They've needed better liscence management for quite some time.
Adolescent videogame players grew up, but Midway never did. Everytime I think of MK vs DC, I think of them trying to hook us back in by the UBER AWESOME SUPER FATALITY DEATH MOVES or ORCHIDS FLASHING DEM TITTIES, which was amazing/controversial/risquee nearly 20 years ago.
Rockstar kinda beat them at their own game, by pushing conventional boundaries of violence/sex in this medium in a much more mature and engaging way. This left Midway's juvenille approach to 'shock value' completely obsolete.
They've become fossilized along with Acclaim, and Atari.
Unless something drastic happens to the franchise, MK is pretty much sitting beside frogger and pacman.
I would NOT want to be the investor who bought Midway. Trying to turn Midway around at this point would be no fun. I can't believe it's worth anywhere near the price, in terms of how much the franchise IPs are worth. I think Sumner Redstone is lucky to have sold it and it's gigantic mountain of debt.
Mortal Kombat jumped the shark at MK3. The game, like all their titles, lacks any depth. It's all flash and gimmicks, with no real meat.
From what I saw of MK vs DC I wasn't impressed, fighting looked clunky and just not up to the standard of recent fighters such as SCIV
Mortal Kombat 1 wasn't up to recent fighters at the time either. It just got away with lots of flash and gimmicks. It lacked the depth of play that all other fighters had. Different characters played differently, and had their own strategies, where MK had all the characters play the exact same with different special moves. The whole product was so clunky. In other fighting games you were an expert because you had all the timing and strategy down, could beat people using other strategies against you, and had mastered all the nuances of the specific game. In MK you were an expert because you could remember the 15 random button presses to make the other guy look like a baby after a very sloppy fight full of uneven gameplay.
By MK3 the gimmicks had wore off, and people came to realize how much better pretty much any other entry in the genre was.
I really wanted their TNA iMPACT to be good. It finally came out, with 90% of it's feature set MIA, and of the 1000 moves they promised, about 120 of them actually made it in the game. Play wise, it was Mortal Kombat in a ring, literally... (and I bet they think that's cool, except, unknown to them, Mortal Kombat in a ring is what us fans of the genre say to define a shitty game...) I wonder whose idea it was to make a game targeted towards a specific niche audience, and then proceed to fill it with stuff that will drive them away in hordes.
The rest of their line up just doesn't appeal to me anymore. They seem to target their games at the immature 13 year olds who can't afford to buy them anyways. You can play a good football game, or you can play their shitty one that has a mini game where you can stick needles in people's asses. Looks like another lost sale...
I really liked the original NBA Jam back in the day.
This might be an everybody wins situation- The seller gets a huge tax break for the loss they took on Midway's stock falling, and the new owner gets a time tested brand name complete with IP's for a bargain deal... now all they have to do is release one or two decent games, and Midway could be reborn...
1 or 2 decent games? Not gonna happen. Too many people that haven't adapted to the console development. Hell some people there still can't make shit for xbox level quality. I'm not trying to knock anyone because there is a ton of talent there but some people have been around way too long and just really have nothing to contribute in todays development pipeline and are just sucking up cash that could go to artists and developers that are able to create the content and game play needed.
The place needs to totally be restructured and maybe then good things will come.
Dude, this was actually one of my "looking forward to this" games. Right up there with Fallout 3 and Fable 2. My wife and I like playing fighting games together and usually have a good time with the WWE games and assumed, since TNA is a better brand, that this game would have the same advantage as it's "real life" counterpart over the competition. THANK GOD I only rented first and actually paid attention to the reviews because they are totally right on this one. Such a disappointment.
I was looking forward to MK too but haven't tried it. I assume it's shitty. Though the inner child in me was hoping to relive my happy times with MK1 and 2, the bigger, jaded part of me would probably hate the game.
this sint suprising seeing how their last few titles were bombs. Id like to see someone do an awesome job with the suffering license but thats probably too much to ask...:P when i saw TNA on the shelf, i was like "why was this made?....doesnt look like any real teams, and its rated M so they are limiting their audience......honestly, MK gets toned down to T for wider appeal and the fucking football game is M? well spank my ass and call me charlie, that sounds like a brilliant marketing strategy, alienate both core audiences of each title, its sheer brilliance
this sint suprising seeing how their last few titles were bombs. Id like to see someone do an awesome job with the suffering license but thats probably too much to ask...:P when i saw TNA on the shelf, i was like "why was this made?....doesnt look like any real teams, and its rated M so they are limiting their audience......honestly, MK gets toned down to T for wider appeal and the fucking football game is M? well spank my ass and call me charlie, that sounds like a brilliant marketing strategy, alienate both core audiences of each title, its sheer brilliance
Rent for a day, but don't tell anyone. Honestly some of their games simply has gone downhill.
As for the buyout, I guess it's one of those times when companies gets bought with pennies and then turned into something else more lucrative if things ever get turned around soon.
i was going to rag on midway but i guess there's some folks here who like the games, so what ev.
i guess i can say it was a part of my childhood. anyway the studio isn't closed down, right? they just got sold to another co? man, moral there must be at an all time low. 'we got sold for peanuts....'
really? i don't think anyone bought that game for its awesome game play?UT3 was just a prettier version of ut2004, i think most people bought it for UE3. that's what i did.
Although UT is better than most of there franchises it doesn't really have what it takes to stay alive with a growing market of shooters that outshine it like left 4 dead and gears 2.
i still stand by my statement make a new exciting IP and hopefully they can start making some money.
really? i don't think anyone bought that game for its awesome game play?UT3 was just a prettier version of ut2004, i think most people bought it for UE3. that's what i did.
I probably bought it out of habit more than anything else and probably played it for a total well under 4-5 hours. It is nice having access to the editor at home though.
Yeah UT3 is Epics. Midway had nothing to do with it but publish it. Figured you guys of all people would know that. UT3 didn't do so hot because there was absolutely no advertising for it because of Midways serious lack of enthusiasm for it.
UT3 really isn't that bad or as bad as many of you make it out to be.
Yeah UT3 is Epics. Midway had nothing to do with it but publish it. Figured you guys of all people would know that. UT3 didn't do so hot because there was absolutely no advertising for it because of Midways serious lack of enthusiasm for it.
UT3 really isn't that bad or as bad as many of you make it out to be.
its not crappy but its not great either, i wouldn't really rely on that franchise to bring a company on the brink of bankruptcy back on top.
Replies
Scott Petty
Environment Artist
BioWare Austin
Adolescent videogame players grew up, but Midway never did. Everytime I think of MK vs DC, I think of them trying to hook us back in by the UBER AWESOME SUPER FATALITY DEATH MOVES or ORCHIDS FLASHING DEM TITTIES, which was amazing/controversial/risquee nearly 20 years ago.
Rockstar kinda beat them at their own game, by pushing conventional boundaries of violence/sex in this medium in a much more mature and engaging way. This left Midway's juvenille approach to 'shock value' completely obsolete.
They've become fossilized along with Acclaim, and Atari.
Unless something drastic happens to the franchise, MK is pretty much sitting beside frogger and pacman.
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
that was killer instinct.
just sayin'.
From what I saw of MK vs DC I wasn't impressed, fighting looked clunky and just not up to the standard of recent fighters such as SCIV
Mortal Kombat 1 wasn't up to recent fighters at the time either. It just got away with lots of flash and gimmicks. It lacked the depth of play that all other fighters had. Different characters played differently, and had their own strategies, where MK had all the characters play the exact same with different special moves. The whole product was so clunky. In other fighting games you were an expert because you had all the timing and strategy down, could beat people using other strategies against you, and had mastered all the nuances of the specific game. In MK you were an expert because you could remember the 15 random button presses to make the other guy look like a baby after a very sloppy fight full of uneven gameplay.
By MK3 the gimmicks had wore off, and people came to realize how much better pretty much any other entry in the genre was.
I really wanted their TNA iMPACT to be good. It finally came out, with 90% of it's feature set MIA, and of the 1000 moves they promised, about 120 of them actually made it in the game. Play wise, it was Mortal Kombat in a ring, literally... (and I bet they think that's cool, except, unknown to them, Mortal Kombat in a ring is what us fans of the genre say to define a shitty game...) I wonder whose idea it was to make a game targeted towards a specific niche audience, and then proceed to fill it with stuff that will drive them away in hordes.
The rest of their line up just doesn't appeal to me anymore. They seem to target their games at the immature 13 year olds who can't afford to buy them anyways. You can play a good football game, or you can play their shitty one that has a mini game where you can stick needles in people's asses. Looks like another lost sale...
I really liked the original NBA Jam back in the day.
The place needs to totally be restructured and maybe then good things will come.
Dude, this was actually one of my "looking forward to this" games. Right up there with Fallout 3 and Fable 2. My wife and I like playing fighting games together and usually have a good time with the WWE games and assumed, since TNA is a better brand, that this game would have the same advantage as it's "real life" counterpart over the competition. THANK GOD I only rented first and actually paid attention to the reviews because they are totally right on this one. Such a disappointment.
I was looking forward to MK too but haven't tried it. I assume it's shitty. Though the inner child in me was hoping to relive my happy times with MK1 and 2, the bigger, jaded part of me would probably hate the game.
Sorry to derail.
END TRANSMISSION!
jk
I dont think midway has any brands that would be good enough to keep around, they should invest in some new IP's
Rephrase.
It's difficult to feel much sympathy for the management of this company after what they did to Ratbag Studios.
Rent for a day, but don't tell anyone. Honestly some of their games simply has gone downhill.
As for the buyout, I guess it's one of those times when companies gets bought with pennies and then turned into something else more lucrative if things ever get turned around soon.
i guess i can say it was a part of my childhood. anyway the studio isn't closed down, right? they just got sold to another co? man, moral there must be at an all time low. 'we got sold for peanuts....'
no brands worth saving huh? what about...
unreal tournament?
really? i don't think anyone bought that game for its awesome game play?UT3 was just a prettier version of ut2004, i think most people bought it for UE3. that's what i did.
Although UT is better than most of there franchises it doesn't really have what it takes to stay alive with a growing market of shooters that outshine it like left 4 dead and gears 2.
i still stand by my statement make a new exciting IP and hopefully they can start making some money.
edit:
also ut3 didnt sell so great either it only sold 33,995 it its first month
www.edge-online.com/news/crysis-ut3-sales-fall-flat
I probably bought it out of habit more than anything else and probably played it for a total well under 4-5 hours. It is nice having access to the editor at home though.
Correct me if I'm wrong. But didn't Midway just publish UT3? The UT IP is owned by Epic...all they have to do is find a new publisher...right?
UT3 really isn't that bad or as bad as many of you make it out to be.
its not crappy but its not great either, i wouldn't really rely on that franchise to bring a company on the brink of bankruptcy back on top.