PortalOne’s release of Atari’s Breakout pits players against Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell

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PortalOne has turned multiplayer games into game shows, and now it’s enabling players to see if they can beat Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell at Atari’s Breakout.

In this hybrid game-show platform, celebrities like Bushnell show what they can do to get a high score in an arcade-style game. Then the players have 24 hours to beat the score, compete with each other, and ultimately win prizes.

“We’re building what we call hybrid games. So we’re basically taking the strengths of the games industry and combining that with the strengths of the TV industry to create an even more engaging experience,” said Bård Anders Kasin, in an interview with GamesBeat.

Breakout, which debuts tonight at 6 p.m. Pacific on PortalOne, is the second Atari title to become available on PortalOne’s platform, joining the first Atari hybrid game, Centipede.

“You have 24 hours to master this level and become the best. And of course, some players play just to kill time. And some players play to have fun, others to be social with their friends,” Stig Olav Kasin said. “We have a lot of families playing together actually.”

The original Breaktout debuted in 1976 for the Atari 2600 console.

“I have a lot of affection for Breakout. It was the game that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak worked on with me at Atari,” said Bushnell, in an interview with GamesBeat. “And so there’s kind of an interesting history that goes with it. I’ve been helping Atari with some of their stuff right now. And so anything that helps the brand, the Atari brand right now, is very important. I think this helps us in that mission of modernizing the Atari brand.”

PortalOne’s hybrid