New Blitz, Touchmaster, and Game Party on the way

Publisher Midway held a gigantabulous press event at a convention center hotel outside Las Vegas this week, laying out a big chunk of its upcoming software lineup for the coming months and revealing a few games for the very first time.

We’ve got hands-on info on the big stuff: This is Vegas, TNA Impact Wrestling, Wheelman, and the 360 version of Unreal Tournament III. And if you haven’t yet seen our UK boys’ exclusive MKDC trailer, stop doing everything andclick here.

But there were also a few other games that were simply announced- no trailer, no hands on, not even a screenshot to be had. First among these (in our minds, anyway) is a new game in the Blitz football series for this fall. It’s called Blitz: The League II, and we’re told it will showcase new teams and new stories. And although it wasn’t directly mentioned, we’re assuming there will again be actual football somewhere amid all the drugs and injury and gritty off-the-field shenanigans the last game was known for. That would make sense, right?

Sequels to TouchMaster and Game Party are on the way as well. They’re coming for “Nintendo platforms”- we’re guessing DS for TouchMaster 2 and Wii for Game Party 2. If you don’t remember the originals, that’s understandable- they were targeted straight at the casual market and snuck out with little fanfare.

TouchMaster was a collection of those kinds of games you usually see sitting on the bar at a tavern (cards, trivia, a few puzzles or memory games, and so on). And Game Party mined the same vein, but with some more active pursuits like air hockey and darts added into the mix and with fewer games overall. Hardcore players should expect the sequels to be more of the same and plan to pass- we’ll tell you if they add an Unreal Tournament mode or something.

Apr 18, 2008

Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.