Microsoft



Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: NYSE: MSFT) was the publisher for the Madness video game products, such as the Midtown Madness series and the Monster Truck Madness series.

The first Monster Truck Madness installment was released for Windows 95 in 1996. Its sequel, Monster Truck Madness 2, was released for the same operating system as well as Windows NT 4.0 in 1998. Console ports for the Nintendo 64 and the Game Boy Advance followed in 1999 and 2003, respectively.

The first Midtown Madness installment was released for Windows 95 and 98 operating systems in 1999, the second was released in 2000 for the same operating systems as well as Windows 2000, and the third was released only for the original Xbox in 2003.

Information
Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA and develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions.

History
Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems.

The company published the Racing Madness games for the PC and other platforms, such as Midtown Madness 3 (2003) for the original Xbox.

Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite market with Microsoft Office. The company has diversified in recent years into the video game industry with the Xbox and its successor, the Xbox 360 as well as into the consumer electronics and digital services market with Zune, MSN and the Windows Phone OS. The ensuing rise of stock in the company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) made an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees (Forbes 400 list revealed that in March 2011 both Jon Shipley and Nathan Myhrvold lost their billionaire status).

Primarily in the 1990s, critics contend Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws. Known for its interviewing process with obscure questions, various studies and ratings were generally favorable to Microsoft's diversity within the company as well as its overall environmental impact with the exception of the electronics portion of the business.