EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: midway
[Update] One of the actors involved in the project, Jeri Ryan, has explained a bit more about the Mortal Kombat video, revealing that it is a short film to convince Warner Bros. to make a full-length film. [End of Update]
A new, seemingly high budget (or, ‘with a budget’) live-action video has recently appeared on Mother Internet featuring well-known (and ‘known’) actors playing the parts of characters such as ‘Baraka,’ ‘Reptile,’ ‘Jax,’ ‘Sonya Blade,’ ‘Johnny Cage’ and ‘Scorpion.’
To an average film viewer, these names would be nothing more than B-movie aliases for B-movie actors starring in a B-movie action… movie.
To videogame fans however… ah, videogame fans would find these names quite alluring, and attaching them to actors (well-known or not) is a sign that it’s time to get excited about the possibility of a new Mortal Kombat movie.
Capcom has announced that the publisher’s chief operating officer for North America and Europe, Mark Beaumont, has suddenly passed away this morning.
Beaumont was a 28-year veteran of the videogame publishing industry, and began his career at Atari in 1982, before moving on to Activision in 1983, where he remained for five years, becoming the general manager of the company’s Activision Entertainment brand.
During his career, Beaumont also served in executive vice president roles at Time Warner Interactive, as well as taking up stints at developers and publishers such as Mindscape, Data East and Psygnosis, before becoming a Senior Vice President at Midway in 1999 in the company’s publishing department.
You would have hoped that, ever since Midway and a sizable number of the company’s assets were bought by Warner Bros., news of corporate drama would be reduced by at least 80 percent, but unfortunately this is simply not the case.
It’s being reported that all 60 employees at Midway’s corporate offices in Chicago are to be let go, which represents roughly 20% of Midway’s worldwide. The affected employees have been given 60 days notice as of Monday this week, as the layoffs are said to be in effect from the beginning of September.
Midway’s head of corporate communications, Geoff Mogilner has confirmed to Gamasutra that the publisher’s UK studio, Midway Newcastle, has unfortunately been closed, affecting some 80 employees who worked there. Mogilner said:
“We can confirm that we closed the Newcastle studio unfortunately. We had a period of time that was required by UK law to notify the employees of the pending studio closure.”
“During that time, we made every effort to find a buyer for the studio, and we were unfortunately unsuccessful at that. Today was when we had to close the studio.”
A bankruptcy court judge has recently approved Warner Bros. proposed $33 million buyout of Midway, as well as two of its studios and select assets from the financially stressed publisher, the most valuable of which is arguably Mortal Kombat.
The judge confirmed that any objections to the deal (and there were many) had been resolved, clearing the way for the acquisition to go ahead.
The deal, however, does not included two of Midway’s development studios, Midway San Diego and Midway Newcastle, both of which have 60 days to find a suitable owner. If this does not happen, the studios will be shut down.
After a sale and bid procedures motion was filed by Midway in late May, which served to notify potentially interested third-parties that a sale to Warner Bros. (a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc.) was imminent, giving those third-parties an opportunity to put in their own bid for Midway and its assets, it appears as though Warner Bros. has emerged as the sole bidder before the deadline for new bids recently expired.
Now, with a bid of $33 million, Warner Bros. stand to secure ownership of a vast majority of Midway’s assets, including the Mortal Kombat, Spy Hunter, Joust and Wheelman franchises, as well Midway’s development studios in Chicago and Seattle.
The fate of Midway’s Newcastle and San Diego offices, which are not included in the deal, remains unclear at this time.
Before Warner Bros. can officially claim ownership of the agreed upon assets, however, several creditor complaints will need to be resolved, including one by Threshold Entertainment’s Larry Kasanoff, who produced two Mortal Kombat films and still claims possession of the franchise’s big-screen and TV distribution rights, and another complaint by the Vin Diesel-owned Tigon Studios, which claims it is owed $200 000 for Diesel’s work in Wheelman.
Last week Midway Newcastle took the wraps off their new crime noir detective story Necessary Force. While the debut trailer impressed, we were left wondering whether the game would see the light of day given that the studio needs to find financial backing for the project or a buy out within the next two weeks or face closure.
The game’s website has since been updated with a very interesting artwork section, so why not head over to www.necessaryforcegame.com to check it out. Hit the jump for a sampling of the artwork and let us know how you think the game is shaping up.
A new game from Midway Newcastle (Wheelman, Test Drive), Necessary Force, has been revealed in debut trailer form as a kind of crime noir detective story set in an open-world, which looks to be a mash-up of Max Payne, Condemned and Grand Theft Auto.
Only really showing glimpses of in-game content, while the rest is filled in with concept art, the trailer still manages to impress with the direction the game seems to be taking, and the mood conveyed through even still images.
Watch the trailer for Necessary Force, and read about the plight of Midway Newcastle, below:
In a press release issued a little while ago, troubled games publisher Midway revealed that they have entered into a “stalking horse” asset purchase agreement with entertainment gargantuan, Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc.
Additionally, Midway have filed a sale and bid procedures motion with the US Bankruptcy Court, which serves to provide notice that a sale to Warner Bros. is imminent, giving interested third-parties the opportunity to enter their own bids for Midway’s assets.
Under Midway’s current agreement, however, Warner Bros. stand to acquire a substantial amount of Midway’s assets, including the Mortal Kombat franchise and development studios in Chicago and Seattle, for a total of $33 000 000, subject to further adjustments.
The current agreement does not, however, include Midway’s San Diego or Newcastle development studios, nor their TNA wrestling franchise.
Midway, Warner Bros. and interested third-party buyers will enter into a bidding process before and after an expected court approval of the Warner Bros. agreement, at which time further Midway assets will be formally bid upon.
Hopefully this whole process will bring to an end the troubled times that Midway has been having, especially over the last year.
With the release Midway and Ubisoft’s jointly-published free-roaming action racer, Wheelman, comes the inevitable console comparisons that follow the release of a hotly anticipated (warmly anticipated?) title.
Things are made easy for our eyes to detect the differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the Vin Diesel-starring game, although, once again and as is becoming the norm, the differences aren’t anything to shout about, but you can make up your own mind by watching the comparison video below:
Wheelman has gone gold! That’s according to Midway and Ubisoft who announced that the game will be available across North America on the 24th of March and a few days later in Europe on the 27th.
So get ready for an “adrenaline-fueled, cinematic ride” with Wheelman, starring Vin Diesel as an undercover agent and skilled driver who is tasked with infiltrating the underworld of Barcelona to gather evidence for a heist.
Wheelman will be available for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. For more information about the game check out our previous coverage here.
Midway and Epic Games are making sure that all you Unreal Tournament fans want for nothing. The Titan Pack for UT3 is now available to download for Steam and PC with the PS3 version scheduled to follow on the 19th of March.
The Titan Pack includes new maps, units and gameplay modes and, even better news is that it is all free!
The download includes 11 new multiplayer maps for Deathmatch, CTF, Vehicle CTF and Warfare modes plus eight maps from the first UT3 bonus pack and Xbox 360 version of the game.
In a bit of news that will probably shock no-one, the ailing publisher Midway has been removed from the New York Stock Exchange listing, after failing to meet the requirements for trading.
A company has to maintain a share price of at least $1.00 for 30 consecutive days to remain listed on the NYSE - a requirement Midway was reminded of back in November, but has obviously failed to meet.
This news comes after slightly better information that Midway’s Vin Diesel-starring vehicle-based action game, Wheelman, will be co-published with Ubisoft around the world, as Ubisoft handle distribution, sales and marketing duties in most territories, while Midway will continue development with Vin Diesel’s Tigon Studios.
There are also reports that Midway has left the Entertainment Software Association, most likely do to an inability to pay membership fees, which kind of counters the above good news…
Wild rumours began swirling around the tubes the other day regarding Midway’s open-world, Vin Diesel-starring vehicle action game, Wheelman, and a possible acquisition of the title by fellow publisher, Ubisoft.
It’s now been revealed that the rumours were almost true – Ubisoft and Midway are to enter into a publishing partnership, or ‘strategic relationship,’ to help the title see the light of day, as the two companies are to co-publish the title around the globe.
Ubisoft will take on sales, marketing and distribution duties for Wheelman in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. Midway, meanwhile, will handle those duties in European territories not handled by Ubisoft, while retaining future franchise rights in the process.
Midway’s Newcastle studio and Tigon Studios will continue to work on the game under the agreement. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said of the arrangement:
Midway Games Inc., the US division of Midway, has filed for reorganisation under Chapter 11 with the Bankruptcy Court. This filing does not include Midway’s non-US operations (Midway’s European divisions), and they will continue business as normal.
Midway cited the change of ownership last year, when Sumner Redstone sold the company for $100 000, as the trigger event that accelerated Midway’s need to repay debts amounting to $150 million, $75 million of which was due yesterday. Midway chairman, President and CEO (that’s a busy business card), Matt Booty said:
“This was a difficult but necessary decision. We have been focused on realigning our operations and improving our execution, and this filing will relieve the immediate pressure from our creditors and provide us time for an orderly exploration of our strategic alternatives. This Chapter 11 filing is the next logical step in an ongoing process to address our capital structure.”
Even in the face of this decision on Midway’s part, Booty was still keen to remind that Midway’s fourth quarter financials were comparatively strong, as evidenced by the fact that Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe has shipped close to two million units, TNA Impact has shipped an additional one million units, and Midway’s Party Game franchise has sold close to three million units.
Midway’s bankruptcy filing will protect them from creditors, allowing them to continue business ‘as usual,’ as they seek to address their capital structure. After an incredibly difficult 2008, this move is hardly surprising, but no less saddening.
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