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Vin Diesel's well-cultivated Hollywood tough guy image isn't going to be helped by Midway's Christmas card, which is heavy on Wheelman promotion and Santa suits. We're guessing Vin's agent got a call today.
Midway's Wheelman creative director Simon Woodroffe offered up some details about the company's future lineup of games yesterday.
Midway is finally ready to give us a solid release date on Wheelman, which means our long struggle for another video game featuring the likeness and voice of Vin Diesel is finally over! Wheelman well be hitting stores simultaneously in North America and Europe on February 16th, with plans to be available in Australia on February 27th. It just misses Valentine's Day, but nothing says "I love you" quite like a pre-order of Wheelman for the Xbox 360, PS3, or PC.
A few weeks ago our intern Jim got some hands on time with Wheelman, the latest game to feature Vin Diesel. In this video, mission designer Mark Thompson walks us through one of the first missions and what we can expect when the game comes out. The slow motion in car sequence actually looks pretty good. I don't know if Wheelman will be another Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher bay, but hey, it's always possible. The game is scheduled to ship Q1 2009 on Xbox360, PC, and PS3.
Last stop on the Midway tour today is a look at Wheelman, the movie-licenced game based off the upcoming movie staring Vin Diesel. You know, the one that was delayed until next year? In any case, I got behind the wheel this morning and gave it a go. Look, I know it has Vin Diesel, but I'll make this as quick and painless as possible.
As the title implies, there's a lot of driving in this game. About 80% of it is you in a car holding down the right trigger button (or as I like to call it, the "go" button). The other 20%, you'll be on foot. I didn't get to see any 'on foot' gameplay, but I imagine you'll be doing the same thing when you're in the car. Shooting and fleeing. The overall graphics are good - the cars obviously look better than anything else in the game - but there were a few cases when the frame-rate did drop. Nothing horrible, mind you, but lets see if the delay helps the team polish that up.
Ubisoft has announced that the PlayStation classic Driver will be hitting the PlayStation Network next Thursday, August 14th. The game puts you in the role of an undercover cop infiltrating a crime syndicate using his driving skills, something that happens on a regular basis these days.
"Step inside the world of the original wheelman in this revived classic from Ubisoft Reflections", says the publisher. "Driver for the original PlayStation was a huge hit on the original PlayStation and remains a classic. Soon you can relive those gaming memories, or enjoy it for the first time, on PSN for PlayStation 3".
"The original wheelman"? Ouch. Yours might be the original, but does it have Vin Diesel? Is that even a selling point anymore?
Along with the news that it had beaten last year's losses by over 50% this year, Midway's quarterly results also show that two of its big titles have slipped off this year's calender into the next. Both the continuously pushed back Vin Diesel vehicle Wheelman and the GTA-style This Is Vegas won't be seeing the light of day this year, but they've got TNA Impact coming out so everything will be fine and dandy.
"Notwithstanding the game slips and the likely delay of a return to profitability for another year, we remain cautiously optimistic that Midway will perform better in 2009 than it is expected to perform in 2008", said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who also said that "the low point in Midway's turnaround story" is behind it.
See? Everything is going to be alright. Pachter says so.
Midway Moves Wheelman, Vegas To 2009 [Gamasutra]
When we played the Vin Diesel vehicle Wheelman at E3 last week, we were mostly surprised to learn that the game was coming out in the Fall. "What, this game?" we thought. While enjoyable junk food and technically impressive in parts, Wheelman felt like a game that was six months out, in need of a bit of polish before it went public.
Fortunately, that's what it sounds like Midway is planning to do, as reps told us at Comic-Con tonight that the title, originally scheduled for a release this year will get more time in the development incubator. Now planned for a Q1 '09 release, Wheelman will still beat the movie of the same name to the theatres, it will arrive just a bit later and hopefully be the better for it.
We also hope they'll rewrite that pedestrian car dodging logic. Far too many suicidal Barcelonans in this game...
Vin Diesel is back as Wheelman. He's not the Wheelman, just... Wheelman, the Pontiac driving, car jacking star of Midway and Tigon Studios' upcoming action driving game. Diesel has been digitised before, starring in the Chronicles of Riddick side story, Escape From Butcher Bay, and Wheelman has similar Hollywood tie-ins.
It's not just designed as a day and date release cash-in, as the game follows the Tigon design mantra of "combining key film components with unique game play". That comes through in some of Wheelman's more dramatic driving sequences, ones that will see the titular driver jump flaming oil tankers and smash into cubicles as he speeds through an office building.
Wheelman forgoes realistic driving for over the top badassery. Diesel's digital alter ego can "air jack" vehicles a la Pursuit Force. He'll jump from car to car, kicking out the driver without missing a beat. The whole thing looks a bit silly in person, but this is the kind of game one should suspend all disbelief for.
Midway released two new screens of their upcoming open-world driving game starring Vin Diesel. Not a whole lot to see here, besides the sparks.
Action film megastar Vin Diesel and his Tigon Studios are again blurring the lines between entertainment mediums, this time collaborating with Midway in the design and production of Wheelman to ensure an edge-of- your-seat gaming experience. Diesel's voice and likeness will appear as the game's main character, expert Wheelman Milo Burik.
Combining spectacular Hollywood-style stunts with a gripping storyline, Wheelman provides an adrenaline-fuelled, cinematic thrill ride guaranteed to leave you breathless. Vin Diesel stars as an undercover agent and highly skilled driver who must infiltrate the Barcelona underworld to gather intelligence surrounding a covert heist. Posing as a driver-for-hire, he ends up caught in a crossfire of corruption and chaos while trying to stay one step ahead of local law enforcement and rival gangs.
The game is set to ship this spring for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
