Romero confirms Midway deal

Midway San Diego today confirmed that two of the industry's most widely known designers, John Romero and Tom Hall, have signed on to lend their experience to the company's lineup of upcoming games (one of which, one Midway insider says, is an already-in-the-works new version of Gauntlet).

The news was later confirmed by Romero himself on a post on his personal Web Site, Rome.ro. "It's all true: Tom [Hall] and I are en-route right now to Midway," said the post. Romero went on to explain the move; "The main reason we came to Midway [is] to help make them HARDCORE developers and make some awesome games."

Romero has the title project lead, while Hall will carry the title of creative director. Both designers will also assume roles with broader responsibilities at the San Diego studio. A Midway spokesperson said on Tuesday, "Their official roles are still being established and neither are tied to a specific project or group of projects at this point in time."

The pair will start work Wednesday.

The Romero-Hall deal is just the latest chapter in new CEO David Zucker's internal reworking of Midway. The firm has been beset by lackluster sales and a class-action lawsuit brought by disgruntled stockholders alleging that the company artificially inflated its stock price during the months preceding Zucker's hire.

By tapping Romero and Hall, Zucker is likely hoping that the two can introduce some of the creative energy that marked their good times at Ion Storm and id Software to the Midway Games product line.

Romero also talked about the future of Monkeystone Games, the independent studio run by Romero and Hall, in his post. "We have some great projects coming up that will keep the Monkeystone name out there for a while yet," said Romero, possibly referring to the company's recent work on developing games for mobile platforms.