re-sellers of the collectible creatures.
Atari X’s Tyler Drewitz believes this collaboration creates a unique experience by incorporating Atari’s legacy and honoring the characters while adapting them to the current context. This, in turn, offers a quality experience on the blockchain and Web 3, aiming to forge an emotional connection between users and the characters.
This article provides insight on the collaboration between Anima and Atari, as well as on the power of the technology used to bring iconic characters to life in a new way. As both companies continue to push the boundaries of technology and creative storytelling, users can expect to explore more Neverlands and interact with their favorite characters in a fascinating way.
