A criminally addictive multiplayer experience from the golden age of arcades is being remade for modern audiences. Atari has revealed that developer Griptonite Games (Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines) has commenced work on a new version of Warlords.

Already the subject of a number of remakes, the 30 year old action strategy game challenged up to four players to protect their castles by deflecting incoming fireballs into opposing structures. A winner was declared when only one castle remained standing.

It appears that Griptonite has retained the same basic structure, while adding a few ideas of its own. Players will still be required to destroy opposing castles, but they’ll also be asked to collect power-ups and capture important locations on the map. Further, the simple fantasy setting of the original has evolved into a (marginally) more realistic 3D environment.

Adding complexity to a perfect formula is always a risk. We’ll find out if it pays off when Warlords arrives on XBLA and PSN in winter 2011.