Midnight Club Rolls Onto Streets September 9th

Everyone knows EA wants Rockstar first and foremost for the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but there are plenty of possible secondary motivations for the buyout. Case in point, by snatching up the Midnight Club franchise, EA will never have to worry about the legions of Need for Speed fans out there discovering just how blatantly they robbed the open-world design of the Underground series from Midnight Club.

Ok, so the suits at EA probably don’t lie awake at night worrying about that particular scenario, but its definitely worth remembering that Rockstar has a lot more than one franchise to offer the world. The Midnight Club series has been around since the launch of the Playsation 2, and has been winning over more fans and critics with every sequel. Rockstar San Diego announced today that the next sequel, Midnight Club: Los Angeles will be hitting store shelves on September 9th 2008.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles builds off of Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition by taking the licensed vehicles and after-market parts and dropping them into a real-world setting. Using the same engine that is dropping jaws in Grand Theft Auto IV, Midnight Club: Los Angeles provides a seamless, breathtaking environment with no load times, no tracks, and no rules.

“People are going to be blown away when they see how true-to-life Los Angeles looks in this game,” said Jay Panek, Midnight Club Producer Rockstar San Diego. “We’ve added some great twists and turns that let players experience the authentic vibe and feel of the city at blistering speeds that you simply couldn’t get away with in real life.”

As the first year since lord-knows-when without a Need for Speed title on the release calendar, or even announced for that matter, 2008 may be the year that Midnight Club pulls ahead of its long-time rival into the spotlight. The only question is whether Rockstar has added enough to their open-world racing formula to prevent their latest from falling into the shadow of Burnout Paradise.