E3: Midway brings Blitz to the Wii -- in October?

by Ross Miller { May 3rd 2006 at 1:55PM }

Look out, Madden NFL 2007. Midway today revealed its E3 offerings for the year, including launch dates for the titles. The biggest jaw-dropper, however, is that the company is bringing its ultra-obscene Blitz: The League, to the Xbox 360, PSP, and the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo is really attacking its kiddie-centric image by courting developers into bringing mature games such as this and Red Steel to its console. What remains to be seen is if Blitz (as well as Ant Bully and Happy Feet, also coming out for Wii) will use the controller in any unique way, or if all these titles will be mere ports with graphical downgrades.

Midway lists Blitz as coming out in October -- will the Wii version be delayed or is this a sign that the Wii will launch before Halloween? Other titles coming out for the Wii list release dates separately when applicable (Ant Bully in November for the Wii; July for every other console), but we are hesitant to say this wasn't just a typo on Midway's part.

The PlayStation 3 is also getting 2 Midway titles shown this year: the sure-to-be-gorgeous Unreal Tournament 2007 and John Woo's Stranglehold, which is also set for release this Winter on the Xbox 360 (both titles will also be available on the PC).

Here is the full list:

John Woo Presents Stranglehold (PS3, 360, PC; Winter 2006)
Unreal Tournament 2007 (PC, PS3)
Blitz: The League (360, Wii, PSP; October 2006)
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (PS2, Xbox; October 2006)
Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run (PS2, Xbox; September 2006)
Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (PC)
Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War (PC; June 2006)
Happy Feet (PS2, GCN, Wii, GBA, Nintendo DS, PC: November 2006)
The Ant Bully (PS2, GCN, GBA, PC; July 2006 -- Wii November 2006)
Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (PS2, GCN, GBA; November 2006)
MLB SlugFest 2006 (PS2, Xbox; May 2006)
RUSH (PSP; September 2006)
Mortal Kombat: Unchained (PSP; September 2006)
NBA Ballers: Rebound (PSP; May 2006)

[Via 1up; Thanks, Ryan]

See Also:
Who's really going to support the Wii?

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

bubka @ May 3rd 2006 2:29PM

will Ron Mexico's wee have herpies on Wii?

Zero @ May 3rd 2006 2:33PM

Joystiq really seems to like making a point of mentioning 'graphical downgrades' for Wii games, and printing unnecessary speculation on Wii owners getting 'gypped' because of the system's 'shortcomings'.

EA's John Schappert sure thinks that Madden Wii looks great, and mentioned that he had some guys from Tiburon over and they thought the game looked stunning. Wait, what? Tiburon made Madden for the almighty 360, so the Wii's graphics should have made them nauseous to the point of throwing up, right? Oh, I guess not.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/703/703727p1.html (Talk of graphics occurs on the third page.)

Apparently the graphics on Wii just aren't going to that horrible, believe it or not.

Prof-KOS @ May 3rd 2006 2:38PM

Hell, I've been thinking for a while that Nintendo's going to have a staggered launch starting in Japan in late June/early July. The market needs less hyp there. Then an late August launch in North America, followed by November in Europe. That way they can avoid fighting for hype and shelf space with Sony.

striderhayasa @ May 3rd 2006 3:16PM

I agree Zero. I popped in RE 1 (remake) RE4, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Zelda WW, Burnout 2, F-zero and a boat load of other games in my Cube just to refresh my memory on the graphic quality issue. The games all looks great even now. I don't understand why Joystiq keeps posting these sideways comments about downgraded graphics for the Wii. I understand the difference in spec but it goes back to the common understanding...you need all of that horsepower in the 360 and the PS3 for HD.

Or did we all forget that GC was pushing stupid amounts of Ties in Rogue, or the silly amount of Pikmin that were on screen at the same time in Pikmin....what about the crazy battles in Battalion Wars? Oh did I forget about the cracked out villagers in RE4.

Nintendo has made a console that (in theory) can surpass Metroid Prime and RE4 quality with ease. Look at those games and tell me twice the quality of that is bad.

Rootbeer @ May 3rd 2006 3:21PM

As long was Blitz on the N-Wii looks better than Blitz! for the Vectrex (in which one team was represented by X's, and the other team by squares), I will be satisfied.

Sabre @ May 3rd 2006 3:23PM

It's called "some so-called 'editors' for Joystiq being biased."

Oh and I asked a buddy of mine at Midway Chicago (he's a designer on the Stranglehold) about the Blitz team. He said they are in that office but he has no idea if that October 2006 dates is true or not.

It could be either:

(a) A typo and was meant to say November 2006

or

(b) Midway just dropped a bomb before Nintendo's Press Conference.

Paul @ May 3rd 2006 3:24PM

Tell you what I will do. I'll look at a video and tell you twice the quality of that is still not up there with 360 and PS3 graphics, and that if companies want to do a raw port, they'll have to downgrade.

bryan @ May 3rd 2006 3:30PM

This has everything to do with hardware specs. Which, as most of the Nintendo loving joystiq readers know...means nothing. Since most of the general population does not own a HDTV, then the extra money spent of developing "graphics" for HD sets is wasted. I would venture to say that Wii (or is it "The Wii"), will look very good sitting next to a 360 on a 480i display. There is a reason PC gamers do not play with a resolution that low....it all looks the same, regardless of the hardware.

Back on topic. Who wants ports on Wii anyway??? I want a new experience.

rluvah @ May 3rd 2006 3:34PM

We havn't even seen what the Wii can do yet in terms of graphics. Nintendo has always delivered with there graphics so we will have to wait and see.

bob @ May 3rd 2006 4:12PM

Yeah I thought it could be a mistake because all the others say the other consoles then the wii in November 2006 so maybe they just forgot, I sure hope its in November just because I got my birthday in October and I want to know how much cash I have in my wallet.

jz @ May 3rd 2006 4:28PM

In my perspective i will say that wii is going to match the 360's graphics not sure about the ps3 though.

Sabre @ May 3rd 2006 4:57PM

"I got my birthday in October and I want to know how much cash I have in my wallet."

Same here. Even though money won't be really a problem for me, having money from gifts doesn't hurt either.

striderhayasa @ May 3rd 2006 5:18PM

@ Paul, the point is, will it look bad? When it's all said and done I see the best example is looking at Metroid Prime Hunters on DS and then looking at Coded Arms on PSP. Sure Coded Arms looks good, but I can still look at Metroid Prime Hunters with pride and be satisfied that I have a much better chance of getting that needed headshot on DS than ANY gamer ever will on PSP. Superior controls and gameply rule even with inferior tech.

striderhayasa @ May 3rd 2006 5:21PM

dang it, messed up my message by sending it too fast...I think Wii will still look good. It won't have all of the bells and whistles of the other consoles but so what. No one complained when they saw MGS3 on PS2 or FFXII. Look at Tourist Trophy for crying out loud. That's on PS2 and I don't see anyone bitching about graphic quality with that.

Paul @ May 3rd 2006 5:24PM

Yeah, but no one said it would look bad. They just said the graphics wouldn't be up to 360 and PS3 level, which they won't. If someone ports a game, they have to dumb down the graphics, simple as that. Doesn't mean the graphics look bad, so it annoys me when I see people getting offended because someone is just stating a fact.

And of course most games won't be just raw ports, but something like Blitz: The League from a company like Midway sure as hell could be.