Blitz Goes Portable
And guess who's joining The League now?
Published: August 22, 2006
There's been plenty of talk about EA buying the exclusive rights to the NFL license and what it's done to the competition. In no uncertain terms, it basically shut them out, just like an exclusive is supposed to do. Most saw it as a slight against 2K Games and their aggressive pricing structure and honest-to-goodness threat to EA's dominance, which they'd resumed after a tussle for a few years with Sony's own NFL GameDay series on the original PlayStation.
Sony (or their sports division) took a stab at things without the license, but it was unfortunately scuttled. Though there's been no official announcement yet, 2K is apparently quietly working on their own NFL-free football game, but it's been Midway, with their classic arcade football series Blitz that stepped up and created the first breakaway NFL-less gridiron game. Blitz: The League apparently moved over a million copies in less than a year, thanks no doubt to the presence of one Lawrence Taylor.
LT's antics off the field made him not only a legendary pigskin hothead, but the perfect promotional vehicle for The League, which stressed massive hits during games like always, but for the first time tried to incorporate off-field hijinks as much as it did the actual game of football. Taylor was a perfect match.
Ah, but this is the sequel, which means a bigger, flashier, prettier game and more attention to the scope of football as much as the drama. Who better to use, then, than the perfect picture of in-game rage, Bill Romanowski. When he wasn't kicking the crap out of teammates, he was happily breaking jaws, kicking heads and punching guys so hard he broke their eye socket. Yes, he'll go far in this digital world -- even if it happens to be condensed down to PSP size.
"With over one million games sold to–date, Blitz: The League has been an enormous success for Midway," beamed Midway CMO Steve Allison. "We are excited to have Bill Romanowski, arguably one of the most feared and talented defensive football players of his time, working in conjunction with Midway to bring fans the first Blitz title on next generation systems."
Now don't get all excited just yet. Right now, only a Xbox 360 version is confirmed (though it's possible some are still thinking of the PSP as a "next-gen" handheld, that's kinda stretching it). We'd love to see a PlayStation 3 version, but for now we'll have to stick with Blitz: The League Overtime, which will feature Romanowski on the cover (along with LT) and his voice in the character of Bruno Bataggalia, who apparently plays a large role in the game's storyline.
Overtime will hit the PSP right around the time the PS3 reaches stores. Small consolation, sure, but we'll make sure we give you all the info we get until then. Once it does hit, you can let your tears of non-next-gen sorrow clean the smudge marks off your sexy PSP screen.
Sony (or their sports division) took a stab at things without the license, but it was unfortunately scuttled. Though there's been no official announcement yet, 2K is apparently quietly working on their own NFL-free football game, but it's been Midway, with their classic arcade football series Blitz that stepped up and created the first breakaway NFL-less gridiron game. Blitz: The League apparently moved over a million copies in less than a year, thanks no doubt to the presence of one Lawrence Taylor.
LT's antics off the field made him not only a legendary pigskin hothead, but the perfect promotional vehicle for The League, which stressed massive hits during games like always, but for the first time tried to incorporate off-field hijinks as much as it did the actual game of football. Taylor was a perfect match.
Ah, but this is the sequel, which means a bigger, flashier, prettier game and more attention to the scope of football as much as the drama. Who better to use, then, than the perfect picture of in-game rage, Bill Romanowski. When he wasn't kicking the crap out of teammates, he was happily breaking jaws, kicking heads and punching guys so hard he broke their eye socket. Yes, he'll go far in this digital world -- even if it happens to be condensed down to PSP size.
"With over one million games sold to–date, Blitz: The League has been an enormous success for Midway," beamed Midway CMO Steve Allison. "We are excited to have Bill Romanowski, arguably one of the most feared and talented defensive football players of his time, working in conjunction with Midway to bring fans the first Blitz title on next generation systems."
Now don't get all excited just yet. Right now, only a Xbox 360 version is confirmed (though it's possible some are still thinking of the PSP as a "next-gen" handheld, that's kinda stretching it). We'd love to see a PlayStation 3 version, but for now we'll have to stick with Blitz: The League Overtime, which will feature Romanowski on the cover (along with LT) and his voice in the character of Bruno Bataggalia, who apparently plays a large role in the game's storyline.
Overtime will hit the PSP right around the time the PS3 reaches stores. Small consolation, sure, but we'll make sure we give you all the info we get until then. Once it does hit, you can let your tears of non-next-gen sorrow clean the smudge marks off your sexy PSP screen.