Recent News

The Playboy Bunny hops its way over to Midway Games

Posted at 05/07/2003 10:46 PM EDT by

In a rather surprising move, Midway Games announced in a press release today that Neil Nicastro has stepped down as the president of Midway Games after seven years. Taking his place is no other than now former president and chief operating officer, David Zucker, of the adult entertainment magazine- Playboy! From the press release:
Zucker joins Midway from Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:PLA), where he was president and chief operating officer, overseeing all day-to-day operations. Prior to joining Playboy in May, 2002, Zucker was a managing director at Walker Digital LLC and served as president and chief executive officer of DIVA Systems Corporation. He spent 11 years with The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), primarily at ESPN where he was executive vice president, overseeing the launches of ESPN2 and the X Games, and later, as managing director leading the build out of ESPN's international networks. Zucker graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and earned an MBA from Harvard University.

The above happens just a week after Midway Games posted its 1st Quarter results for 2003 which has been a consecutive loss for the company over the past three years. Coincidently, immediately after this news first surfaced, Midway Games stock jumped nearly 16% according to a report at ChicagoBusiness.com. Neil Nicastro will remain as chairman of Midway helping with the transitional period. Hopefully the financially struck company is making the right move. But kids, don't expect any Nude-"alities" to appear in Mortal Kombat any time soon.

MK5.ORG Live Coverage of E3 2003

Posted at 05/01/2003 12:17 AM EDT by

Knightmare

We are honored to announce that MK5.ORG will be returning to Los Angeles, California for our second LIVE coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo! Last year we provided the best coverage of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance on the internet, catching the attention of gamers from around the globe. This year the standard of excellence you've come to expect continues, as we cover the GameBoy Advance exclusive - Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition! Join us once again from May 14-16, as D'Arque Bishop, ]{0MBAT, and CCShadow report live from the E3 show floor bringing their first impressions of the game along with exclusive media and information you aren't likely to find anywhere else.

In addition to our coverage of MK: Tournament Edition, we will be expanding some of our news space this year to the rest of Midway Games' E3 Line-up. Also, even though Mortal Kombat 6 is not scheduled to make an appearance, if any information is to surface you will see it here. Like last time, any media will be updated in conjunction with our E3: Coverage section. Visit that page if you missed our coverage from last year. Don't miss any of the action as we kick off another great year at E3 2003 starting Wednesday, May 14th!

Midway Games First Quarter 2003 Results

Posted at 04/29/2003 08:39 PM EDT by

Knightmare

Earlier today, Midway Games issued a press release and conducted a conference call regarding financial results for the closure of the first quarter of 2003. Earlier, we reported that our sources claimed that Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance had shipped two million copies. This was confirmed, as well as MK: Deadly Alliance topping as their best selling game nationwide for this particular quarter. From the press release:
During the first quarter of 2003, Midway released one new domestic home videogame, MLB SlugFest 20-04, on four platforms including Sony's PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Microsoft's Xbox(TM) video game system, the Nintendo GameCube(TM) and Game Boy(R) Advance. Midway also launched Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in Europe on these four platforms, and this title was Midway's top-selling game during the quarter. Midway has shipped over two million units of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance worldwide across all platforms since the game's debut in November 2002.

Also according to the release, the GBA exclusive- Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition, has been set with a new release date of September 30th, 2003. It is interesting to note that Chairman , Neil Nicastro, made the following quote about the 2003 release schedule during the conference:

Our product release schedule for 2003 has been streamlined to include only those games that represent the best opportunity for success based on market research and the buying patterns of today's gamers. We're extremely excited about this product lineup and we look forward to presenting these games at this year's E3 event in Los Angeles.

Does this mean Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition will debut at E3 2003? We'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Online Capability Confirmed for Next Mortal Kombat!

Posted at 04/24/2003 04:13 PM EDT by

D'Arque Bishop

To follow up on the earlier news story from PSM Magazine, PS2 IGN has confirmed that Midway Games is going ahead and adding online play into the next console-based Mortal Kombat game. From the article:

After speaking with our own Midway contacts late yesterday afternoon, IGN confirmed that online play isn't merely an idea, but a fact; and that it will definitely be incorporated into the next version of Kombat when it debuts near the end of 2004. Unfortunately the only other confirmation we could receive was that MK6 would appear on multiple platforms, and that it will be a good long while before any more information (or official press release for that matter) becomes available.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Our thanks to forum member buijon for the heads up on this story!

GBA Exclusive Title Gets New Name!

Posted at 04/14/2003 06:06 PM EDT by

D'Arque Bishop

Our sources deep within Midway Games have informed us of a startling new revelation concerning the GBA-exclusive sequel to Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance! Since the last time we reported on Mortal Kombat: Deadly Revenge, the game has been given a new title to reflect its multiplayer and tournament and team-play features. The game's new title is Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition.

We will have more information on Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition in the weeks and months ahead.

Our thanks to our sources within Midway who were able to provide us with this scoop!