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| Area 51 | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Light gun shooter,first-person shooter |
| Developers | Mesa Logic (1995-1999) Midway Studios Austin (2005-2008) |
| Publishers | Time Warner Interactive (1995) Atari Games (1995-1999) Midway Games (2005-2008) |
| Platforms | Arcade,PlayStation,PlayStation 2,PlayStation 3,Xbox,Xbox 360,Sega Saturn,Windows |
| First release | Area 51 November 1995 |
| Latest release | BlackSite: Area 51 November 12, 2007 |
Area 51 is avideo game series set inArea 51 military facility. The franchise was launched byAtari Games as a series of twoarcadelight gun shooters in the 1990s, and was revisited byMidway Games as a series offirst-person shooters in the 2000s. The original arcade games cast the player as a member of a special military unit that must battle an invasion ofaliens called the Kronn. Versions of the originalArea 51 were released for varioushome consoles. The Midway titles, exclusive to home systems, had different plots from the original games.
The originalArea 51 was released in arcades in 1995, and ported in 1996 to thePlayStation,Sega Saturn andWindows. A sequel,Area 51: Site 4 was released by Atari in 1998. Unlike the original, it was not ported to any home consoles. Like all of Atari Games' products, it was absorbed into Midway Games' portfolio after Midway's shutdown of Atari Games in 2003.
Midway subsequentlyrebooted the franchise as a first-person shooter. In 2005,Area 51 was released by Midway for thePlayStation 2,Xbox andMicrosoft Windows platforms. A sequel,BlackSite: Area 51 was released in 2007 for thePlayStation 3,Xbox 360 and Windows.
On August 31, 2004,Paramount Pictures announced that it had bought the world-wide film rights for the series.[1] Billed as an action-packed thriller, producer Christine Peters was said to be collaborating with the game developers to help construct the film. On September 9,Variety reported that Paramount had hired Dean Georgaris to write the screenplay and produce with partner Micheal Aguilar. It was to be under their Penn Station banner along with Christine Peters and Midway;[2] As of 2011, the status of the film's development was unknown.[3]
