MIDWAY REVEALS LAWRENCE TAYLOR AS COVER ATHLETE FOR BLITZ: THE LEAGUE
Former Playmakers Writer, Peter Egan, and FHM Contribute to Blitz: The League
CHICAGO, July 20, 2005 - Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, announced today that former professional football standout and Hall of Fame inductee, Lawrence Taylor, will serve as the official cover athlete for Midway's new, unlicensed football videogame, Blitz: The League. Along with contributing his image for the game's cover, Lawrence Taylor will also be featured as the voice and personality of Blitz: The League's main character/athlete, Quentin Sands. Quentin is the star player and quarterback-hungry linebacker for the New York Nightmare and he plays a large role in evolving storylines that occur both on and off-the-field throughout Blitz: The League. Scheduled for release in October 2005, Blitz: The League will be available for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft.
"Lawrence Taylor (known by many as 'L.T.') was in the professional football spotlight throughout his illustrious NFL career, and we're extremely excited to have someone of his stature and popularity working with us on the next generation of Blitz," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Mr. Taylor succeeded in establishing a new standard by which all future linebackers would be critiqued in his sport and we feel strongly that Blitz: The League will accomplish a similar goal in the sports gaming genre. No longer bound by league censorship, we intend to bring fans the most intense and hard-hitting football experience yet and we're confident that fans will be tremendously pleased with the football alternative that we're providing."
Along with the announcement of Lawrence Taylor, Midway also today revealed that former Playmakers' writer, Peter Egan, has been working alongside Midway's development team since the game's early conceptual stages more than one year ago to help script the in-depth and realistic storyline for Blitz: The League. A former ESPN original television series, Playmakers rapidly shot to the top of the popularity charts and established itself as a program that successfully wove intriguing, constantly-evolving storylines together as players struggled to find harmony between the life of a superstar athlete on the field and the life found in the real world off-the-field.
Additionally, Midway has arranged with men's lifestyle magazine, FHM (For Him Magazine), the featured appearance of eleven FHM female models in Blitz: The League as cheerleaders and in various major character roles throughout the game's storyline.
For more information on Blitz: The League, please visit www.blitzleague.com