Midway Announces "Midway Arcade Treasures 3"

[zmweasel]

MIDWAY ANNOUNCES MIDWAY ARCADE TREASURES™ 3; COMPILATION TO DELIVER CLASSIC RACING FAVORITES

Prepare to Test the Limits of Speed and Catch Some Serious Air while Racing to the Finish Line in Eight of Midway's Greatest Racing Games Ever

CHICAGO – February 16, 2005 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), ), a leading interactive entertainment industry publisher and developer, today announced the newest addition to the company's Midway Arcade Treasures franchise, Midway Arcade Treasures 3. The third installment in the successful Midway Arcade Treasures series, Midway Arcade Treasures 3 follows in the wake of million unit seller, Midway Arcade Treasures™ (2003) and the 2004 holiday hit, Midway Arcade Treasures™ 2. Scheduled to ship Fall 2005, Midway Arcade Treasures 3 is in currently in development for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, and the Nintendo GameCube with a suggested retail price of $19.99.

"The Midway Arcade Treasures brand continues to be one of Midway's strongest-selling and most popular franchises," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Midway Arcade Treasures 3 provides the same, classic feel as the previous two Midway Arcade Treasures installments while bringing back several of the most popular racing games in the industry's history to today's next generation consoles."

With the latest addition to Midway's classic gaming vault, consumers will be given the option to either hone their racing skills in single player mode in games such as S.T.U.N. Runner, or fulfill their head-to-head appetite and leave friends in the dust with titles such as Hydro Thunder and Super Off Road. Midway Arcade Treasures 3 will also feature player rankings via Xbox Live™ to allow gamers to post and track personal scores against the best in the world.

Midway Arcade Treasures 3 Includes:

Eight classic arcade racing games including:


Badlands™
Hydro Thunder®
Off Road Thunder: Mud, Sweat 'N Gears™
Race Drivin'®
San Francisco Rush The Rock: Alcatraz Edition™
San Francisco Rush 2049™
S.T.U.N. Runner™
Super Off Road™ & Bonus Tracks Pack


Nonstop Action - Hours of power, speed, jumps and thrills

Multiple Courses - Dozens of tracks to chose from throughout the various games

Xbox Live - Post high scores to decide the best of the best

Multiplayer Gameplay - One-to-four player modes (*different for various titles)

EDIT: Fixed a formatting boo-boo.

[Lady Jaye]

At least we can't say they're lacking in theme... although I feel very lukewarm about this (what's next? Midway Arcade Treasures 4: Bally and Williams pinball classics? Of course, I'd buy that, much more so than a racing compilation!).

[Nez]

Ah man I cant wait for San Fran Rush Alcatraz, I never thought I would see the day. :dance:

[kainemaxwell]

Nice racing collection this time around. Also good they readded STUN Runner since it was cut from MAT2.

[Lady Jaye]

So, in your opinion, is this an interesting racing game compilation? I'm wondering cuz I never played any of them, even though I love racing games (personally I'm a Daytona USA fan, so I don't pay much attention to other racing games, although I did play some Cruisin' Exotica).

Actually, Midway could've included the Cruisin' series... that would've been cool!!!

And I really think they should consider also the pinball anthology idea. Between Bally and Williams, there's definitely enough games to pick from!

[Cmosfm]

YES!

Arcade perfect console versions of the Rush games! Oh man, this is good enough to make me want to cry.

The rest of the games are...well....decent. But nothing compared to the Rush games. :) I just wish they included the first one.

[chrisbid]

nice package, though 10 games wouldve been a better number than 8 (cruisin USA couldve been added)

i guess well never see Journey on one of these :P

[fishsandwich]

I'm persoanlly excited about Hydro Thunder... let's see how it stacks up to the DC game.

Race Drivin' and Hard Drivin' and wretched, horrible, dreadful games that should be forgotten.

Cheers

:/

[Sniderman]

Meh. My opinion of Midway at this point:

http://tinypic.com/1r2hqf

[norkusa]

YES!

Arcade perfect console versions of the Rush games!

Well, that remains to be seen. Some of the games in the last MAT compilation were pretty buggy, especially Hard Drivin'.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.

[goatdan]

Midway Arcade Treasures 3 Includes:

Eight classic arcade racing games including:

Hydro Thunder®
Off Road Thunder: Mud, Sweat 'N Gears™
San Francisco Rush The Rock: Alcatraz Edition™
San Francisco Rush 2049™

Holy crap! FOUR new-school racing titles that all have been popular as standalone games on ONE disc? I don't know if this sounds great or horrible.

I wonder how they will handle Rush. I would love it to be a port of the original arcade game, but could Midway do that and leave the Atari symbols in it? Or would Infogrames flip?

Very interesting though. I'll be interested to see it!

[CreamSoda]

Sorry to go off topic for a quick minute, but could someone please answer this question about the Midway Arcade Contimplations in general...

What versions should I start getting? the PS2 or Xbox edition?

Thanks very much, and sorry for going off topic. XD

[Arcade Antics]

I wonder how they will handle Rush. I would love it to be a port of the original arcade game, but could Midway do that and leave the Atari symbols in it? Or would Infogrames flip?

I don't see why Infogrames would have any say, Midway holds the rights to all the Atari coin stuff. Infogrames home Atari stuff is another deal.

[Graham Mitchell]

I've really enjoyed the Midway Arcade Treasures series. Volume 2 I thought was a bit weak, due to the heavy focus on fighting games (not my fave). It would be better if the game provided you with move lists, but it's not in the manual or anything.

This one should be good, though! I was wondering when S.T.U.N. Runner was going to resurface!

Does anyone know how midway got the rights to Super Off Road? That was made by the Leland corporation. Am I to assume they bought up Leland? If so, maybe we'll see Ataxx in the future....

[goatdan]

I wonder how they will handle Rush. I would love it to be a port of the original arcade game, but could Midway do that and leave the Atari symbols in it? Or would Infogrames flip?

I don't see why Infogrames would have any say, Midway holds the rights to all the Atari coin stuff. Infogrames home Atari stuff is another deal.

Infogrames home stuff is another deal, but part of the deal was that Atari Games couldn't release home games. That is why every home version of Rush that has been released has been a Midway game and why the Atari symbols that were all over the arcade game were edited out (on the coins, on some cars, etc).

Hasbro, when they owned Atari, threatened to sue Midway to try to get them to stop using the Atari Games name for the arcades, even though it had nothing to do with the home division. That's when Atari Games became Midway West, and why I don't trust it would be the true original version.

But I sure hope so :D

[bargora]

While I'm not really a racing fan, I enjoyed your new sig immensely, Mr. Meston. It's a good one, and clearly makes its point. (I must finish reading the book, which is lying (not laying) around here somewhere.)

[portnoyd]

Meh. My opinion of Midway at this point:

http://tinypic.com/1r2hqf

Fine by me. Just wish they packed a little more onto this one though.

dave

[YoshiM]

Sweeeeet. S.T.U.N. Runner and Super Off Road make this a must-have. The rest is just icing.

<--is a race game whore.

[Half Japanese]

Question: were the stunt tracks in SF Rush 2049 exclusive to the N64 version? If so, the thrill of the compilation just died a little.

In other news, this gives Midway something else to give away when you preorder one of their new full-priced games (something they've been doing since the first MAT).

[Leo_A]

They should've included Hydra, the Cruis'n series, Calilfornia Speed, and Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat (I guess you'd need the Indy license from Tony George which isn't cheap, and Danny Sullivan's permission on that one).

Nice to see Race Drivin' on here, despite some people not caring for it for some strange reason.

[Lothars]

I hope there are more games than just these ones so far
but I guess we will see.

[allsport11]

Question: were the stunt tracks in SF Rush 2049 exclusive to the N64 version? If so, the thrill of the compilation just died a little.

In other news, this gives Midway something else to give away when you preorder one of their new full-priced games (something they've been doing since the first MAT).

I believe the Dreamcast version had the stunt tracks also. I am glad to see Rush: Alcatraz being done. I can finally put away my 16MB Banshee video card away. ;)

[Graham Mitchell]

They should've included Hydra, the Cruis'n series, Calilfornia Speed, and Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat (I guess you'd need the Indy license from Tony George which isn't cheap, and Danny Sullivan's permission on that one).

Nice to see Race Drivin' on here, despite some people not caring for it for some strange reason.

I think people are not excited about Race Drivin' because Hard Drivin' is on Vol. 2, and it's done pretty badly. The sound is atrocious, and the controls are way too complicated. I realize that there was a lot going on with the original machine, but they should have found a way to simplify that for the little conrollers.

[le geek]

Badlands™
Hydro Thunder®
Off Road Thunder: Mud, Sweat 'N Gears™
Race Drivin'®
San Francisco Rush The Rock: Alcatraz Edition™
San Francisco Rush 2049™
S.T.U.N. Runner™
Super Off Road™ & Bonus Tracks Pack


This is beyond awesome if they can get the emulation and or ports right!

San Francisco Rush is a great game, but the N64 port is a little dated.
Always wanted to track down 2049...
STUN Runner is one of my favorite arcade games.
Already have the excellent Saturn port of Race Drivin, but still a nice include.
Ditto DC Hydro Thunder...

Cheers,
Ben

[klausien]

It's been said already, but the lack of the Crusin' games is lame. I will still get his though. I have enjoyed the other two MAC's, warts and all.

[goatdan]

I believe the Dreamcast version had the stunt tracks also. I am glad to see Rush: Alcatraz being done. I can finally put away my 16MB Banshee video card way. ;)

Yes, but not the arcade version. If it is a port of the arcade version, there won't be Stunt or battle modes...

[Captain Wrong]

Woah.

If you don't like arcade racing, I can see why you'd hate this, but I am soooo looking forward to this one. Nice too seeing as how most of these aren't yet emulated well.

[Sotenga]

Racing? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... certainly not my most favored of genres, possibly because I suck so much at such games. Still, depending on what other games are on MAT3, I'll give it a chance.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Oh man, where's Ultimate MK3? Where's CarnEvil? Area 51? I wanted the gun shooters and the rest of the arcade classics :(

[Leo_A]

"I think people are not excited about Race Drivin' because Hard Drivin' is on Vol. 2, and it's done pretty badly. The sound is atrocious, and the controls are way too complicated. I realize that there was a lot going on with the original machine, but they should have found a way to simplify that for the little conrollers."

Other than falling through the track sometimes, and the music often disappearing, I'd have to disagree (Xbox version). And the controls aren't any more complicated than any other racer, especially if you use automatic shifting. I think it controls about as well as can be expected for a gamepad, though it really needs a nice wheel/pedals to fully enjoy it.

I suspect there's a reason why the Cruis'n games are missing, seems odd not to see at least one on a racing themed MAT title. I bet we'll see them eventually.

[goatdan]

I suspect there's a reason why the Cruis'n games are missing, seems odd not to see at least one on a racing themed MAT title. I bet we'll see them eventually.

I think it had to do with the exclusivity license that they may have had with Nintendo on the games. If you sit down on Cruis'n USA, the game proclaims that it is being run on "Ultra 64" hardware. All of the Cruis'n games were Nintendo releases.

[Kid Ice]

Looking forward to this one. IMO they dropped the ball in the second edition, but this one is very promising.

I wonder if the DC version of 2049 will be outclassed now.

[josekortez]

Yeah, 8 games is a little sparse.

I might pony up $10 for it in a few months though.

[Lady Jaye]

I suspect there's a reason why the Cruis'n games are missing, seems odd not to see at least one on a racing themed MAT title. I bet we'll see them eventually.

I think it had to do with the exclusivity license that they may have had with Nintendo on the games. If you sit down on Cruis'n USA, the game proclaims that it is being run on "Ultra 64" hardware. All of the Cruis'n games were Nintendo releases.

Hey, maybe they could make it GCN exclusive... ;)

[NEOFREAK9189]

I hope there are more games like
Hyperdrive
Invasion
NBA Maximum Hangtime
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
WWF Wrestlemania
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
Terminator 2
Hydra
Road Riot's Revenge
Guardians Of The 'Hood
T-Mek
Area 51
Maximum Force
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
San Francisco Rush - Extreme Racing
California Speed
MACE : The Dark Age
Vapor TRX
Road Burners
Area 51:Site 4
CART Fury
NBA Showtime : NBA on NBC
Carnevil

and

I think maybe they could make it nintendo game cube exclusive
Cruis'n USA
Cruis'n World
Cruis'n Exotica
Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct2

8-) @_@ :D

[ghostangelofcky]

I'd buy it just for a good arcade copy of Stun Runner

[Leo_A]

CART Fury?

Do they even still have the license for Champ Cars (CART doesn't exist anymore, its a new racing series). Plus the game is horrible anyways if you're a CART fan at all. :)

[Tron 2.0]

S.T.U.N. Runner™
EDIT: Fixed a formatting boo-boo.
This is the one reason why i'll snatch vol 3 up 8-)

[Overbite]

i'll get it for Hydro Thunder alone

[NintendoMan]

I think maybe they could make it nintendo game cube exclusive
Cruis'n USA
Cruis'n World
Cruis'n Exotica
Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct2


Oh, that's so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NintendoMan]

Woah.

If you don't like arcade racing, I can see why you'd hate this, but I am soooo looking forward to this one. Nice too seeing as how most of these aren't yet emulated well.

Yeah, I have slowly drifted away from simulation racing games in favor of arcade racing games. Just so much more fun, arcade racing that it!

One question I do have is about the Off-Road:M, S + G game. What type of graphics are they. Newer style or older? (I have never heard of that one, the newest one I know of is the N64 version)

[davidbrit2]

Off Road Thunder KLOV page (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=O&game_id=8911)

I've not played it, but it looks promising.

[Nature Boy]

I'm actually pissed at Midway. In a console era where compiliations have 60-80 games, they're giving us 2 20s and an 8 (so far). I've got MAT1 and MAT2 but I'm *not* buying MAT3 (or 4, or 5, or ...)

[DigitalSpace]

As a huge fan of racing games, this is sweet news to me. I'm definitely going to check this out. Hell, I might actually pay the full $20 this time around instead of waiting for it to go on sale for $10 like I did with MAT 1 and 2.

[Lady Jaye]

BTW, I did send an email to Midway, suggesting that they go for the bally/Williams pinball compilation approach next.

[NintendoMan]

Off Road Thunder KLOV page (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=O&game_id=8911)

I've not played it, but it looks promising.

Hey, actually now that I think about it I played that cabinet for a couple dollars worth. It's ok, I think I liked Off-Road Thunder better for the N64 though even though it doesn't have as good as graphics.

[Retsudo]

I think Im going to pass on this one. Im still mad about the bugs in MAT2. :hmm:

[NintendoMan]

BTW, I did send an email to Midway, suggesting that they go for the bally/Williams pinball compilation approach next.

Ohh, sorry but would have to pass on that one, unless it went to around $5 or so. Not a fan at all for pinball videogames.
(I do like them in real life though)

[Leo_A]

"Hey, actually now that I think about it I played that cabinet for a couple dollars worth. It's ok, I think I liked Off-Road Thunder better for the N64 though even though it doesn't have as good as graphics."

The N64 one is a port of the arcade game with poor graphics you know.

[petewhitley]

I'm actually pissed at Midway. In a console era where compiliations have 60-80 games, they're giving us 2 20s and an 8 (so far). I've got MAT1 and MAT2 but I'm *not* buying MAT3 (or 4, or 5, or ...)

Agreed. While there are a few must-haves on this compilation, a mere eight games is ridiculous, particularly when there are obvious racing-game omissions.

[goatdan]

BTW, I did send an email to Midway, suggesting that they go for the bally/Williams pinball compilation approach next.

They don't own the rights to those games. The Bally / Williams pinball division was sold off in 2002 including all of the rights to the games.

[Lady Jaye]

Damn! That sucks! Who owns those rights, anyway? (and actually, who owns the rights to the Gottlieb pinball games featured in Pinball Hall of Fame?)

[Graham Mitchell]

I'm actually pissed at Midway. In a console era where compiliations have 60-80 games, they're giving us 2 20s and an 8 (so far). I've got MAT1 and MAT2 but I'm *not* buying MAT3 (or 4, or 5, or ...)

I happen to think the size and quality of the games here is an issue. The San Francisco Rush games, and Hydro Thunder, were large enough to require their own discs when ported to the Playstation and Dreamcast consoles. Compared to the games on the Activision Anthology or Intellivision Lives compilations, the games on MAT3 are going to be mammoth in size, and infinitely more complicated. They may not be any more or less fun than those smaller games, admittedly, but you really are getting a lot of bang for your buck with this, I think.

[NintendoMan]

"Hey, actually now that I think about it I played that cabinet for a couple dollars worth. It's ok, I think I liked Off-Road Thunder better for the N64 though even though it doesn't have as good as graphics."

The N64 one is a port of the arcade game with poor graphics you know.

No, the Off-Road Challenge game that someone listed here: http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=O&game_id=8911
that they said was going to be on MAT 3,
is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than the Off-Road Challenge game that I own for the N64!
Isn't it a newer arcade cabinet, like at least made in the 2000's, and if I am correct the N64 version of ORC was made in '98.

[Flojomojo]

YES!

Arcade perfect console versions of the Rush games! Oh man, this is good enough to make me want to cry.

The rest of the games are...well....decent. But nothing compared to the Rush games. :) I just wish they included the first one.The first one's tracks are included in Rush the Rock, aren't they?

All you sad sacks complaining about "only" 8 games ... please remember that these are very current games, which still cost over $1 per play at ripoff arcades like Dave and Buster's. I never thought I would be able to buy arcade perfect versions of S.T.U.N. Runner, SF Rush, and Hydro Thunder for a modern system @ $2.50 each!

(yeah, I know about the N64, Dreamcast, and Lynx versions ...)

[boatofcar]

S.T.U.N. Runner is the only reason I'm getting this. Best polygonal racing game ever.

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/S/wS.T.U.N._Runner.png > http://www.sls.wau.nl/jvdhoven/segavr/Screenshots/wLanham/P4020013_small.jpg

[petewhitley]

YES!

Arcade perfect console versions of the Rush games! Oh man, this is good enough to make me want to cry.

The rest of the games are...well....decent. But nothing compared to the Rush games. :) I just wish they included the first one.

The first one's tracks are included in Rush the Rock, aren't they?

Yes. Rush the Rock was an update of San Francisco Rush that included four new tracks among other things. I only wish Midway would somehow remake Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA using the arcade engine.

[NintendoMan]

YES!

Arcade perfect console versions of the Rush games! Oh man, this is good enough to make me want to cry.

The rest of the games are...well....decent. But nothing compared to the Rush games. :) I just wish they included the first one.

The first one's tracks are included in Rush the Rock, aren't they?

Yes. Rush the Rock was an update of San Francisco Rush that included four new tracks among other things. I only wish Midway would somehow remake Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA using the arcade engine.

Yes, Rush 2 had the best stunt track!!! Me and my friend could play that for hours on end! (To bad these versions are the arcade modes, so stunt courses probably won't be included in MAT3)

[Flojomojo]

Maybe they could be unlocked as easter eggs?

[Nature Boy]

I happen to think the size and quality of the games here is an issue.

The issue for me isn't that they can only fit 8 of these games on the disc. It's that they *could* fit these 8 games plus the 40 previous ones onto one disc. Or at the very least the previous 40 games onto one disc with a few of these 8 games. I abhor sequels to this kind of game.

[Charlesaway]

Personally, I was excited when I seen the topic, but I'm very dissapointed that it doesen't include the 3 Cruisin' titles, which are probably my wife's favorite arcade games ever (other than Pole Position). I'm pretty sweet on them do, so like I said, I'm a little dissapointed.

But I'm a sucker for these compilations, so I'll pick it up anyhow. :)

[NintendoMan]

Personally, I was excited when I seen the topic, but I'm very dissapointed that it doesen't include the 3 Cruisin' titles, which are probably my wife's favorite arcade games ever (other than Pole Position). I'm pretty sweet on them do, so like I said, I'm a little dissapointed.

But I'm a sucker for these compilations, so I'll pick it up anyhow. :)

This is very true for me too! I am dissapointed to see no Cruisin' titles in there. Them, next to RUSH games, are my fav. arcade racing titles.

[Leo_A]

"The issue for me isn't that they can only fit 8 of these games on the disc. It's that they *could* fit these 8 games plus the 40 previous ones onto one disc. Or at the very least the previous 40 games onto one disc with a few of these 8 games. I abhor sequels to this kind of game."

Because those games were on Midway Arcade Treasures 1 and 2, go buy those if you want them is what I suggest. What's wrong with them releasing collections of their arcade games?

Wait for Midway Arcade Treasures for the next generation consoles and maybe they'll bundle all this stuff together and include another 10-20 titles.