Crispy Gamer News

Midway Games‘ Blitz: The League II has shipped to stores for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 and is expected to be available soon for an U.S. MSRP of $59.99. Blitz: The League II builds on the arcade football action that is a trademark of the Blitz franchise with all-new tackles, gruesome injuries and touchdown celebrations that allow more player control.

“Without the typical restrictions associated with the ‘No Fun League,’ Blitz: The League II is able to offer up an entirely new treatment of pro football, touching on topics otherwise considered taboo,” said Miguel Iribarren, senior vice president - publishing, Midway. “Lawrence Taylor returns as our cover athlete, and he’s the perfect symbol of the grittier, real-life side of football that only a title like Blitz: The League II can portray.”

We’ll leave that for football fans to decide, but it’s certainly a unique alternative to Madden NFL 09.

Mortal Kombat: Kollection, a 3-game Mortal Kombat compilation pack from Midway, is in stores today. The package includes Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (an action-adventure game that takes the franchise in a different direction), and the popular Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. The package is only available for the PS2, but if you have an older unit you can play it on the PS3 as well. If this is your cup of tea, you can pick it up today for $29.99.

The next big Mortal Kombat game will be Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe,  which hits the ground running on Nov. 3.

There’s a new company in Chicago and it is ready to get work on making games. That company is called Robomodo and its mission statement is to create “top-tier products for current and next generation console platforms.” The company, which was officially formed in January, will work with Activision Publishing to create games on multiple platforms. They will reportedly work on established franchises and its own intellectual properties across multiple platforms.

Robomodo was founded by five partners who have worked for Midway Games and EA Chicago. Those five include Joshua Tsui (Director), David Michicich (CEO and Creative Director), Nick Ehrlich (COO and Director of Project Management), Peter Sauerbrei (CTO) and Richard Ho (Motion Director). Four of the five partners (Josh, David, Rich, and Nick) first worked together in the early 90’s at Midway Games on titles that included the Mortal Kombat series. Josh, David, and Peter went on to work at EA Chicago in 2005 and started Robomodo upon EA’s closure of its Chicago office.

While it sounds like the company will start out by making budget titles for Activision Publishing, its founders hope to create some original titles that will put them on the map. I wish them good luck.