Atari has sent us a rather disturbing email today. A cluster of asteroids are propelling their way towards planet Earth! Uh oh! Fortunately, the ship that saved us all back in 1979 in the original Asteroids has had a few upgrades in the past 30 years and it’s back again.

Coming soon will be free-to-play, dual-stick shooter Asteroids: Gunner. It’ll offer three galaxies to explore with 150 waves of asteroids and aliens to wipe out. Three different spacecrafts will also be available: the Miner, the Bomber and the Dart and plenty of upgrades are on offer. New galaxies and upgrades will be purchaseable with Space Bucks, while leaderboard fans will enjoy the all-important Game Center and Open Feint support.

For now, we’ve just got a selection of screenshots of what’s to come, but I strongly suggest keeping an eye on the Asteroids: Gunner Facebook page as well as here for more information as and when we get it.

If you know your Latin then you’ll understand that Fortis means strong, courageous and heroic. That’s apparently what it takes to beat this new game from Encore due on the App Store this month. From the previews we’ve seen this looks much like a spruced up version of the old Asteroids games with some beautiful backgrounds and fluid gameplay.

Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch, Fortis will offer 36 levels split over 3 stages with a bonus level at the end of each stage. As with all games of this type, powerups are the key to success and there are four different weapons available in Fortis, all of which can be upgraded as you progress through the game. As well as weapons there are other items to collect including energy, shields, points, money and extra lives.

It’s exciting to see some of the classic games of the past making a comeback on the App Store and Encore looks to have done a great job resurrecting this genre with Fortis which will likely pickup fans of existing games like Geometry Wars.

Encore will be offering a promotional starting price for Fortis so make sure you check the App Store and this site regularly for news of its release which could be any day now.

Find out more here