Midtown Madness 4

The Midtown Madness series has matured over time, and so have the number of fans and supporters. It all started in '99 when developer Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego) and publisher Microsoft brought us Midtown Madness, a unique and amazingly addictive racing game. While the single player perspective of the game did not fair too well with major gaming review websites and magazines, the multiplayer is where it was at and still is today, and this is what made Midtown Madness the popular game it was. A year later, Angel Studios and Microsoft did it again with Midtown Madness 2. It was just as fun as the original and more. As the years continued after the release of Midtown Madness 2 and next generation graphics were setting a new standard of gameplay, fans of the series came to wonder if the series would continue. As to much surprise, in 2003 developer Digital Illusions (or DICE) releases Midtown Madness 3, exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox. Although the game has not been released as of yet on it's former PC, Midtown Madness 3 took full advantage of Microsoft's Xbox Live online service for the Xbox. Some notable Xbox Live features that made online gameplay in Midtown Madness 3 successful was voice chat, game lobbies, and of course the large amount of downloadable content that was provided over time. Fans of the previous Midtown Madness games felt right at home with the newest instalment. Although the series was no longer being developed by Angel Studios, Digital Illusions brought the series back to life and made it better than ever. Again, the single player in Midtown Madness 3 was weak like its predecessors, but the online portion (accompanied by Microsoft's powerful Xbox Live service) brought previous fans and newcomers to a world of fun and excitement many online racing games try to provide but fail to do so.

I believe that the Midtown Madness series should carry onto the next generation of gaming. With new online services and technical abilities, there is a huge amount of potential for a new, successful Midtown Madness game. Although Digital Studios was bought out by Electronic Arts in January of 2005, I believe that Electronic Arts and its DICE partners could create a new Midtown Madness that surpasses the previous games in the series both technically and gameplay wise. One thing that the Midtown Madness series has always been about and will hopefully continue to be, is fun. Because Electronic Arts likes to make their games available on multiple systems, it would be a smart move on their end to do so because it would provide a chance to acquire new gamers and old fans of the series, regardless of what gaming system they have (Xbox 360, PS3, Revolution, PC, etc.)

I truly hope this idea is recognized by the Electronic Arts development team and gamers alike, and is taken into consideration.