Yup, Tempest 4000 looks like a Jeff Minter game
Colours and beats
"EAT ELECTRIC DEATH" declares Tempest 4000 as noises and colours and particles and numbers explode all over. Yup, that's certainly what I'd expect from Jeff Minter's return to the arcade shooter series. Minter was behind Tempest 2000 and 3000, Minterised remakes for Atari of the '80s arcade game. But when he tried to make the similar TxK for himself, the creature wearing the skin of Atari sent in their lawyers and got the PC release shut down. I'm astonished that Minter and the creature are now working together but am delighted that Tempest action is coming to PC. Watch this:
Atari had nothing to show of Tempest 4000 when they announced it in August but yup, that makes up for it. It looks a little tame for Minter, if anything, but seems Tempestuous alright. I had worried that the creature not showing anything was a bad omen, especially considering bad things happened when Atari hauled old names out again with games like Asteroids: Outpost and RollerCoaster: Tycoon World, but I hope this will go well.
Tempest 4000 is due out this holiday season, which means I believe is American for 'kinda sorta November/December-ish'.
Minter's mega-colourful shooter Polybius is coming to PC at some point too. If you have no patience, hey, Llamasoft's Tempest-ish Space Giraffe has been here for years - check out Karen Gillan's review.