Midway Sets Loose Ant Bully Game

By Geoff Duncan July 24, 2006

Midway Games has announced that is has shipped its Ant Bully video game for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Windows PCs. The Ant Bully computer-animated film is scheduled to hit theaters July 28, but enthusiasts can already step into the shoes of Lucas, a young boy who’s magically shrunk down to the size of an insect, and who must learn to survive, explore, and forge new friendships in the world of an ant colony.

“Midway’s relationship with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on The Ant Bully is an important part of our company’s expansion into the younger gaming market,” said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. “We’ve timed our marketing campaign and launch for the game closely with that of the film, allowing players to help an ant-sized Lucas on his quest to help save the ant colony as soon as the movie premieres.”

The game follows the general story and exciting moments of the film, and also includes original game play challenges separate from the movie. Interestingly, Midway also says it’ll ship a version of the Ant Bully game for Nintendo Wii in November 2006

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Gaming

Geoff Keighley sets date for the 10th annual Game Awards

Key art for The Game Awards 2023.

Geoff Keighley announced when the 10th The Game Awards will take place ahead of his latest show, Gamescom Opening Night Live.
The Game Awards 2023 will happen on December 7 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Like last year, the show will have a live audience and an orchestra conducted by Lorne Balfe. For those who can't attend it in person, Keighley doesn't plan on rolling back streaming efforts and is already promising that this year's The Game Awards will have official streams across YouTube, Twitch, Steam, X, Facebook, and TikTok.

This will be the 10th annual The Game Awards show. It began in 2014 as a successor to the Spike Video Game Awards, which Keighley also had a part in creating. While this is a significant anniversary for the show, according to Keighley, it won't break from the established awards and announcements formula that much.
"Each year, we look forward to hosting a show that honors the standout games of the year, while also announcing and previewing some of the world’s biggest and most anticipated video games," Keighley explained in a press release. "With so many beloved video game franchises exploring new mediums and developers creating new experiences across platforms, whether in games, television, movies, and beyond, the industry continues to expand in many surprising ways, and we can’t wait to honor the year’s best games and to show viewers around the world what’s next."
The Game Awards 2023 takes place on December 7. A specific start time has not been confirmed yet, but its preshow has begun at around 4:30 p.m. PT in recent years.

Gaming

The best Star Wars games of all time

Cal fighting the Ninth Sister in Jedi Fallen Order.

Star Wars has been a cultural touchstone since the original film debuted in theaters more than 45 years ago. Today, the Star Wars brand is still led by the ongoing movie series. Each Star Wars movie release stirs frantic buzz across the world, and with Disney+, that even extends to television now with series like The Mandalorian.

It seeps into video games, too, and although there are a lot of bad Star Wars games, recent ones like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor prove they can be good. Let's take a look at the best Star Wars games, ranging from third-person shooters to full-blown role-playing games.

Gaming

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the culmination of the series’ rocky gaming history

Jedi Cal Kestis.

I've played Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's Coruscant heist opening multiple times at this point, and every time I play it, I can't help but think about what could've been with Star Wars 1313, the franchise's most infamous canceled game.
The idea of an Uncharted-like game about Boba Fett fighting throughout the Coruscant underworld is such an excellent pitch that I've grieved the loss of a game I never even had a chance to play for over a decade. Playing through Survivor's opening doesn't elicit feelings of disappointment about 1313, though. Instead, I feel happy that at least some fraction of that idea was able to be realized.

Survivor's Metroidanvia-like level design and Lightsaber-and-Force-based combat are much different than what was promised from 1313. However, the idea of cleverly climbing and fighting across a seedy-looking level of Coruscant during a heist was still realized. Reflecting on the lost project ahead of this year's Star Wars Day, I had a revelation about Respawn Entertainment's latest game. Despite technically being a sequel to just Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor feels like the culmination of over a decade of Star Wars games, both released and canceled, that came before.
A walk through Star Wars gaming history
Growing up, two of my favorite video games were the original Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. To this day, 2005's Battlefront II is my favorite game of all time, not only because of all the great memories that I had with it but also because it feels like an authentic Star Wars simulator where multiple eras, planets, and characters are preserved in incredible detail. Survivor feels like it has the same keen attention to detail.
Players may not visit as many planets as they do in Battlefront II, but each location in Survivor is densely packed with content and immaculately packed with detailed environments and characters that faithfully represent the High Republic, prequel, and Imperial eras. While the aesthetics feel as detailed as Battlefront, the gameplay fantasy pulls more from The Force Unleashed.