Rumors of an EA revival of NFL Blitz surfaced in 2010. Now EA has confirmed them and has even gone hands on with its new iteration. Madden NFL is a fun football sim experience but sometimes you just want to do a leg drop on Tony Romo. Blitz is pure arcade, with 30-yard first downs and wrestling moves applied after tackles. Midway Games published the original arcade classic and EA bought the rights after during Midway’s bankruptcy proceedings. EA Tiburon, the studio that produces Madden annually, will develop the new Blitz.

Get the hook, fighting game aficionados. Kabal, the hook-wielding man from the wasteland with the Darth Vader-like breathing issues is returning to the Mortal Kombat franchise. MK creator Ed Boon revealed him for the first time on the March 18 episode of Game Trailers TV.He first appeared in Mortal Kombat 3 and he’s still got that killing edge. Boon said the MK team wanted to keep Kabal’s basic flavor and playstyle while adding some new tricks.

A piece of gaming history is now officially gone as a US Bankruptcy Judge approved Midway Games’ liquidation plan May 21, 2010.

As is generally the case when companies go bankrupt, Midway’s creditors will have to settle for pennies on the dollar. Midway’s unsecured noteholders will get less than 16.5 percent of the debt owed them and unsecured credit holders will get about 25 percent.

A bevy of old school Midway arcade games have been pulled from Xbox Live Arcade due to publishing rights and ownership issues.

Cyberball 2072, Defender, Paperboy, Rootbeer Tapper, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Robotron, Joust, Gauntlet and Smash TV are all gone from the arcade’s title list. As with any title pulled from the marketplace, you will still be able play them or re-download them if you already purchased them.

ESPN’s Jon Robinson has set the gaming world ablaze, saying sources have confirmed to him that EA now has the rights to the NBA Jam series and is working on a new game.

When Midway filed bankruptcy, one of the potentially lucrative licenses it had was the right to make games based on TNA Wrestling. When Warner Bros. bought the company it picked up the rights to several Midway games but PWInsider said the TNA game wasn’t one of them.

PWInsider’s TNA sources said the rights may bounce back to TNA since Warner Bros. wasn’t interested in purchasing them. TNA officials won’t comment on what, if anything, is happening with the game. TNA Impact sold one million units with reviews being just so-so.

Cash-strapped Midway Games couldn’t fight the financial realities any longer, announcing on Thursday (Feb. 12, 2009) it is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move became a foregone conclusion when Sumner Redstone, who had kept the company afloat with his fortune, ran into financial trouble and had to sell his controlling interest for $100,000 to investor Mark Thomas.

That move triggered clauses in Midway’s debt agreements that allowed its noteholders to demand payment now. Midway doesn’t have the money, making it necessary to file for bankruptcy. The company has $240 million but a market valuation of only $14.8 million. I’m no financial wizard, but none of that is good.

A group of Midway bondholders filed an objection to the bankruptcy proceedings on Friday (February13, 2009)…

Fans of driving games, Vin Diesel movie buffs and Midway’s creditors are all eagerly anticipating the release of Wheelman, an open world driving game initially slated for a February 2009 release. Diesel lends his voice and likeness to the game’s main character, charged with a number of driving missions that don’t all appear legal.

Kotaku reports that Midway has pushed the game’s release date back to March 20, 2009. A demo of the game is coming to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, though no definitive date has been announced for that demo.

Provided Midway is able to stay financially solvent long enough to release this game, it actually looks promising…

As we reported last month (December 2008), Midway Games is in dire financial straits. Creditors could have demanded payment this month (January 2009) but have instead opted to extend the payment deadline to February 19, 2009.

Finances became even more of an issue for Midway when then majority shareholder Sumner Redstone unloaded his controlling interest for only $100,000 to investor Mark Thomas. The change in control triggered clauses in Midway’s debt agreements allowing noteholders to come a-callin’ right now.

Wedbush-Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told GamePolitics the move is…

Midway Games is offering a remedy for anyone who has a hankering to play classic titles. Instead of going through the hassle of trying to track down games, most can now be found on Midway’s two new digital distribution stores. These stores will house titles that were released in the Arcade as well as PC games and even Midways collection of touchscreen projects.

Midway Arcade is the site to go to in order to get your retro fix..