God were we reaching with that title.

Anyway, Midway officially confirmed today that interim president since March ‘08, Matthew Booty has officially been named president of the corporation.  Booty worked his was up from the trenches, starting at Midway as a programmer and engineer, and started climbing the ladder from there.  He brings experience, knowledge, and a sweet last name to the job.  It works on two levels; babes and treasure.  Which is awesome.

I know this seems sort of like a non-story unless you’re an investor, but I have to write something or I’ll do is think about Gears of War 2 and how it’s not out yet.

See that?  It’s called bias in the media.

Press release as follows.

“CHICAGO - October 30, 2008 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY) today announced that Matthew V. Booty has been appointed by the Board of Directors as President and CEO of the company. Mr. Booty has served as interim president and CEO of Midway Games Inc. since March, 2008.

Matt Booty brings a deep background with Midway anchored in product development. Mr. Booty joined in 1991 as an engineer and programmer, at a time when Midway launched iconic arcade franchises such as the original Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. After serving in progressively more responsible roles, he eventually was promoted to Vice President of Product Development in 2002. Prior to being named President and CEO of the company, he served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Studios.

During his tenure as interim president and CEO, Mr. Booty has demonstrated strong leadership and has successfully executed on a number of key initiatives aimed at developing top performing games and improving financial performance, including reducing costs through studio consolidation, exiting underperforming licenses and rebalancing the product portfolio to focus on key licenses and owned intellectual property such as TNA iMPACT!, Blitz: The League, Mortal Kombat and Wheelman.

“Over the past two quarters we have made progress reducing costs, realigning our studios, and improving execution on our game launches,” said Mr. Booty. “Along with the rest of our management team, I am committed to continuing to drive this progress and maintain a sharp focus on the successful implementation of our plans for the fourth quarter and beyond.”‘