Elite Systems Postpones Collection of 8-Bit Games for iOS
By 
Last week, Touch Arcade reported that retro game porter Elite Systems was planning on releasing their newest collection of 12 classic 8-bit games, called Elite Collection, on October 28. Those waiting for the app to drop will have noticed it has not.
Yesterday, Touch Arcade followed up with some additional information that Elite Collection has been postponed for an undetermined amount of time.
The company’s co-founder, Steve Wilcox spoke to Touch Arcade on the subject.
Earlier this week, an organization – from whom we’d previously received a written “clearance” – claimed an interest in a trademark in one of the twenty-five games in the Apps. This interest does not appear on the public records.
Since one of our declared goals for the “Elite Collection” Apps is, “to restore some order to the market for 8-bit home computer games” we needed some time to check the claim. At the time of writing, that claim is still being reviewed and we felt it would be inappropriate to release the Apps until it had been dealt with.
Although the app’s release has been delayed, Wilcox added that the company will likely be able to add additional “AAA” titles before or just after the app finally releases including The Bard’s Tale (I, II & III), Wasteland, Dragon Wars and Neuromancer.
Using a proprietary porting program, Elite System specialized in bringing retro games to iOS. The company already released three stand-alone apps for the iPhone and iPad, Black Magic, First Samurai, and Enforcer. The Elite collection, which is rumored to have a special introductory price of only $0.99 will include titles such as Alternate Reality: The City, Uridium, Buggy Boy (AKA: Speed Buggy), Bundesliga Manger, Denaris, Battleships, Frank Bruno’s Boxing and Batty, as well as others.
Details as to which titles will be included with the app and which will be available through in-app purchases are unclear at this time, but it appears that Elite Systems is working hard to bring 8-bit gaming to iOS, so there is sure to be a great selection of games to choose from.
