Yesterday I received an email from Midway that confirmed to me a few things. The first is Wheelman will be out in stores at the end of the week and here’s an awesome trailer for it. Which is good news because that means second, Midway is still a functioning publisher and development house. (In case you were unaware Midway is in bankruptcy court right now.)
I’ve spent some time with Wheelman demo on the Xbox 360 and honestly I’m a bit excited for this title. Wheelman looks like all the fun bits of driving, shooting, and wanton destruction from GTA are filtered down to the right amounts, with the proper amount of storyline stripped away and the addition of one powerful dose of Diesel, Vin Diesel. Which made for what I thought was such a great demo, that I preferred to play it over and over again and not write up the Impressions like I should have. To make it up to you dear reader I will quickly sum it up: Graphics = Good, Controls = Good, Gameplay = Good. It’s an action movie, but a video game, and the gimmick action moves didn’t seem to be repeated abusively.
Wheelman hits stores in Europe on 27-March and in North America on 24-March for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
As reported previously, there has been some panic about Midway’s financial situation in the press. Well, there is finally some marginally good news for Midway Games coming across the Business Wire.
Some of Midway’s creditors have allowed an extension of the deadline to the possible forced mandatory repayment due to change of control. Of the USD 150 million, the holders of the USD 75 million bonds due in 2026 have announced a new deadline of 19-Feb-2009. Still no word from the holders of the USD 75 million bonds due in 2025.
It is probably a very good bet that the bondholders and Midway have extended the deadline to continue to negotiate and work towards mutually beneficial arrangement. With a new owner that had no previous relationship with Midway Games, it may take some time for them to find their feet and satisfy the bondholders. I wouldn’t say Midway is sticking around or disappearing, but I would say they have a little more time to figure everything out.
Last week we reported on the sale of Sumner Redstone’s investment in Midway.
Well for an update on the latest – Midway is in danger of defaulting on their bonds, over USD 100 million in debt. You can guess that is a lot of money that Midway does not have in their checking account right now, so this can be a bit of a problem. For it be a full blown problem, the bond holders must demand to be repaid and Midway needs to fall short in coming up with the cash. Sensational headlines will tell you Midway is defaulting and the sky has fallen on their heads, reality is this is a pretty common event in the capital markets and nothing to panic about yet.
Growing up, I played Mortal Kombat like it was my job. Starting with the first game in the arcades, then on the Sega Genesis and all the up until today, the series has been a staple of my gaming habits. The previous few Mortal Kombat games have left a sour taste in my mouth as the series moved to 3D and shunned the tried-and-true special moves for a more combo-based fighting system. The latest installment takes a radical change as well, bringing in the DC Universe and toning down the gore, but does a great job of bringing the series back to its roots and delivering the quality Mortal Kombat fighting experience that gamers have been missing.
Gone are the 3D woes that have bothered Mortal Kombat players for the past few years. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is largely 2D based while retailing minimal 3D elements. You can change planes to avoid projectiles by moving in or out, but everything else works on two dimensions. Using the d-pad gives you 2D only controls while the left analog stick gives 3D only controls. If you want to use the d-pad and need to move in 3-dimensional space, hold the left trigger. If you need to jump, the d-pad is your only option. I found it much easier to use the d-pad and hold the left trigger to avoid a Bat-a-rang or spear or anything else being shot at you.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that in an effort to control his National Amusements Inc debts, Sumner Redstone has sold his shares of Midway Games to a private investor, Mark Thomas, who has no previous relationship with Midway Games.
A spokesperson for National Amusements said the holding company determined it would be financially beneficial to sell the Midway stake in 2008. Mr. Thomas has agreed to pay about $100,000, or $0.0012 a share, for the Midway stake and will assume $70 million of senior secured and unsecured debt
Just to give you an idea of what kind of value you are looking at here, Dec 1 closing price of Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) was 0.33, with a market cap of 30.4mm. Redstone offloaded Midway and all the debt behind it, a smart move on his part.
Myst was an amazing classic title for the PC that hardcore gamers and non-gamers alike purchased and enjoyed. Myst managed to draw people in with its sharp graphics (at the time), mysterious setting, storytelling through the journals and books, and challenging with the puzzles providing an overall good and fairly original experience. The puzzles were complex and confusing, and just admit it, everyone cheated to figure out how to beat some of those puzzles or they just clicked frantically everywhere.
Midway has announced that it intends to have a global ship date of their open-world driving game Wheelman on February 16, 2009. The game will star Vin Diesel as an expert driver for hire and be set in Barcelona. The title is to be released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC’s.
The game is being co-produced by Vin Diesel and created in close partnership with his game company Tigon Studios.
“We’re designing Wheelman to play like a Hollywood blockbuster,” said Vin Diesel, Wheelman star and executive producer, Tigon Studios. “Playing this game will be just like taking control of the greatest car chases from feature films, except this time you’re in the driver’s seat.”
The financially troubled publisher seems to be betting the bank on this title and is promising a whole new driving game experience,
“This is not just another run-of-the-mill, licensed Hollywood knock-off,” said Matt Booty, president and CEO, Midway. “Wheelman features evolutionary new game design mechanics like cinematic super moves and vehicular combat. Once you experience Wheelman’s Vehicle Melee, you’ll never want to play another driving game without it!”
The vehicle melee allegedly will allow gamers to take on pursuing enemies with a, “simple flick of the joystick”. Will Wheelman be as revolutionary to the driving game genre as they say or will this be another empty promise by a big publisher? We will have to wait and see.
In the turbulent times we are living globally, I thought it would be relevant to highlight some of the industry happenings as there are potential impacts to the gaming public. Hopefully this will continue as semi-regular Loot-Ninja feature. The following have been the recent headlines in no particular order. Hit the links for the Loot-Ninja articles.
EA restructuring Casual Label, merges with Sims, now a broad audience gaming section.
Lots of grim news financially and lots of studios shutting down, downsizing, rightsizing, etc. The global recession taking a toll on the gaming industry, probably. The above news updates are pretty similar to latest news in the banking industry. In case you’ve been living in a cave for the past year that means things are not very good.
The next Mortal Kombat game pretty much isn’t. Very little blood, no fatalities. Yeah, super gimped. The reason? The MK fighters are taking on the DC Comics Superheroes. So far, we have Sub Zero and Scorpion confirmed for Mortal Kombat characters and Superman and Batman confirmed for DC Comics characters. It could be good, but it could also suck hard. I’d like to get some decent hands on time before I cast any judgement.
Its been awhile since there has been a really good MK game. The Wii installment was decent, but fans of the series have been clamoring for a new look at the legendary series. Midway boss David Zucker had this to say:
Games like This Is Vegas and of course you got Mortal Kombat game this year and others that we think have potential to give us higher unit numbers.”
I would love a new MK. With today’s standards, you will see fatalities that will make MK3 look like “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”. I have a general disdain for all things pants related.
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