Midway’s XBLA games have been delisted

Remember back in the early days of Xbox LIVE Arcade? When Digital Eclipse went crazy with porting any and all old-school favorites to the service? And games were only five bucks? Yeah. Those were some swell times.

Midway properties made up a good portion of those Digital Eclipse ports, and now, they’re gone. Cyberball, Defender, Paperboy, Rootbeer Tapper, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Robotron 2084, Joust, Gauntlet, and even Smash TV. Gone. All of them. They have been *wait for it* … *wait for it* … delisted!

On Twitter, Major Nelson gives out an explanation. He says it all stems from “publisher evolving rights and permissions” and it has nothing to do with Game Room. For anyone who’s already bought the aforementioned games, you’ll still be able to play and redownload them as usual.

I have to wonder — what are the chances these now-discontinued Midway games will resurface in Game Room? I don’t care what it takes; make it happen. “I’d buy that for a dollar,” etc.