Midway Games, Inc. (NASDAQOTH:MWYGQ.PK)

Oversold (but then again, what isn't?!)

Company may be shaky but big titles to debut. Whats-his-name owns 80%, drops on low volume (40-60K) days typically precede jumps up.

I'm looking for a very beaten entertainment software company that develops and publishes interactive entertainment software for the global video game market and develop games that are available for play on home video game consoles and handheld game platforms, including Microsoft's Xbox, Nintendo's GameCube, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS and Sony's PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and most importantly develop and publish games for personal computers (PCs). I believe Midway Games, Inc. with it's impressive library of titles, creation of a portfolio of titles across many video game genres, such as action, adventure, driving, fighting, shooting, and sports and many games incorporating a variety of online capabilities and features will be a success this holiday season of 2008.

Won't go away. New games will break out.

nexus with nitendo wii will bring this game co. back on track.

This stock is down till "this is Vegas" and "Unreal Tournament 3" come and turn it around and they will pick it back up I'm saying down to about $2.10 to $1.90 then BUY BUY BUY I think you will be very happy it should spike back to $4.25 maybe $5 range when "This is Vegas" and "Unreal Tournament 3" for the Xbox 360 drops it will splash bug and I am a video game guy Grand Theft Auto will be big too but "This is Vegas" is coming after that comes out anyway and people are going to want the next flavor video game are like gum to video gamers.

ready to go

been this for a long time

They laid a good groundwork which they are just starting to capitalize on.

Their newest game "This is Vegas" looks promising:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lnWjOhfVcAE

video games are as hot as ever...not an avid player myself anymore. Some of this companies previous titles have been so successful. All it needs is one blockbuster game and they are back in the mid-teens...problem is this is probably my biggest gamble pick...Redstone owns an awful lot of shares to let this company go under...unless I am missing something

It's time to buy. All the bad news is already priced in. It will go nowhere but up from now on. 2008 will be a big year for MWY.

sd

Third quarter loss of 33.5 million.

In terms of games they have more garbage than the Staten Island landfill. Their biggest debut in along time (Stranglehold) is rife with mediocrity in a genre of games full of competition. Hour of Victory a WW II shooter (as if there were not enough of these) looks as if my eight year old niece designed it. The controls are horrible, the AI is non exsistant (enemies shoot into walls no where in your direction). This title may not even cover the costs of producing it. (allthough it looks as if it were made extremly cheaply).

On the flip side Blacksite: Area 51 could bring them some relief if it gets a good review. So far it has been recieving praise as far as story goes. But it is again going to be up against the wall in an allready saturated market, especially when the consumer has a choice between this title or Halo 3 and Bioshock.

And thier MMORPG of LOTR is up and coming in that market, allthough it is against the behemoth WOW. This is a battle yet to be determined.

Either way midway will be a bust and join their oldschool rival atari on the bottom if they do not come up with a new franchise title that can keep people interested.

Although this stock has been killing me in caps, I am still high on it. I wonder to myself how could management not make money with these titles? Well today the company announced more release delays. In fact, Unreal 2007 will not be released until 2008. I wonder if they will change the title? Additionally, the Lord of the Rings subscription base is rising and is apparently a top notch RPG product. Well why do I like this stock? Galaga! I'm a freakin Galaga fan so I put this thing in my CAPs. I mean to purchase this in real life would be like trying to catch a falling knife. But hey, here I can give this stock the love it deserves. Also, it seems to me that their newer products as a whole are improving in quality. Below I've posted an article that addresses the Redstone situation.
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Roots of Redstone family's bitter rift
Some cite Sumner's obsession with a video games company.
By Michael A. Hiltzik and Claudia Eller
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

August 2, 2007

Was Sumner Redstone's obsession with the creator of the video game "Mortal Kombat" the root of the unfolding family drama that has pitted the media mogul against his daughter and onetime heir apparent, Shari Redstone?

People who know them both suggest that the billionaire's dealings in the second-tier video game company Midway Games Inc. was a flashpoint in their ruptured relationship.

Sumner, who had built a $50-billion empire with such assets as CBS and Viacom's Paramount Pictures, MTV and Nickelodeon, envisioned video games as the next growth engine for the entertainment business. He steadily began accumulating shares in Chicago-based Midway in 1998.

Though Midway was mostly an also-ran in the video game business, Sumner was determined to turn the company into a major contender by marrying its content with the marketing and distribution might of MTV and Paramount.

His buying spree in Midway was done mostly through National Amusements Inc., the family theater circuit through which he controls Viacom and CBS. He gained control of nearly 90% of Midway's stock through purchases between April 1998 and December 2005.

The investment eventually drew strong objections from Shari, particularly as Midway's shares began to decline, said people with knowledge of the situation. Shari, 53, is not only president of National but its second-largest shareholder after her 84-year-old father.

Shari apparently concluded that Sumner's purchases were artificially inflating Midway's stock price -- a wasteful application of National's money.

One person with knowledge of the situation said that Shari stood up to her father, telling him: "Enough -- we're not propping that stock up."

By then, the Viacom board had moved to distance itself from any conflict of interest Sumner's control of Midway could present. In 2004, after he began to press Viacom executives to explore an acquisition of Midway, the board formed an independent committee to scrutinize any such deal but never moved toward an acquisition. Viacom executives privately were dismissive of Midway.

Spokespeople for Shari and Sumner declined to comment Wednesday.

Shari's opposition marked the start of the bad blood between Shari and her father, who was not accustomed to being challenged by any of his lieutenants, including his daughter. The disagreements between Sumner and Shari have since multiplied, breaking out into a public feud in recent weeks over such issues as succession, corporate governance and the future of the family's theater chain.

Negotiations to resolve their differences have been underway for months. Relations are so strained that Shari is considering legal action against her father, with the Midway situation one bone of contention.

Sumner's financial arrangements for buying Midway stock put National in a vulnerable position. He had pledged National stock as collateral against a $425-million loan from Citicorp that he was using to buy Midway shares, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In late 2005, as Midway shares were declining, Citicorp issued a margin call against Sumner's holdings -- a demand that customarily requires investors to restore the collateral value lost or face the seizure of their shares.

That means Citicorp could have seized Sumner's National shares, the foundation of the family fortune.

A forced sale of Midway stock could have harmed National both by driving down the value of Midway shares, which the theater company also owned, and by putting at risk its ability to control, along with Sumner, the video game outfit.

In late December 2005, Sumner transferred the bulk of his personal holdings in Midway to National, which in turn agreed to pay off the Citicorp loan, according to SEC documents.

That gave National control over Midway and released its shares from the Citicorp lien. Shari supported the December transaction and even recommended it to National's board. She was probably motivated by the need to unencumber National's shares.

Sources say Shari opposed a second purchase of Midway shares by National from Sumner earlier this year. In February, National purchased an additional 12.4 million shares from Sumner for about $85 million, a negotiated price of $6.87 a share, roughly where the stock closed that day. The transaction brought National's ownership to 74.3%, with Redstone directly holding another 13.6%.

Shari opposed using National's money to buy Sumner's Midway shares, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.But the stock has been a dog. From a high of $23.26 in December 2005, the shares have plummeted. They closed Wednesday at $5.84, ahead of second-quarter earnings, which will be released today.

Shari is not the only member of the Redstone clan to raise questions about Midway. In a 2006 lawsuit, her brother, Brent, contended that Sumner had used National -- of which Brent was then a part-owner -- as a personal piggy-bank, and cited the repayment of the margin loan as an example of the family company's "putting the interests of Sumner Redstone first and engaging in self-dealing." Brent sold his National stake back to the company as part of a settlement earlier this year.

Sumner and National acquired their first Midway shares in 1998, when the company was spun off from Williams Industries, a pinball and slot machine maker in which they owned stakes. By May 2004, his and National's combined holdings totaled more than 50%.

Midway has been a lackluster performer for years. Unable to duplicate the success of its best-known franchise, "Mortal Kombat," the company has lost money since fiscal 2000, according to its latest annual report dated Dec. 31, 2006.

michael.hiltzik@latimes.com

claudia.eller@latimes.com

Times staff writer Thomas S. Mulligan contributed to this article.

Games are fairing not so well and nothing really really good on the horizen. Still, they are still an active studio and are putting out solid, if not amazing, products.

Last chance with Stranglehold

Midway seems to be targeting the casual games market, especially on the Wii. With Nintendo pushing it as well, this has the potential to take off.