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Raiden enters the ring in electrifying Mortal Kombat footage
We know what some of you are thinking: Raiden from Metal Gear Solid is in Mortal Kombat? Boss! No, no, friends -- this is the original Raiden, god of thunder, who shoots lightning and flies through the air yelling something that sounds sorta like "play the ukelele!" Oh, and he's all about that hat.
UK Mortal Kombat tourney has a sweet arcade-size grand prize
The latest Mortal Kombat may be for consoles only, but that hasn't kept its publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive, from creating an arcade cabinet for the game ... which can only be had if you're the UK's best at MK. WBIE is teaming with GAME and GameStation to hold a tournament that runs from March 14 through April 11, culminating in a final round at the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham. The winner will take lug home the custom coin-op cabinet, which houses a PS3, meaning it can technically be used to play Super Street Fighter IV, the upcoming Tekken Tag Tournament 2, or any number of fighters on the platform. The cabinet's artwork depicts Scorpion on one side and Sub-Zero on the other -- and looks pretty amazing, if you ask us. Check it out for yourself in high-res via the gallery below.%Gallery-118808%
Mortal Kombat receives R18 in New Zealand (which means it's coming out)
Mortal Kombat may be combatting release issues in Australia, but the game is being officially allowed to pulverize faces (and everything else) across the water in New Zealand. The country's Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) gave Mortal Kombat an R18 rating recently, which is to say the game's content is "objectionable except if the availability of the publication is restricted to persons who have attained the age of 18 years." We imagine Kiwis responding to the classification by taking fistfulls of marmite and punching straight through box sets of Flight of the Conchords, while screaming "Get over here" in the general direction of WB Games Chicago. Or just quietly shouting "hooray!" One or the other.
Mortal Kombat preview: Didactic die tactic
After my release from school in the afternoon, I would march into the mediocre mall arcade with an earnest intent to learn. Rather than claiming the Mortal Kombat 3 machine with a coin, I'd drop a thick, stapled stack of A4 pages in the middle of the counter to signal my impending occupation -- and preliminary preoccupation with memorized violence. Starting with Shang Tsung in the top-left corner of the character select screen, I'd read and execute every move and combo for each fighter, line by line, glancing at the pages as I made my way through the arcade mode. If I could pull off every attack sequence for the active character, I'd allow myself to graduate to the fatality list and then cap my progress with a gory reward. This formulaic approach wasn't really born from any desire to be competitive -- rather, I envisioned defeating the game by seeing and knowing every attack, combo and piece of content. Victories against human opponents felt almost incidental. If you're the kind of player who enjoys the solitary, methodical act of executing and learning moves, you should know that April's Mortal Kombat reboot is very happy to show you the ropes, provided you're eager to strangle someone with them afterward.
Mortal Kombat introduces the 300-mission 'Challenge Tower'
As Mortal Kombat fights for classification in Australia, the marketing machine must continue rolling toward the game's April launch. A new video shows off "The Challenge Tower," a set of 300 missions in which players must master many of the game's mechanics. The Tower includes cheeky fight challenges, like Scorpion not accepting a teddy bear from Mileena, in addition to more sobering tests involving environmental dangers or fighting without arms. One of the more interesting challenges shown in the clip requires players to switch between Sub-Zero and Scorpion to match the color of Shao Kahn's shifting outfit in order to damage him. PlayStation Plus members can check out the demo for the game next week, and everyone can view the Challenge Tower featurette after the break.
Mortal Kombat Liu Kang trailer is noisy, nasty
Liu Kang has never been the strong, silent type. Generally, he's about as quiet as a Pomeranian trapped in a tumble drier. Based on this latest trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat, he hasn't changed much. Now, whether that's a good thing or bad thing? That boils down to personal preference.
Noob Saibot wants you to fear him in this Mortal Kombat trailer
You know, black leather and ominous threats may have worked in the '90s, but those kind of scare tactics won't cut it nowadays. All of the voice distortion devices in the world won't make us -- wait, your shadows can actually kill people? Uh, forget we ever said anything.
Mortal Kombat dev gives how-to lesson on Fatality design
You may have wondered, from time to time, how designers have come up with the many, many Mortal Kombat Fatalities through the years. We always figured the finishing moves were borrowed from the margins of 5th grade boys' spiral notebooks -- and that might not be too far off. NetherRealm director of art Steve Beran has detailed the Mortal Kombat reboot development team's design process for Fatalities, which starts with a brainstorming session. He notes on the PlayStation Blog that ideas can come from anywhere, including "gruesome murder news stories, old horror movies and actual nightmares" -- and even a 5th grader's doodles, we suppose. Once an idea sticks, MK co-creator Ed Boon storyboards the concept, as seen above. The storyboard is then used as the basis for a motion capture session and, finally, the motion capture wire-frame data is fleshed out for use in the game by the animation and cinematics groups. The whole process essentially boils down to good, old-fashioned spit balling. Hmmm, that actually sounds like a good Fatality for Reptile: "The Spit Ball." Pardon us while shoot an email off to Ed Boon.
Liu Kang leads Mortal Kombat's new album
While the nature of Mortal Kombat's Liu Kang character may be well established by now (he's the good guy), this trailer for the new game still has some new stuff in it. For example, the music in this video is "Liu Kang's Theme" by Congorock, one of the tracks from the new album "Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired by the Warriors," which you can look forward to in April. If you can't wait, you can download this track now from iTunes or Amazon MP3! The other new info comes at the end, when the Scorpion and Sub-Zero "figurines" from the Kollector's Edition are revealed. They aren't just figurines, they're bookends! Look, they're impaling all your books. Adorable.
Mortal Kombat and MK: Annihilation Blu-rays include costume for game
With the launch of Mortal Kombat's current-gen reboot getting closer by the day, Warner Bros. is ramping up promotion by announcing the Blu-ray release of both the Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation movies. The films will be sold individually and packed with various special features, most notably a "free exclusive Jade character costume download" for the PlayStation 3 version of the game, included with both movies. Blu-ray.com details each film's Blu-ray extras, and pins an April 19 launch date on them. And, wouldn't you know it, that's the same day that the game comes out!
Mad Catz making replacement FightStick panel for Mortal Kombat
The Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition arcade stick is great for Mortal Kombat, but isn't really usable for other games, due to the unique layout. During a Level|Up Live event, Mad Catz's Mark "MarkMan" Julio unveiled Mad Catz's novel Mortal Kombat solution: a replacement panel for current Tournament Edition FightSticks, allowing you to have arcade-perfect controls for multiple games with the same stick. The Mortal Kombat "Kombat Fight Stick Ultimate Edition Panel" allows users to replace the button layout of the edition Tournament Edition FightStick with one that approximates the classic Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 arcade panel, which is also used in the new Mortal Kombat. The buttons are a little closer together in this version for the sake of ergonomics. No price or release date was announced, but the panel will be available from Mad Catz's online store.
Warning: Mortal Kombat's 'X-ray moves' revealed in this trailer
This Mortal Kombat trailer shows off the new "X-ray mode," attacks that give an inside look at the damage caused. We wish this tech had been around for Mortal Kombat 2, so we could understand the anatomical makeup of all those people who seemed to be made entirely of arm bones and intestines.
Video: Mileena gets stab-happy in Mortal Kombat
Way back in Mortal Kombat 2, it was kind of a secret that beautiful Mileena was really a hideous monster underneath the mask. In the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, she wears her monstrous heritage on her sleeve. She's also a bit more ... is stabby the right word? Yeah, we're going to go with stabby.
Ed Boon outs potential downloadable characters for new Mortal Kombat
A recent Tweet from Mortal Kombat mastermind Ed Boon has revealed a few characters that might end up in DLC packs for the upcoming, relaunched fighter. Boon asked his followers, "Tell me your order of preference for a DLC character. Rain, Shinnok, Kenshi, Robo-smoke, or new character?" In a later Tweet, he also added Mortal Kombat 4 brawler Tanya to the list of potential kombatants. There's really only one fair way to settle this dispute: With a global championship where martial artists fight to the death to determine the fate of the Earthrealm. By which, of course, we mean an Official Joystiq Poll™: %Poll-58668%
Report: Goro and Jade confirmed for Mortal Kombat
What has six arms and throws one mean boomerang? Mortal Kombat's Jade and Goro, of course! The pallet-swapped assassin and perennial boss character will be joining the roster of this year's Mortal Kombat reboot, according to the latest issue of Game Informer (via Mortal Kombat Online). Reportedly, NetherRealm's Ed Boon also notes in the magazine that the developer is considering adding an exclusive character to the Xbox 360 version of the game. This comes in the wake of news that God of War's Kratos will be available exclusively in the PlayStation 3 version. Our vote: Marcus Fenix, because he's over-the-top enough for Mortal Kombat and he cuts people in half like every five seconds.
PDP discusses American-style design of Mortal Kombat arcade stick
According to Gerry Block, senior product manager for PDP, the differences between the arcade stick packaged with the $150 Tournament Edition of Mortal Kombat and the popular Street Fighter FightSticks produced by Mad Catz is culturally based. "Mad Catz did some good work with the Tournament Edition (Street Fighter IV) sticks," Block told Kotaku, "but those are Japanese style sticks for a Japanese game. We thought it would be a lot of fun to respond with an American style stick for an American fighting franchise." That's why the MK stick has parts more traditionally associated with American arcade machines: a bat-top stick instead of a ball-top, concave buttons instead of convex, and parts made by Happ instead of Sanwa. That should make it the ideal stick for the American Mortal Kombat -- and only for Mortal Kombat, thanks to the wacky button layout that game uses. Other design elements aren't so much America-focused as just nice. The internal components are encased in easily removable transparent plastic for modding, and the bottom of the stick has a memory foam pad for comfortable use on your lap.
Mortal Kombat special edition images show up on GameStop.com
So, that's what Mortal Kombat's "portable fight stick" looks like, eh? GameStop has pictures of the fighting game reboot's Kollector's Edition and Tournament bundle. The fight stick features Suzo Happ parts and was designed by NetherRealm Studios. For those who haven't seen the inside of an arcade (or seen one at all) since the early '90s, the button layout on the fight stick may appear unconventional. Former Joystiqer and arcade fighting game proponent Jared Rea explains that it's been the button layout for the Mortal Kombat series since the third iteration, with previous versions lacking the lower-left "Run" button. He notes that most players tend to navigate this layout by having their ring or middle finger hover over the middle block button, moving their whole hand for attacks. Check out the gallery below for the Scorpion figurine, bundled with the Kollector's Edition. %Gallery-110562%
Kratos confirmed for Mortal Kombat, exclusive to PS3
As rumored this past week, Kratos was confirmed during tonight's Spike VGAs as playable in the forthcoming Mortal Kombat reboot. Scorpion's all "Get over here!" and Kratos is all "I don't think you know who I am!" You shoulda seen it! Well, actually, you can -- right now! The full debut of Kratos can be found after the break.
Rumor: Kratos in Mortal Kombat, exclusively on PS3
It seems that the constantly furious Kratos of God of War fame could be appearing exclusively on the PlayStation 3 version of this February's Mortal Kombat. Fighting game site Shoryuken claims the January issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine will detail as much, though copies of the magazine have yet to arrive in readers' hands. The Grecian rage machine will purportedly not appear in the game's story mode, but will rip apart characters in versus. Also, if the rumor is true, we're putting this out there right now: fatality featuring a stampeding Pegasus. Just sayin'! Anyway, between the issue's impending release and the nearing VGAs, we hope to hear more on Kratos' cameo soon. Who's next? Link in the Wii version -- oh, wait a minute ... [Thanks, Adam]
Alleged Mortal Kombat sound files hint at more kombatants, return of Brutalities
Realm of Gaming reports the leak of sound files allegedly hidden in an assets folder on the official Mortal Kombat site. The audio clips reveal not only the potential return of the "Test Your Might" minigame and the franchise's signature Brutalities, but also a plethora of characters, including: Ermac, Goro, Human Sektor, Kabal, Noob Saibot, Quan Chi, Shang Tsung, Sindel, Smoke and Stryker. Oh, and there's this beautiful end-round taunt from Johnny Cage: "You got caged!" The sound bytes have since been pulled from or relocated on the game site, but it would appear the damage has already been done: The files in question are currently downloadable from this Megaupload link. While they are not confirmation of the inclusion of any of these features or characters in the final release, the sound clips (if indeed authentic) at least suggest Netherrealm is playing around with said content -- then again, perhaps the studio just planted a mean red herring. We've contacted the developer for comment.
