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Midway had their press event focused on three bigger titles that will be coming out in the near future. The three titles are Stranglehold, Blacksite: Area 51 and Unreal Tournament 3. All three should be out by early 2008 and look to bring the two major consoles and the PC some excitement.

First off, the Midway event started with a great gameplay demo reel of the game Stranglehold. In the footage, you get to see Tequila Time in full effect. It is a lot like the slo-mo effect used in the Max Payne movies, but it looks good. The gun play is very fluid with lead flying all over the place. The character details are pretty well done. The digital Tequila has an eerie similarity to the real Chow Yun Fat. Chow also voiced all the dialogue for his character. One thing that could be bothersome is that for all the cool mechanics and stunts like sliding down banisters and using ceiling fans for attacks, it starts to look repetitive. It looks good, but when you are doing it every level, it starts to get a bit ho-hum after awhile. But it does feel like a Hard Boiled sequel. The crazy action, guns and deep story are all in place. Look for this one late next month on PS3, 360 and the PC.

Blacksite: Area 51 gained a lot of buzz with a demo movie that was released on the 360 a few months ago. Since then, the game has started to come together. The comparisons to Half Life are inevitable, even though you play a soldier and not a wayward scientist. The action is fast with aliens coming from all over the place. They come in all shapes and sizes. As you play, you will gain a small squad that will follow you. You have to look after them as their performance is based on how well you help them out. Let them get shot too much and they will just stay under cover more often. They are also less likely to fire on the enemy. Treat them right and protect them and you have a crew that will take on all comers. Facial animations will portray their mood as you progress. It will let you know the state that they are in and how well they will take up arms. I thought they said the holiday season for this one, but I also heard early 2008.

Last title that Midway had focus on was Unreal Tournament 3. The biggest selling multiplayer game on the PC is back for another episode. The game looks gorgeous. Levels are huge and expansive. While I never noticed outside environments in the Unreal Tournament series, I noticed it here this time. They did not produce a lot of news in this one, but they did do something that caught my ear. Last night, Cliffy B mentioned that online play would be managed by Games for Windows Live and that it would have achievements. But Midway never said anything about this or released info about it. So I have to wonder which is true.

That was all that Midway had for this press event. It was short, but not as short as the Konami event. That one, I blinked and it was all over.