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August 14th, 2005, 11:59 Posted By: wraggster
Following up its E3 showing in May, Midway Games today held an annual Gamers Day in Chicago with an unsurprising cast of games and almost no surprises.
The big titles were the same ones we'd seen at the previous events, E3, and in between. The basic message of the event was this: Our games have progressed, we're expanding, and we're looking good.
After its fourth acquisition in four years, the latest being Australian developer Ratbag (World of Outlaws: Sprint Car Racing), and steady review scores in 2004 and 2005, President and CEO David Zucker was not lying. Under his helm, the company has made a concerted, steady comeback from years of ineffectiveness and rumors of being bought out to a growing company with big name titles, a healthy stable of development teams, and a wide variety of game types.
While steady progress on the The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Blitz: The League, Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War, and LA Rush were shown via demonstrations and hands-on gameplay time, the lack of any next-generation games or announcements took a little zing out of the whole event.
Sure, we watched a video of Stranglehold, the John Woo shooter scheduled for a 2006 release, but it was the same one we saw at E3. And though we got to see Ed, Edd, and Eddy footage, in addition to seeing a new Rampage, which looked and played a lot like the old Rampage, no one game made people sit back and whisper and coo.
The interesting things about Midway's event were more subtle than startling. For every louder than necessary video presentation (it was like E3, only just one booth), there was something else happening behind the scenes that spelled good news.
For instance, while I'm complaining about a lack of next-gen games, Midway's approach for this next generation is significantly different than its been in every other console launch. It's holding back development and waiting until Microsoft's Xbox 360 has an installed base. It's taking its time so the games look good, instead of rushing out unfinished or unready product. While that sounds dull, this is a big move for a company that's always rushed to market with some arcade game that was never all that good.
The other good news is that Stranglehold is in development with the Austin studio, which created Psi-Ops, generally considered a financial success at Midway. This studio is experienced in FPSs and has a set of heavyweight designers and programmers who are, without doubt, going to have fun with the next gen hardware.
Third, all Midway's games really are progressing well. MK Shaolin Monks looked and played well, mixing arcade simplicity with fighting depth and excellent co-op gameplay. The Suffering Ties that Bind is genuinely distrubing, requiring a different mindset, and Blitz: The League will be the first non-licensed football game since EA gobbled up every license even slightly related to football last year. Blitz is violent, uncensored, and takes a very different look at football, one you would not see with a licensed product. LA Rush is a fast-moving arcade racer, but it doesn't feel or look like a Rush game in the least. If the hardcore followers can see past this notion -- that it's just a different game -- then this game might do well. And everything else looks like it's coagulating and simmering with just the right amount of care and craft. That said, we have yet to play a version of the new Gauntlet Seven Sorrows or see anything beyond a trailer. Guess it's still far from ready...
Finally, pehaps the most genuine and awe-inspiring part of the event was a surprise visit by the Brice Mellen, the blind gamer who's been making rounds in the media. Mellen cannot see, but that doesn't prevent him from playing videogames, and he demonstrated his superior skills by playing Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon at his own game and beating him. The crowd of 50-plus people at Midway's event gathered around in shock and awe as the young man played by sound and used button memorization to play Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. It was an amazing, hopeful, and inspiring sight, no pun intended, one I'll remember for the rest of my life.
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