Atari's Centipede Origins available for free, Pong World due this month

Atari is revving up iOS releases for the holidays by kicking out a few long-awaited titles. First up is Centipede: Origins, which hit the App Store this week. It's a modern take on the old shooter classic. The app is free and universal, though (surprise!) it's also freemium, which means you must earn coins to upgrade weapons and other implements. Centipede purists may be a little weirded out, but it's a solid arcade game with a good progression system.

Atari has also announced that Pong World will finally making its way to the App Store later on this month. This is the new take on Pong from the big developer contest that Atari ran (and that I served in as a volunteer judge), featuring some crazy creatures serving as paddles, powerups that tweak the game in various ways, and a few new modes and ways to play against your friends. Pong World should be an interesting release -- it's due out on November 15 (next week) later this month (Atari's just gotten in touch to say it's actually been pushed back a bit), also for free.