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…

Upcoming game Wheelman seems like a take off of the Driver franchise with a couple of original additions.

First is Diesel. Both his voice and his likeness will be used to bring the Burik to life, if he succeeds, that is. Backing up Vin Diesel to help Midway make the game look like a movie is Tigon Studios. The chases are inspired by some of Hollywood’s most famous action sequences. Hopefully some inspired by the occasionally overly intricate chases in the Bourne trilogy of films will exist. Due to the inspiration from Hollywood’s most famous chases, it will apparently deliver powerful…

Midway Games, like most other considerate E3 attendees, has announced a list of games which it will be displaying at the event. It looks like, this year, Midway is going a somewhat safe route when it comes to games, as it will be showing off new installments in its popular Mortal Kombat, Unreal Tournament and Touchmaster series at the event.

The selection this year seems to reflect Midway’s desire to reach two, very different audiences. Games like Unreal Tournament 3 (Xbox 360), Wheelman (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (PS3, Xbox 360) are being released for Midway’s faithful fans, while titles like Touchmaster 2 (DS) and Game Party 2 (Wii) are for casual players.

Without further ado, Midway Games’ official E3 games list taken directly from the press release…

Midway is plunging into a deep financial abyss, with its annual balance sheets being painted in red for the past eight years, last reporting an annual profit in 1999. The company is hoping to use a bit less red in 2008 by focusing more on big name and movie-based games. The man who owns 90% more »