Way out: Midway games stretch boundaries, imagination

Kirk Baird

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002 | 8:32 a.m.

Times have changed.

Perhaps nowhere is that more true than for video games.

Check out any arcade, PC or home video game today and you'll see near-perfect electronic replicas of NASCAR cars and all-star athletes, or of exotic worlds and powerful battle cruisers straight from a sci-fi blockbuster.

Gone the way of the black-and-white TV are the days of white rectangles bouncing a small square across the screen, a la "Pong," or singularly colored alien invaders descending to Earth in horizontal rows, a la "Space Invaders."

Such was state-of-the-art technology when video-game maker Bally-Midway joined the arcade craze with "Gunfight" in 1975. The game featured two barely recognizable stick men squaring off with pistols, who exclaimed "GOT ME!" when shot.

Helene Sheeler smiles when reminded of the good ol' days of Midway. (The Bally portion, which is headquartered in Las Vegas, eventually split from Midway and concentrates on slot machines.)

Sheeler is vice president of marketing for Midway and old enough to remember the "classic" days of the company: A list of hit arcade smashes from "Galaxian," which was "Space Invaders"-with-a-twist, to "Pac-Man," the most successful video game of all time, with 60,000 coin-operated games created and sold.

"If you've sold 10,000 coin-ops, you're doing great," Sheeler said.

Still, "Pac-Man" was a featured arcade attraction 22 years ago: a generation in human terms, but significantly more in the electronic-game medium, when every two to three years introduces technology far more advanced than anything before it.

These days it is possible to fit 2,000-plus "Pac-Mans" in the form of ROMS (the actual game program) on a single CD-ROM.

"When technology caught up and the exposure for the home consoles were more in-depth, the lights shut down for the arcade industry," Sheeler said.

Midway, intuitively sensing the demise of its chief money-earner, the coin-operated arcade game, began to focus on its home-system cousins four years ago.

Last year the company announced it was out of the coin-operated industry.

It could not have chosen a better time.

The video-game industry is approaching $32 billion in sales, with 70 percent of that total going to the big three -- Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2) and Nintendo's GameCube -- home-console systems.

However, Sheeler insists Midway is not completely out of the coin-op industry, even though Midway was in town Friday at the Aladdin to show off its latest home-console games to members of the media.

She said many of the company's top arcade-game designers were moved to its home-console division. And that Midway is also foraging through its classic-game library to see what old gems it has lying around that could be polished with a new technological twist.

"Defender," for example.

New classics

Released in 1980 by game-maker Williams, who years later sold its arcade titles to Midway, "Defender" became one of the biggest coin-op hits of all time.

The plot was simple: Aliens kidnapped and mutated human colonists. Your job as the Defender was to pilot an advance space craft, obliterate the extra-terrestrials and save the humans.

The shoot-'em-up was the first arcade side-scrolling game, and the first to offer more than the joystick and fire/action button combo. Instead, "Defender" featured an up-down joystick, and separate buttons for firing, thrusting, reversing, hyperspace and smartbomb.

In the 2002 version the fire, thrust, smartbomb, hyperspace and reverse are all there -- along with shields, various missile launchers and evasive maneuvering.

While the save-the-humans plot remains intact, you are no longer limited to side action. You float, careen and blast your way through several 3-D worlds.

"I was around for 'Defender' when it was in the arcades and I loved it," said George Collin, lead designer on the new version of "Defender" at 7 Studios, which created the game for Midway.

"I also saw (updating the game) as a good opportunity to bring the game to a mass audience."

Versions for all the big-three home systems are being readied for a November release, along with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

Another arcade classic getting a technological overhaul is "Mortal Kombat."

Released in 1992 by Midway, the coin-op became the premiere one-on-one fighting game. Since then the game has gone through several arcade and console incarnations, as well as two films.

For the newest version, "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance," Sheeler said the game has returned to its blood-and-guts roots.

" 'Mortal Kombat' is brutal," she said. "It's a beautiful-looking game with a brand-new fighting system ... and fatalities."

She's also quick to add it is an M-rated game, meaning for mature audiences only, as players hack, slash, kick, crush and impale opponents.

Basebrawl

"Mortal Kombat" isn't the only fighting game Midway has in the works.

"SlugFest 20-03" is a Major League Baseball-licensed game where the only striking that the players do is against each other.

Modeled after its successful "NFL Blitz" series, "SlugFest" is baseball on steroids, or "adrenaline-style," as Midway put it.

Players can charge the mound in retaliation after being deliberately struck by a pitch, or attempt to beat up an infielder after stealing a base (in hopes of forcing him to drop the ball). You can even drop-kick the baseman or catcher when sliding into base.

For baseball purists who think drop-kicking doesn't belong in America's pastime, think again.

"Major League Baseball came to us and wanted an extreme game," Tim Mulligan, product manager for "SlugFest," said. "They wanted to reach a younger audience and they know that way is through video games."

Sheeler likened "SlugFest" to a sports highlight show: It is full of quick action and unbelievable performances by the game's top players, all of whom are fairly accurately reproduced for their electronic counterparts.

She also defended its more violent aspects.

"The sports fans we have dealt with think it's fun to have an exaggerated version of the game," Sheeler said. "It's tongue-in-cheek."

"SlugFest 20-03" is already a best-selling game for PS2, and will debut soon for GameCube and Xbox.

Other upcoming Midway games include "Freaky Flyers," "Fireblade," "Dr. Muto," "Justice League: Injustice for All" and new versions of "NFL Blitz" and "NHL Hitz."

Tentpole release

Perhaps the game Midway is most excited about is "Haven: Call of the King."

The story involves Haven, a young hero determined to free his people from slavery and death at the hands of Lord Vetch.

Three years in development -- a year more than normal -- "Haven" is one of the first action/role-playing games Midway has released. It also blends hand-to-hand combat, as well as air, land and water racing.

"Technology-wise, it is one of the most important games that has ever happened," Sheeler said. "Never before has a game seamlessly transitioned from gameplay mechanics."

Meaning, when "Haven" shifts from a 3-D interactive world to a first-person shoot-'em-up, there is no lag time while the new game settings load.

The game was created and developed by a small British game company, Traveller's Tales. When Midway learned of the project earlier this year, it approached Traveller's Tales about buying the rights to the game.

"We got into a huge bidding war to get the title," Sheeler said. "We won them over by showing them how we would market it and support it."

"Haven" is scheduled to ship for PS2 this fall, and Xbox and GameCube early next year... and fatalities.

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