UPDATE 2-Midway Games Q2 loss widens; shares plunge

(Recasts, adds stock movement)

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Video games publisher Midway Games Inc MWY.N, which is controlled by Viacom Inc (VIAb.N) Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone, posted a big quarterly loss hurt by slowing sales of its game titles, sending its shares down 23 percent.

The company, which publishes titles such as "Stranglehold" and "Unreal Tournament", also forecast a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter.

The second-quarter loss was $34.8 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $14.3 million, or 16 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding exceptional items, the company posted a loss of 29 cents a share.

Revenue fell 26 percent to $23.4 million.

Analysts, on average, expected the company to post a loss of 35 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $18.4 million for the quarter, according to Reuters Estimates.

For the third-quarter, the company forecast a loss of 37 cents a share on sales of $52 million. Excluding items, it expects a loss of 27 cents.

Analysts were expecting a loss of 16 cents a share and revenue of $53.3 million.

Midway Games shares were down about a dollar to $3.00 in trading after the bell. They had closed at $3.92 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Kuganandhan Paramanandan in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva )