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Terminator T-800 and The Joker are coming to 'Mortal Kombat 11'
Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios rounded out the list of Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack DLC characters with a pair of intriguing new fighters. The Terminator T-800 (with Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness) and Batman's nemesis The Joker are making their way to the game. And no, Mortal Kombat 11 hasn't suddenly morphed Shang Tsung-style into Injustice 2, which is full of DC characters and some Mortal Kombat fighters.
'Mortal Kombat 11' hype begins with an ultraviolent gameplay exhibition
The Mortal Kombat 11 teaser trailer NetherRealm released last month suggested the next installment in the fighting game series was going to be brutality incarnate. And yesterday, the first actual gameplay reveal konfirmed as much (sorry, not sorry). The crowd at the LA and London community events roared with every cinematic skewer and skull crunch, and considering every special combo and fatality consists of at least five borderline silly moves of escalating violence, there will no doubt be some sore throats among the superfans that were in attendance.
'Injustice 2' beta registration opens for future brawls
Developer NetherRealm Studios' games are as well known for their over-the-top action as much as their shaky online multiplayer. It looks like the team has taken the latter to heart because its upcoming DC Comics fighter Injustice 2 will have a beta test prior to releasing on May 16th. A registration form is live right this moment and will be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
'Mortal Kombat XL' is loaded with characters and skin packs
NetherRealm's found a new way to milk its beloved creation Mortal Kombat X. Today, the studio revealed a version of the title dubbed Mortal Kombat XL, which includes the main game and all downloadable content that's been available for it since launch -- namely, skin packs and characters such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface.
'Mortal Kombat X' won't be coming to last-gen consoles after all
I hope you weren't counting on playing Mortal Kombat X on your trusty previous-generation console -- you're about to be disappointed. Warner Bros. has cancelled both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the bloody brawler, claiming that neither version would meet the quality "expected of a Mortal Kombat game." It's not certain exactly what went wrong. However, it's clearer than ever that the transition to newer platforms is taking its toll on developers. Getting a game to run on more than two or three platforms isn't easy or cheap, and there isn't much incentive for studios to keep working on legacy support when you're increasingly likely to have a current system in your home.
Check out Predator's gory moves in 'Mortal Kombat X'
Predator -- the Invisible Eviscerator; the Brutalizer in the Brush -- creeps into Mortal Kombat X tomorrow, July 7th, for anyone who owns the $30 Kombat Pack as well as the full game. For everyone else, the Dreadlocked Destroyer will be available to buy as a standalone character on July 14th. The Terror of the Trees enters Mortal Kombat X as part of the Predator Bundle, which includes three additional character skins: Commando Johnny, Infrared Scorpion and Carl Weathers as Jax. Predator joins fellow movie murderer Jason Voorhees as a DLC character in Mortal Kombat X -- and the two face off in the following trailer. Spoiler: It doesn't end well for Jason.
Watch Jason Voorhees hack up rivals in 'Mortal Kombat X'
If you thought that the Friday the 13th movies' legendary Jason Voorhees would make for a great Mortal Kombat fighter... well, you're right. NetherRealm has released a trailer showing how Jason will play when he arrives in Mortal Kombat X on May 5th, and he's every bit as ruthless as you'd expect for a mass murderer who's been killed many times over. You may not be sure whether you should wince or laugh -- without spoiling things, it's safe to say that Jason is especially good at carving his foes into pieces. You'll have to wait until May 12th to buy Jason by himself, but he could be worth it if you got a kick out of playing Freddy Krueger the last time around.
'Mortal Kombat X' for mobile rewards your victories with konsole kred
After a lengthy hiatus, Mortal Kombat is coming back to the mobile world -- and it's giving you a few extra incentives to brutalize fighters while you're waiting for the bus. Mortal Kombat X will reach Android and iOS users on April 14th with not just the obligatory fatalities and other gory details, but a two-way reward system that encourages you to keep playing when you switch platforms. If you thrash enough suckers to unlock content on your phone, for example, you'll get some perks when you fire up your console at home. Something tells us the mobile MKX won't be as challenging as its full-size counterpart (swipe to finish someone off, really?), but look at it this way: it's not often that you get to break someone's jaw on your commute and feel good about it later.
Mortal Kombat creator talks about adapting Batman for iOS
I got to meet up with Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon on the red carpet at last weekend's VGAs, and rather than talking about the popular console fighting series, we instead talked about an iOS title: Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, which Boon's Netherrealm Studios developed in conjunction with Warner Brothers and the developer behind the console Batman: Arkham City, Rocksteady Studios. Boon says the game's release snuck up on him just as much as it did iOS customers. "It's one of our first iOS games," he says, "so we were doing it, and the whole process of iOS games, they don't promote them leading up to the launch, it's just boom, and you hear about it going out. But we've been working on it for quite a while." Netherrealm has shared assets with Rocksteady before, and the iOS game makes use of models from the console game (both are rendered with Unreal Engine 3), "so yeah," says Boon, "we're really proud of it." He does admit that the game borrows some ideas from the Infinity Blade series, but there are some cool progression features (not to mention that it uses the Batman license pretty well) that make Lockdown stand out. Boon says iOS development is a little easier than full console development, but it's getting harder. "It's not quite as big of a thing, but certainly the presentation is getting on par with the current generation of consoles and whatnot. It's definitely a more condensed project schedule, but a lot of the same assets." And this isn't the last we'll see of Netherrealm Studios on Apple's mobile platforms, according to Boon. "Oh, yeah," he told me, "we have a number of things in the works. But nothing we can say just yet.
PSP2 apparently in Mortal Kombat developers' hands, said to be a 'pretty powerful machine'
We just heard last month that Sony might already be showing off some prototype PSP2 hardware (said to be roughly similar in size to the PSP-3000), and it now looks like the next-gen handheld may have found its way into some developers' hands as well. That's according to Shaun Himmerick of Netherrealm Studios, at least, who responded to a question about a new Mortal Kombat possibly heading to the PSP or 3DS by saying that while they won't be launching day one on those devices, they actually "have a PSP2 in house." He further went on to say that the PSP2 looks "like it's a pretty powerful machine," and added that they don't yet have a 3DS system but are looking to get one. No confirmation from Sony on this, as you might expect, but it certainly seems like the hardware is pretty far along -- possibly even ahead or on the same track as the 3DS? [Thanks, Aaron]
