<B>Midway</B> today issued a <A HREF="http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990330/il_midway__1.html" TARGET="_parent">press release</A> warning investors about their expected fiscal third quarter revenues. Even though <B>Midway</B> is expecting $.01 to $.03 per share this quarter compared to $.18 during the same period last year; they still see the coin-operated market as a good market for them. </UL><CENTER><TABLE BORDER="0"><TR><TD WIDTH="450"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF8000">While the Company believes that sales of its coin-operated video games have been affected by weak market conditions experienced in the coin-operated video game industry generally, the Company expects that coin-operated video game revenues for the second half of fiscal 1999 will exceed coin-operated video game revenues for the same period of fiscal 1998.</FONT></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER><UL>
Basically what this says is that even though the arcades are doing horrible, <B>Midway</B> is still finding a way to make it work for them. This is good news for anyone fearing that <B>Mortal Kombat 5</B> is going to be a direct-to-home title. Furthermore, later in the press release, we get to the defining statement on what the official title of the <B>Dreamcast</B> version of <B>Mortal Kombat</B>.</UL><CENTER><TABLE BORDER="0"><TR><TD WIDTH="450"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF8000">The Company believes that its home video game product line for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2000 will benefit from a greater number of hit coin operated titles and new direct-to-the-home only video games. In the first half of fiscal 2000, Midway expects to release into the home market, in addition to third party titles, the following six internally developed products: NFL®Blitz(tm) 2000, NBA® Showtime:NBA on NBC®, MK Special Forces(tm), Gauntlet® Legends, Ready to Rumble(tm) Boxing, and <B>Mortal Kombat®4-DC</B>. This compares with the two internally developed titles released in the first half of fiscal 1999: NFL Blitz and Rush 2:Extreme Racing USA.</FONT></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER><UL>
Finally, we're given an official statement to the public regarding the title of the <B>Dreamcast</B> version of <B>Mortal Kombat</B>. Even though it can be argued that it's only being called <B>Mortal Kombat 4-DC</B> internally, it's safe to assume that it's not going to be titled <B>Mortal Kombat 5</B>. <BR><BR>It's unfortunate that Sega hasn't recantered their statement made at the <A HREF="http://www.gdconf.com" TARGET="_parent">GDC</A>. Many mainstream and Dreamcast oriented websites are touting <B>MK5</B> as being one of the vindications of <B>Sega's</B> comeback into the console market. With recent <A HREF="http://headline.gamespot.com/news/99_03/24_vg_sega/index.html" TARGET="_parent">key personel departures</A> and <A HREF="http://www.next-generation.com/jsmid/news/6223.html" TARGET="_parent">poor sales figures</A> in Japan, <B>Sega</B> has something to worry about. Announcing <B>Mortal Kombat 5</B> being a launch title does not help Sega out in the long run. It may have turned heads and detracted attention away from <B>Sony</B> and their <B>Playstation 2</B>; however, the day will come when <B>Sega</B> will have to own up to their mistake and dissapoint those expecting <B>MK5</B> to be a launch title.
Basically what this says is that even though the arcades are doing horrible, <B>Midway</B> is still finding a way to make it work for them. This is good news for anyone fearing that <B>Mortal Kombat 5</B> is going to be a direct-to-home title. Furthermore, later in the press release, we get to the defining statement on what the official title of the <B>Dreamcast</B> version of <B>Mortal Kombat</B>.</UL><CENTER><TABLE BORDER="0"><TR><TD WIDTH="450"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1" COLOR="#FF8000">The Company believes that its home video game product line for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2000 will benefit from a greater number of hit coin operated titles and new direct-to-the-home only video games. In the first half of fiscal 2000, Midway expects to release into the home market, in addition to third party titles, the following six internally developed products: NFL®Blitz(tm) 2000, NBA® Showtime:NBA on NBC®, MK Special Forces(tm), Gauntlet® Legends, Ready to Rumble(tm) Boxing, and <B>Mortal Kombat®4-DC</B>. This compares with the two internally developed titles released in the first half of fiscal 1999: NFL Blitz and Rush 2:Extreme Racing USA.</FONT></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER><UL>
Finally, we're given an official statement to the public regarding the title of the <B>Dreamcast</B> version of <B>Mortal Kombat</B>. Even though it can be argued that it's only being called <B>Mortal Kombat 4-DC</B> internally, it's safe to assume that it's not going to be titled <B>Mortal Kombat 5</B>. <BR><BR>It's unfortunate that Sega hasn't recantered their statement made at the <A HREF="http://www.gdconf.com" TARGET="_parent">GDC</A>. Many mainstream and Dreamcast oriented websites are touting <B>MK5</B> as being one of the vindications of <B>Sega's</B> comeback into the console market. With recent <A HREF="http://headline.gamespot.com/news/99_03/24_vg_sega/index.html" TARGET="_parent">key personel departures</A> and <A HREF="http://www.next-generation.com/jsmid/news/6223.html" TARGET="_parent">poor sales figures</A> in Japan, <B>Sega</B> has something to worry about. Announcing <B>Mortal Kombat 5</B> being a launch title does not help Sega out in the long run. It may have turned heads and detracted attention away from <B>Sony</B> and their <B>Playstation 2</B>; however, the day will come when <B>Sega</B> will have to own up to their mistake and dissapoint those expecting <B>MK5</B> to be a launch title.