blacksite-area-51 posts

Retail game web site GoGamer.com has started up yet another of their PC game sales. This particular one lasts until 3 am ET on Wednesday or while supplies of the game lasts. As per the usual with their sales the games are a mix of new titles and much older games at rock bottom prices.

In fact you can't get much more rock bottom in price than Maelstrom. The 2007 sci-fi RTS game from Codemasters is on sale for a mere 50 cents (and that's not a typo). Other games on sale include BlackSite: Area 51 for just $1.90, Battlestations Midway for $3.90 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for just $4.90. On the other side of the spectrum you can pre-order the upcoming Wolfenstein game for $39.90, $10 off its normal price.

Midway's attempts to stay afloat following a constant stream of poor financial results have apparently taken a toll on the company's Austin, Texas based development studio. According to reports from Gamasutra and Kotaku, both citing unnamed sources, the studio laid off a significant portion of their team late last week.

While Gamasutra did not state numbers in their report, Kotaku claims as many as 90 people may have lost their jobs at the developer. Gamasutra's story claims that the reductions will reduce the developer to working on just one team. Midway Austin's last game was the 2007 released first person shooter Blacksite: Area 51, which received poor reviews and generated poor sales.

Update: Midway has now issued a press release confiming the layoffs but adding that the remaining team members will be working on unnamed game prototypes.