Midway Unveils 2007 Lineup

At a recent press event, publisher Midway Games has outlined its PC, next-gen console and handheld lineup for the coming year, including an original WWII first person shooter and its own brand of brain-training minigames for the PlayStation Portable. Midway's Austin branch unveiled that its BlackSite: Area 51, the sequel to its last first person shooter version of the original Midway light-gun franchise, is currently in production for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Promising to take "next–gen gaming to an all–new level," the latest in the franchise again puts players in the role of taking down alien enemies the famous titular government landmark, and, Midway says, introduces more careful story-driven decision making, forcing them to choose between "professional orders" and their own "ethical standards" as they lead a squadron of "secret soldiers." Midway has also announced its own original World War II shooter called Hour of Victory due for release in summer of 2007, exclusively for the Xbox 360. Built with Unreal Engine 3.0, allows gamers to play a role in a number of key European and North African battles from a selection of vantage points, including sneaking through enemy territory as a covert operative, playing more head-on as a British commando, or keeping a safe distance as an Army ranger sniper, with each character playing a unique role in completing each mission. Along with Epic Megagames, Midway has also revealed that it will be bringing Epic's forthcoming PC FPS Unreal Tournament 2007 to the Xbox 360 as Unreal Tournament III. The title was originally touted as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, and was in fact once rumored to be a launch title for that console. UTIII is now expected to launch for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in the second half of 2007. In addition to its console lineup, Midway Games also revealed two new original handheld titles. The first, Touchmaster is a Nintendo DS port of 23 of the company's long-running counter-top touch-screen games, commonly found in bars and arcades. The title will feature a variety of mini-games from card and puzzle games, to skill-based challenges and trivia titles, all re-fitted to use the Nintendo DS' stylus-based play. For the PlayStation Portable, Midway revealed an original title called Hot Brain, positioned to provide competition for Nintendo's own first-party Brain Training series. Providing what Midway calls "challenging and fun mental activities that help ignite your mind in areas like logic, memory, math, language and concentration," the game contains both single and multi-player challenges, all voiced with the help of film and TV comedian Fred Willard. In addition to the above titles, Midway also showed off progress on its John Woo spinoff Stranglehold, starring Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat, proposed as a game sequel to the director's action hit Hard Boiled. Midway Chicago's Ed Boon also demonstrated the latest work on a Wii version of its hit Mortal Kombat series, showing off motion sensitive Wii remote combinations to pull off the franchise's infamous 'fatalities.' Finally, Midway also showed off its Los Angeles studio produced TNA iMPACT! wrestling game, expected some time in 2008, the latest work on Vin Diesel crossover The Wheelman, set for a tentative 2007 release, and its Lord of the Rings MMO Shadows of Agmar, which the company will bring to retail on April 24th, with an open beta expected that same month. Midway said that the PC MMO will launch with an exclusive subscription deal for those that pre-order, offering a $5 discount monthly price at $9.99, or a one-time lifetime subscription to the game for $199.