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Midway studios not acquired by WB to shut down within 60 days
It appears as though recent reports were incorrect, as Midway confirmed to Joystiq this morning that the studios not picked up by Warner Bros. in the acquisition bid have 60 days until they're out of work. From Midway Newcastle (Wheelman, Necessary Force) to Midway San Diego (TNA) and various "old sports titles" (Blitz, NBA Ballers) in between, anyone looking to pick up the remaining studios has roughly two months to do so."We had a court hearing yesterday and the end result of that is the sale was approved and the closing will occur within the next 10 days," a Midway representative told us, continuing, "Since we didn't get any bids for the San Diego assets, we actually gave the employees a required 60-day warning." According to the US Department of Labor, employees of 100 or more person companies must be warned 60 days prior to being let go due to "plant closure" (or studio closure, in this case). Midway remains positive on the San Diego studio, saying, "For now those employees are continuing to work and it's still entirely possible that a bidder could come in and acquire the San Diego assets." When asked what would happen to the TNA license if the studio did go under, Midway was unsure. Maybe THQ and its fancy new business plan can help a brotha out?
Two 'hardcore' b-ball franchises on the outs
Electronic Arts and Midway have shelved their competing arcade-style basketball franchises, as ESPN reports that both NBA Street and NBA Ballers have been benched. Regarding NBA Street, EA Sports boss Peter Moore explains to ESPN that the division is reevaluating its mixture of licensed and original IP, adding that "we need to develop some new things." But don't go expecting anything particularly edgy to come out of this moment of clarity. "If Wii Sports has taught us anything," adds Moore, "it's that people will sit there and play big head tennis all day long. We need to be able to tap into that audience." As for Midway, the company likely counts Ballers among the underperforming projects Interim CEO Matt Booty recently vowed to keep at arm's length. According to ESPN, the financially strapped publisher is currently digging under cushions in the office couch in order to "buy its way out of the licensing deal" it has with the NBA.[Thanks, Sean]
Shipping this week: something edition
We're going to have to come clean and say we know virtually nothing about NBA Ballers: Chosen One. Since November of last year, we've had an announcement, some screens, and that's about it. It hasn't made a splash on Metacritic just yet with the only review thus far coming from GamePro (the magazine gives it 60% according to Metacritic). Still, previous entries in the series have done fairly well, so here's hoping Chosen One can keep up. Whether basketball is your thing or not, you should know that it's your only choice this week. Maybe something more interesting will show up next week.[Via Joystiq]%Gallery-19994%
NBA Ballers: Chosen One slams down first screens
Today Midway released the first screens of the upcoming street-ball title, NBA Ballers: Chosen One. Where is EA Sport's NBA Street you ask? Well, for the last few years the NBA has restricted Midway and EA to release their respective street ball franchises every other year. So, NBA Ballers hits in '08 and in 2009 EA will release another itteration of NBA Street. We don't want to go on an opinion tirade but this system is the way every sports league should promote their brand (*cough* Sup, NFL *cough*). Oh and by the way, NBA Ballers: Chosen One also looks pretty nice too.%Gallery-19994%
NBA Ballers: The Chosen One showdown video
What do basketball players, helicopters, men in suits, and parties have in common? We could make a potentially rude answer (a cookie to the one who guesses where our logic train was headed!), but we won't. The answer, as a matter of fact, is Midway's new title NBA Ballers: The Chosen One. We don't know what the game is truly about from the video, but we imagine it's something that will end up involving big names in the basketball industry. So long as the game doesn't remain as ugly as it currently appears, we'll keep you posted.
NBA Ballers: Chosen One gets Chuck D, Just Blaze
It's been some time since Midway's announcement of the Xbox 360 and PS3 arcade basketball sequel NBA Ballers: Chosen One, something we had since written off as a delusion brought on by eating way too much holiday turkey. Today, however, the studio snapped us back to reality, confirming the title's existence by revealing that the game will include Public Enemy frontman Carlton Ridenhour (Codename: Chuck D) and hip hop music producer Justin Smith (Codename: Just Blaze) in "prominent roles." As an aside, the Joystiq staff really needs to put that order in for our codenames as well.Chosen One, shipping this spring, will feature Chuck D as the game's announcer, while Just Blaze will produce the game's soundtrack, which interestingly will not include the typical mishmash of existing tracks. Instead, the game will include an instrumental track that will "interact with the gameplay, much like a cinematic score." While we doubt this means that we'll be takin' it to the hoop to melodies that push into a climactic epic crescendo, it's gratifying to see the game try to separate itself from the mire that was NBA Ballers: Phenom.
Midway looks to Hollywood tie-ins in 2008
2007 was not exactly a banner year for Midway, with the company still doing its best Atari impression with its pocketbook alongside lowered financial forecasts, f*cked up development, and a string of delays. Like a good little soldier, however, the publisher has kept its eyes on the horizon, though we're inclined to chalk up its newly revealed plans to achieve financial security by investing in Hollywood tie-ins to too much holiday eggnog. Something tells us this was not what Pachter had in mind when he said Midway could be just one franchise away from financial freedom. The company has already announced new NBA Ballers and Blitz games for the new year, and also plans to helm the video game prequel to the Vin Diesel flick Wheelman, though Midway CEO David Zucker describes the firm's 2008 strategy as one of "fewer, bigger, better" releases. Honestly, if we were Midway we'd take just one of those three and count ourselves lucky.
NBA Ballers: Chosen One coming Spring 2008
Today, Midway announced that NBA Ballers: Chosen One, the third in the NBA Ballers franchise, will be headed to the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime in the Spring of 2008. And again Midway is going back to the original Ballers formula with Chosen One by including over the top basketball gameplay, lifelike character models and promises to put you in the shoes of a living NBA legend. Playboy mansion and all! We've posted a new Chosen One teaser trailer embedded above for your convenience and it should give you a pretty good idea if you'll be taking the red pill or the blue pill come this Spring.
Midway targets spring 08 for next-gen NBA Ballers
Despite expectations to the contrary, the original NBA Ballers was actually a fairly decent arcade-style basketball game, provided you could get beyond all the ridiculous 'bling' and 'street cred' nonsense and just play ball. The sequel, on the other hand, plastered on an extra layer of stupid with a paper-thin story mode and more attitude than gameplay. So when Midway announced this morning plans to bring the series to the Xbox 360 and PS3 with NBA Ballers: Chosen One, we were understandably conflicted. However, the company's promise of a return to the series' one-on-one and two-on-two roots with no mention of story or street cred gives us reason enough to be less apathetic than we might be otherwise. According to the publisher, nestled among the game's new shinier graphics, which Midway boasts as offering "the most true-to-life athlete likenesses seen in a sports video game," will also be new competitive combo and super-move systems that we expect to check realism at the door. In addition, this third game in the series will also include more than 65 selectable NBA players, as they compete to become "The Chosen One," which we're pretty certain is street lingo for some kind of religious awakening. NBA Ballers: Chosen One is expected to shoot for the net from mid-court next spring.
