Anyone looking to relive their classic arcade days, back when bread cost a nickel and the Whigs were in control of the Senate, and fire up some old-school Midway games on their Xbox 360 are in for a rude awakening.  Several of Midway’s classic titles have been removed from the Xbox Live Arcade, including Defender, Rootbeer Tapper, Joust, Paperboy, Robotron 2084, Gauntlet, Cyberball 2072, Smash TV, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Major Nelson explained via Tweet that the games are unavailable because of "publisher evolving rights and permissions," which essentially means that Warner Bros., the new owners of most of Midway’s IPs, had them pulled, possibly in anticipation of a repackaging of some or all of the games.  They don’t show up on the Arcade games list, but they are still playable for those who have already purchased them, and can be re-downloaded as well.  There has been some speculation that this was in preparation for bringing Midway’s old games to Xbox’s upcoming Game Room, but Nelson quickly debunked that rumor, Tweeting simply, "No, it's not Game room related."

Man, just looking at that list of retro titles brings me back to a time when Midway was a legitimate power in the gaming world, and especially the arcade game industry.  Right now, I'm jonesing for a round or two of Paperboy. Perhaps I'll go home and download... oh.  Never mind.