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Skarlet enters the Mortal Kombat arena today, Kombat Pass also at GameStop
Skarlet, Mortal Kombat's bloody female ninja, is available as paid DLC today. You can get her either as a standalone download for 400 MS Points ($5), or as part of the 1200 MS Point ($15) Mortal Kombat Season Pass on Xbox 360, where you pay a large sum up front and then gain access to all of the DLC cheaper than buying it piecemeal. We've tucked a gameplay trailer for Skarlet just past the break. She's the first of four new characters promised throughout the rest of the summer. Warner Bros. also informs us that you can go into your local GameStop and pick up a Kombat Pass there, if you're one of those oddballs who needs a physical object when handing cash over for goods and/or services. Oh, and if you're skipping the DLC altogether, don't forget to download the compatibility pack. It'll net you some retro costumes for Cyrax and Sektor!
Mortal Kombat's old school (and free!) Sektor and Cyrax skins revealed
Anyone who downloads the Mortal Kombat Compatibility Pack when it arrives on each console's respective online platform Tuesday, June 21, will gain access to new skins for Kombatants Sektor and Cyrax. Check out these fighters' retro duds in the trailer posted after the jump!
Mortal Kombat 'Season Pass' discounts DLC for Xbox
That LA Noire "Rockstar Pass" must be working out, because WB looked at the concept and said "get over here" for Mortal Kombat. The publisher just announced the "Kombat Pass" which allows you to pay ahead of time for all four DLC characters, including Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and one more unannounced character. Each character costs 400 points ($5) on their own; the pack runs 1200 points ($15) and will be available alongside the release of the Skarlet character on June 21. This is an Xbox 360-exclusive offer; if you want more virtual murderers in the PS3 version, you'll have to buy them individually.
Skarlet enters Mortal Kombat on June 21; Kenshi, Rain, one other coming later
Today, IGN revealed that we'll be able to add Skarlet to our roster of Mortal Kombat fighters next Tuesday, June 21. Following the bloody female assassin will be Kenshi, Rain and a mysterious fighter to be named at a later date. The new DLC (DLK?) characters will be sold individually throughout this summer, and a downloadable compatibility pack will ensure that everyone can see them, even if they don't purchase them. Hit the jump for the announcement trailer.
Mortal Kombat's 'Skarlet' DLC tests your tolerance for blood
Netherrealm Studios assumes that if you like Mortal Kombat, you probably don't mind the sight of blood. But how much do you like it? And how much do you like the wet, squishy sounds of splattering blood? Watch this trailer for the DLC fighter Skarlet and find out.
Mortal Kombat marked down to $40 on Amazon
Hey, we like murder as much as the next person, but you gotta admit it's an expensive "hobby." Buying all of those shovels and bags of lime, not to mention all of the gas your van uses as you spend hours looking for just the right abandoned factory -- it ain't cheap. Thankfully, Amazon has just marked down Mortal Kombat to $40 on both the PS3 and Xbox 360, which is a game where people get murdered constantly. It's a much healthier alternative to actual, real-life killing, you know?
Mortal Kombat Klassic Skins DLC trailer makes us miss padded vests
We never really understood why a majority of old-school Mortal Kombat's brutal fighters garbed themselves in pillowy, colorful, long-tailed vests -- but we're sure happy to see the style make a comeback. Check out the trailer for Mortal Kombat's Klassic Skins DLC pack after the jump.
Mortal Kombat retailer-exclusive DLC koming for all
NetherRealm Studios head and Mortal Kombat co-creator ko-kreator Ed Boon has revealed via his Twitter feed that all of the retailer-specific pre-order DLC released for the series' ninth installment will soon be made available as one downloadable, for-pay kollection. "The 7 Klassic outfits & 3 Klassic fatalities that were retailer exclusives will be bundled into one DLC package," Boon writes. "Trailer coming on Friday." For those who haven't been keeping tabs on said content, it includes "classic" variants of Ermac, Jade, Kitana, Mileena, Reptile, Scorpion and Sub-Zero, along with additional fatalities for Reptile, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Hopefully Friday's trailer will be accompanied by a date and price, so we can note it on our kalendars and put aside some kash.
Mortal Kombat dev video turns fatalities inside out
This latest Mortal Kombat video takes a look inside of the game characters' infamous fatalities -- as opposed to all the character insides we've seen because of said fatalities. Surprisingly, it appears that a lot of love went into crafting the gruesome, ruthless maneuvers.
Mortal Kombat gets a few balance tweaks
NetherRealm Studios delivered a hotfix to Mortal Kombat over the weekend, making some overall balance changes and tweaking a few characters. Some non-specific changes include damage reduction on a few special moves and some adjustment to juggle combo damage scaling. Certain basic combos also saw their damage reduced as they were "doing too much damage without using any meter." This is actually the second hotfix delivered for Mortal Kombat. NetherRealm revealed in April that it had the ability to adjust the game's balance without the need for patches. Check out the complete list of changes after the break. We're just going to enjoy this sweet infinite combo we just discovered while we still can.
Mortal Kombat waives 'Kombat Pass' until PlayStation Store returns
The PlayStation 3 version of Mortal Kombat is seeing the end of an irksome TECHNICALITY: the "Kombat Pass," a token that is required for online play but cannot be redeemed while the PlayStation Store is offline, is being temporarily waived. Up until now, the pool of online combatants was limited to those who hastily activated their passes right before the PSN fell into a coma in late April. Writing on Mortal Kombat's official Facebook page, NetherRealm Studios confirmed that the game's online component should now be unlocked for all players, though it'll be cordoned off as soon as Sony re-opens the PlayStation Store (possibly by next week). The Kombat Pass code is included with all new copies of Mortal Kombat, and can be purchased separately for $9.99 once a free trial period expires. If you own a used copy of NetherRealm's well-received revamp, you now have an entire weekend to gauge the value of pulverizing pelvises over the internet.
Plastic Kombat ensues with new Mortal Kombat toys
Playing Mortal Kombat on a television is great and all, but we know real MK fans won't be satisfied until they can bring the fight to their cubicle, desk or kitchen table. Jazwares is happy to oblige and has announced a new line of Mortal Kombat action figures. Four have been revealed so far, including Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden and our personal favorite, young Ronald Reagan. The figures should hit shelves this summer, with Toy News International reporting that Jazwares is also planning exclusive figures for Toys "R" Us and the San Diego Comic-Con. The company is currently asking fans to make suggestions for other Mortal Kombat figures on its Facebook page.
This young man is very serious about the Mortal Kombat theme, as well as the accordion
The young gentleman seen here is clearly both a talented accordion player and a very serious Mortal Kombat fan. After seeing him featured on Reddit, however, we didn't expect to find so many contemporaries! Apparently accordion and MK go together like ninjas and ... MK. Who knew?!
April NPD: Mortal Kombat wins for Outworld, Xbox is top console again
The Mortal Kombat reboot rose up against franchise fatigue, an incapacitated PSN, and space-time-tunneling competition to claim the top spot on the NPD's April sales charts. Turns out there's a big audience out there for seeing inside some dude's body as his bones are breaking. Oh, and for accessible, fast-paced fighting games. (But mostly the X-ray bone breaks.) According to the NPD, Mortal Kombat sold just under 900K copies. Portal 2, of course, came in at No. 2. Likely as a result of these two games, total US spending was up 20 percent year-over year, from $802.4 million in 2010 to $961.2 million in 2011. Microsoft can also claim some responsibility for the high numbers -- it informed us that the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console last month, moving 297,000 units (a year-over-year increase of 60 percent).
Zumba Fitness back on top of UK charts
Stop it. It's not funny anymore. Zumba Fitness returns to the top spot on the UK charts this week, following a two-week hiatus during which Portal 2 enjoyed the spotlight. With no significant new titles last week, the charts appear to be an energetic shuffle of the regulars. Portal 2 sales were down 43 percent and hit second place, while Mortal Kombat dropped by 52-percent into third. Call of Duty: Black Ops moved up a spot and took fourth, likely due to the promotion of last week's "Escalation" map pack. Everything else is pretty standard -- case in point: Just Dance 2 is hanging out in tenth. Check out the UK top ten after the break.
South Australian AG will support R18+ rating if 15+ is scrapped
South Australian Attorney-General John Rau will support the introduction of the long-awaited R18+ classification for games in the region, if the country gets rid of MA15+. Rau's version of video games would change the system to G, PG, M (PG-13) and R18+. "At the moment, the MA15+ classification is like a crossover point between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable," Rau said, reports ABC News. "We want that to be a very clear gap. We will have a new classification R18+ and the MA15+ will disappear." Australia's Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, who has all but demanded that the various, resistant attorneys-general meet and come to a consensus on an R18+ rating for video game at a meeting in July.
It's 'Portal Kombat' atop the UK charts
Portal 2 nabbed the top spot on the UK software sales chart last week, followed by Warner Bros. Interactive's Mortal Kombat reboot in second place. According to Chart-Track, Portal 2 was actually Valve's first ever all-formats chart topper -- the closest the company ever got to the crown was with The Orange Box, which reached third place. Call of Duty: Black Ops "price promotions" in the region caused Activision's behemoth to jump back into the the top three, followed by last week's chart topper, Zumba Fitness, which still increased sales by 10 percent last week. The top five was rounded out by the blockheads of Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars. Operation Flashpoint: Red River also had a solid debut, entering the charts in sixth place. Check out the full top ten after the break. [Image: The Game Station's Portal Kombat]
Mortal Kombat review: Flawless victory
It's been nearly 20 years since the original Mortal Kombat debuted in arcades. It was a decent game that relied on two gimmicks -- gore and digitized fighters -- to gain notoriety. Now the ninth game in the franchise it spawned is here, and while the gore is still there, it's completely overshadowed by just how exceptional a game this is overall. Series co-creator (ko-kreator?) Ed Boon and his team at NetherRealm Studios have created something that you can't help but see their blood, sweat and tears in. Sure, it's campy as all get-out, but it's also one of the most polished, deep and enjoyable fighting games I've ever played.%Gallery-120488%
Montage(s)! Mortal Kombat Fatalities, Stage Fatalities and Babalities!
Spotting every Fatality, Stage Fatality and Babality in a Mortal Kombat game used to cost you hundreds of quarters, a copy of Tips & Tricks magazine and a whole lot of time. Now, it's as simple as jumping past the break, where we've got three montages queued up featuring the latest Mortal Kombat's trademark 'alities. Perhaps you feel guilty? We get it – you were raised on a diet of hard work, which you washed down with a tall glass of trial and error, and you're not about to freebase dozens of 'alities because we made it so simple. Fine, we respect that. Now, if you'll excuse us ...
NetherRealm can rebalance Mortal Kombat on the fly, no patches needed
Reptile's acid spit too powerful? Does Raiden have a super cheap infinite combo? Not to worry, as Mortal Kombat maestro Ed Boon revealed to Eurogamer that the latest entry in the series can be balanced at any time -- without the need to download a patch. Boon noted that if a character is discovered to be too powerful, or if an inventive player discovers an infinite combo, developer NetherRealm is able to "make adjustments and address those things immediately." Precise details on how this works were not revealed, with Boon stating only that the dynamic updates are "built into the system" and don't require a patch. Mortal Kombat isn't the first game to utilize dynamic updates. Certain Xbox Live Arcade games have managed similar on-the-fly updates using Title Managed Storage, a limited amount of Xbox Live server space Microsoft grants its developers. This system allows Monday Night Combat to receive balance tweaks and is also what powers "Teh Internets" levels found in Super Meat Boy.
