Warner Bros. registers URLs for Midway games presumed dead
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Publisher stakes claim to Gauntlet DS, This Is Vegas, and Criminal Web addresses, indicating previously abandoned projects may be revived.
Last year Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment purchased Midway for $49 million, instantly establishing itself in the fighting game genre with the Mortal Kombat series. Along with the fighting franchise, WBIE also picked up Midway's extensive back catalog of arcade and console games, as well as a few more recent titles that never saw the light of day.
That may change, as WBIE last week registered a handful of Web site domain names suggesting that the publisher is considering bringing out a trio of titles that had been canceled, assumed abandoned, or simply not acknowledged in some time. As spotted by Superannuation, WBIE staked its claim to career-criminal.com, gauntletds.com, gauntletthegame.com, and eclipse-vegas.com for the next two years. Of those sites, only eclipse-vegas.com is active, with nothing but a logo for This Is Vegas and the words "Coming soon…"
An open-world game, This Is Vegas for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC was originally intended as a holiday 2008 release. The game was supposed to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to the notorious Nevada gambling mecca, depicting its many vices through open-world gameplay.
However, Midway delayed the project, saying it needed to give developer Surreal Software (The Suffering: Ties that Bind) more time to make the title a must-have release. WBIE did not confirm any release plans for This Is Vegas after the Midway acquisition and in January laid off employees at Surreal and two other Seattle-based studios.
Criminal first surfaced in August of 2006, when a Midway job listing revealed that the open-world action game was in development at the publisher's Austin development studio. However, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 project was never officially announced before its 2008 cancellation, which was tied to a wave of layoffs.
Gauntlet DS is another game that surfaced in 2008 and has yet to see release. However, Gauntlet DS wasn't actually a Midway game. It was originally announced by Eidos (now part of Square Enix), but later surfaced on the Entertainment Software Rating Board database as being published by Majesco.
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
http://www.thisisvegasgame.com/main.html Accses the mainwebsite now MGSRY
bring back the rush series! i know the ones after san francisco sucked but come on rush:sf was awesome. i had some hours and hours of good times with my brothers and sisters on that game back in the day. battle mode was the best
as they will make good games i'l be happy
@ nintendoboy16 From what I could make of the NBA Jam IP, it would appear that Midway's game was made in 1993. But I can't seem to get much info on the acquisition of the IP by EA, and the copyright for that IP certainly hasn't lapsed yet for it to be grabbed by all. I am assuming EA bought it from Warner Bros. in its quest to monopolize sports-related video games via EA Sports. Well, I sure hope if this is true, EA would have had to pay through its nose for this IP.
A new Gauntlet game on XBLA/PSN would be amazing.
I would love to see Midway come back
@Gelugon_baat The thing is, EA owns a former Midway IP: NBA Jam.
Midways back! Wahoo GREAT!!!!
A new GREAT MK game would be such a relief
A new "The Suffering" game would be awesome, get some people on that right now! Please?
True, $49 million is rather inexpensive for a purchase of a company with some AAA IPs. But then, former Midway's owners may have had special dealings with Warner Bros. to make sure Midway's IPs fall into Warner Bros.' hands, rather than other predators like EA and Activision who are always looking for things to rip apart and scavenge.
well since warner bros bought midway i hope a new rush game is going to be coming out.san francisco rush,rush 2 and sf rush 2049 were some of the best racing games.
Gauntlet DS has been done for almost 3 years now, I wish someone would just release the damn thing already!!
I am still waiting for Primal Rage 2.
When I heard Warner saved Midway I was like good but I also feel like I don't care much about anything else until I know whats coming up and when the next Mortal Kombat will come out.... I hope Ed Boon does something special with the next MK, I hope they add a character editor in the game with the kind of options found in Soul Calibur IV, I also hope they introduce some new fighters plus a good collection of returning fighters.....
Aw thank you Warner Bros, that might mean that the future of Mortal Kombat is looking bright.
Warner Bros saves Midway!
$46,000,000 is cheap.
huh. so gauntlet DS is gonna come out after all... i was beginning to worry! I was so psyched for that game untill it got cancelled. now i can dream again XD
THIS....IS.....vegas?
This is Vegas sounds like a less serious version of Grand Theft Auto which should do well. Gauntlet is basically a fantasy version of Dynasty Warriors, or so I see it, and should be okay. Don't know anything about Criminal.
Oh This is Vegas you coy little strumpet, how long will you toy with my love for you? Seriously, it's the single most anticipated game for me for the last 4 years and the fact it was never confirmed dead or alive has always had me checking and rechecking websites and forums. Pleas let it be real
Here's hoping Gauntlet DS comes this time. :D I need another Gauntlet game to clean the bad taste of Seven Sorrows out of my mouth. :x
What's that? They're remaking Revolution X?!??! OH HECK YEA!! (this is how crappy rumors start)
ms needs some midway aracdes in its next arcade pack
I wish they'd consider releasing Gauntlet as an XBLA/PSN game, that might be cool.
about time.
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This Is Vegas
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- Publisher(s): Midway
- Developer(s): Surreal Software
- Genre: Action
- Release: TBA (US)
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