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View Full Version : America's Army Console Bound and a Viacom possibly buying Midway?



OuFtb
04-14-2004, 01:11 PM
America's Army

Completing its trio of recent big announcements, Ubisoft sent out word today that America's Army, the first-person shooter and soldiering simulation which has made a splash among PC gamers, will receive a proper worldwide console release. Ubisoft will bring America's Army to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in summer of 2005.

America's Army, which has been distributed as a free PC download since 2002, was developed under direction of the U.S. Army to provide a realistic simulation of the training, tactics, and challenges of a soldier.

"America's Army is an excellent vehicle through which young adults can discover how Soldiers are developed and employed in the defense of freedom," said Colonel Casey Wardynski, originator and Director of the America's Army game project. "Ubisoft has extensive experience in producing best-selling military games and we're looking forward to getting their developers in the field with our Soldiers."

Given Ubisoft's illustrious history with military-realism titles, the company is a natural choice for developing and publishing the console version of America's Army. We don't have any specifics on how the console version will differ at this point, nor any screens, but we should see more details emerge as we get closer to the game's release.

Viacom/Midway

Earlier today we reported that Midway Games is offering 11,350,000 shares of common stock in order to raise a good amount of cash.

Now, in an interesting development, Reuters reports that Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone may be looking to increase his stake in the company, or purchase it outright. Redstone currently owns 48.35 percent of Midway individually and through his holding company National Amusements. The Reuters article mentions that in the holdings statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Sumner indicates he may seek a seat on Midway's board.

Though Midway has not posted a profit in four years, analysts expect the company to be profitable by the June quarter of this year.

Given Sumner's position at Viacom, would his potential purchase of Midway bring the games publisher under the influence of the entertainment giant? As this looks like a personal purchase, not an action by Viacom, it's not likely an official relationship between the companies would result. But either way, these are interesting times indeed for Midway, and may ultimately prove to be the shot in the arm the company needs to thrive.

America's Army- http://xbox.ign.com/articles/506/506450p1.html
Viacom/Midway- http://xbox.ign.com/articles/506/506336p1.html

Variation-XBA
04-14-2004, 01:25 PM
Sweet, America's Army ROCKED! Hope they take the stupid training out of it :)

Tweaked
04-14-2004, 02:30 PM
I play America's Army everyday on my PC...Can't wait for it to come to console..Will it be free though??

LTM360
04-14-2004, 02:39 PM
I hope it will be free as well. Though I highly doubt it.

Cryogenic Pyro
04-14-2004, 05:29 PM
If America's Army for the Xbox is not free or cheap(under $10 CAD) I won't buy it. I'll just stick with the PC version.

DAMN THE MARKSMANSHIP TEST! :cuss::cuss:
I aim perfectly with it, I make sure I'm right in the middle of the damn targets and I miss! JLFJSDIOFJ! RAWR!

Variation-XBA
04-14-2004, 07:55 PM
It won't be free, marketing, shipping, etc etc cost them $ so...Hope it is cheap though, but we'll see

Batcave76
04-14-2004, 08:07 PM
It'll be 50 bucks at first make no doubt.

Viper87227
04-14-2004, 08:31 PM
I think this is a mistake, Ubi is shooting themselves in the foot here...

1.) There is no way they can give this away. They could for PC because it was downloaded, they didn't have to market it.
2.) Online play, patches, ect. will be easir to use on the PC version
3.) PC will probably have nicer graphics
4.) People won't pay for what they can have for free (even if its only like $20)
5.) Better controls and more customization on PC
6.) There only market is people who like shooters and do not have a decent PC to run the game, and since even then it will have to be like $20 to compete with the free PC counterpart, I just don't see where there is a posability to make money here.

While this will help Ubi by further showing there exelence in the military game department, this is going to loose them alot of money, no doubt about that!