MORTAL KOMBAT

[King Of Nowhere]

New trailer type thingy.

[Heyoucantlaughatthat]

New trailer type thingy.

That plot looked way more interesting and coherent than I would have predicted.

[BuckyO'harre]

Scorpion should'a hit that, yo.

[Spandau Belly]

New trailer type thingy.

Oh man, when Liu Kang gets chucked across that ice floor with no shirt I thought we were going to get a Dumb and Dumber tongue on the steel poll moment.

The voice acting is total shit, but I'm still really looking forward to this game in a couple weeks. I looks like they still get what I want from a fighting game. I mean, I have a good time playing Soul Calibur and DOA was okay, but I really miss the good old days when jumping was actually useful and your guys could shoot projectiles 'n shit. I've been in my share of real fights and I know that in reality jumping is pretty useless and most of us can't shoot fireballs, but we don't play games for realism, do we?

Still a shame about no Johnny Cage. I would've gladly sacrificed Jax's inclusion in this game to see Cage split punch Superman in the balls.

[Hermanator X]

And in other news, the insane Joker Fatality move has been trimmed for the US version of the game, with the fatal shot taking place of camera, but the European version is the full bloody version.

[Spandau Belly]

And in other news, the insane Joker Fatality move has been trimmed for the US version of the game, with the fatal shot taking place of camera, but the European version is the full bloody version.

Please tell me Canada is in Europe.

[Pacino86845]

Wow this actually looks decent... but it is a huge shame they cut the Joker fatality. You can see more of some fighting here.

[Spandau Belly]

I've been playing this for a bit now and I'll say that I'm having a really good time. I think they've done a good job melding these two worlds. They kinda meet in the middle, MK loses a bit of its gorey fatalities, DC loses a bit of its regal stoicism. And for the most part these characters actually look like they belong together. Sub-Zero looks like he could be a Batman villain, Catwoman looks like she could be a MK character, and Jax, Sonya and Lex Luther all look like they should hang out. I'm not much a comic book reader and I'd never heard of this Deathstroke guy before, but I would've thought he was just an MK character if they hadn't told me otherwise. So for the most part the worlds are a good fit, and unlike any other fighting game there's actually a story. I'm not talking a DOA4 style 30 second cut scene where two characters both want the same head of lettuce and a fight breaks out, I mean there's an actual story. For serious.

I don't know how many of you guys are like me, but most of my friends are not master gamers. And I really like fighter gamers for the 2 player mode for when I have people over to my place. The problem with other newschool fighters is that they aren't pick-up-and-play enough. My friends either can't learn the fighting systems fast enough to make it worthwhile and enjoyable, or in the case of DOA4 and VF5 the system allows for players to get caught up in endless long combo strings where it's just frustrating to be on the receiving end. MK vs DC is pretty good for the most part, they keep it nice and simple. There's some Klose Kombat and Freefall Kombat modes that come up every now and then that take a bit of mastering but at least they're so entertaining looking that my friends don't mind being on the recieving end of a beating cause it all just looks so cool. There are some of the same issues as every 3D fighter where the hit detection occasionally screws up, but this one is pretty good. So the pick-up-and-play factor is great but there's also a reward to learning the different characters, but they're balanced enough that a newbie won't just fuckup and not pick one of the two good fighters and get his handed to him. If I had a problem it was that the different characters actually had too much overlap and not enough powers were exlcusive. They all have a projectile they can shoot, they all have a stun device, they all have a teleport.

So this game is pretty good. Like you guys, I wished they'd kept the gorey fatalities. I would've loved to have seen Batman get his head ripped off. And I think there was a way to still make the fatalities entertaining without making them gorefests and in some cases they did, but in most not so much. But this game is still more violent than any other fighter on this generation of game platform, strangely more violent than Soulcalibur 4 in which the characters are constantly stabbing each other but no blood or wounds happen. When you uppercut a guy in MK vs DC it still looks like a bucket of red Kool-Aid flew out of his mouth, plus lots of stabbing complete with snickersnacker noise. I also miss The Pit and the sewer of acid you could knock the other guy into. And I don't know if this game includes Babalities and Friendships and I just haven't found them yet or if they're not there.

Despite being less gorey, they're definately shoving tits in your face the whole game. All the female characters have the "implant look" where their breasts are really big and look bolted on and sit 4 inches apart on their chests. Which I think is pretty accurate because naturally large-breasted women don't have to work for shit, they live their whole lives getting treated like queens. It's the chicks who have to save up for implants that have something to prove and harbour resentments and are therefore more likely to become ninjas etc. Still, those things are probably inconvinient for some special ops type like Sonja when she's doing army manouevres 'n shit, but I bet Jax likes them.

And even though this mashup turned out well, I think pitting MK against DC was the wrong crossover. I think they should've gone with MK versus Legends of Horror so that we could see the MK crew fight Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, Pinhead, Leatherface etc. The gorey gothic multilation fest between these two would fit even more naturally than with these comic book characters and players would live to see the fatalities. Maybe next time.

[buster00]

And even though this mashup turned out well, I think pitting MK against DC was the wrong crossover. I think they should've gone with MK versus Legends of Horror so that we could see the MK crew fight Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, Pinhead, Leatherface etc. The gorey gothic multilation fest between these two would fit even more naturally than with these comic book characters and players would live to see the fatalities. Maybe next time.

Dude, that is a billion dollar idea. I would love to see a game like that.

[buster00]

A friend of mine scored MK vs DC for Christmas. We've been having a great time with it!

/would still like to see MK vs Legends of Horror
//or MK vs Land of Oz. That would be cool too.

[King Of Nowhere]

I'm sure i've said this here before.
Maybe in some other part of aicn.

Anyway...

MK vs LoH wouldn't work for multiple reasons.

1) Blandness.
Aside from Pinhead (chains) & Freddy (Dhalsim-esque extending arm), none of the characters really differentiate from each other.

1) Speed!
Ever since SF2 let you adjust the pace, fighting games have been fast. Michael Myers moves slow as fuck, recovering from a hit would take him 10 seconds. It's just not practical.

3)Roster.
Aside from Leatherface, Freddy, Pinhead, MM & Jason, who the fuck would be in it?
Evil ash? i don't think so
Dracula, Wolfman, Frankensteins monster? Yeah, Universal are really gonna lease out their characters to fight along side Leatherface & the glove that built New Line.
Leprechaun? Midgets fighting? Really?
Chucky? see: Leprechaun
Hannibal? Oh, do his special moves include sitting on his arse while all the action happens?
Fool Moon's Puppets? a worse idea than Leprechaun.
Fucking Killer Robots aka Killbots from Chopping Mall? Yeah, maybe if people knew the movie existed.
Angela? i suppose. the Fatality where she* rips off her* clothes & stares at the player with her* mouth gaping wide would be quite good.

4) Fanboyism.
There's a reason why Mugen exists.


*Yeah, i'm not posting Sleepaway Camp spoilers.
(W)Anchor Bay already did a wonderful job of that on the DVD cover.



sigh

[Spandau Belly]

King Of Nowhere makes some good points.

I know in Soul Calibur 4, having Yoda in there caused some big technical problems and Chucky and Leprechaun would probably cause the same problems in an MK game, unless they played with one standing on the other's shoulders, which is something I would love to see.

And I think there is some room for overlap. I realize Letherface and Jason and Michael Meyers have a lot of similiarities, but I found MK vs DC handled the same dilemma pretty well. Lex Luther and Jax had a lot of overlap but enough different to make them both worth having. Same for Superman and Captain Marvel Shazam. You just give one guy more grabs, one guy more projectiles, and one guy more melee attacks. It can all work out.

I would also like to see Willard with various rat attacks. The Creature From Black Lagoon depicted kinda like Abe Sapien from Hellboy. And Candyman can chuck beehives at you.

As for those other classic characters like Wolfman, Dracula, etc. Does a studio actually own the characters or just a certain incarnation of them? I realize doing Dracula as Gary Oldman would step on somebody's toes, but hasn't the copyright on Bram Stoker's creation gone public? These aren't rhethorical questions, I'm really asking.

I realize fighting games these days want enormous rosters, but I liked MK vs DC for having a smaller roster. I played one Dragonball game at a buddy's house one time and the character select screen looked like a Where's Waldo book. So 16 characters in total is fine by me.



I would also ask that when Scorpion does his fire breathing fatality that Elvira pop up in the corner of the screen and say "Toasty!", tassel tricks optional.

[King Of Nowhere]

King Of Nowhere makes some good points.

I know in Soul Calibur 4, having Yoda in there caused some big technical problems and Chucky and Leprechaun would probably cause the same problems in an MK game, unless they played with one standing on the other's shoulders, which is something I would love to see.

And I think there is some room for overlap. I realize Letherface and Jason and Michael Meyers have a lot of similiarities, but I found MK vs DC handled the same dilemma pretty well. Lex Luther and Jax had a lot of overlap but enough different to make them both worth having. Same for Superman and Captain Marvel Shazam. You just give one guy more grabs, one guy more projectiles, and one guy more melee attacks. It can all work out.

I would also like to see Willard with various rat attacks. The Creature From Black Lagoon depicted kinda like Abe Sapien from Hellboy. And Candyman can chuck beehives at you.

As for those other classic characters like Wolfman, Dracula, etc. Does a studio actually own the characters or just a certain incarnation of them? I realize doing Dracula as Gary Oldman would step on somebody's toes, but hasn't the copyright on Bram Stoker's creation gone public? These aren't rhethorical questions, I'm really asking.

I realize fighting games these days want enormous rosters, but I liked MK vs DC for having a smaller roster. I played one Dragonball game at a buddy's house one time and the character select screen looked like a Where's Waldo book. So 16 characters in total is fine by me.



I would also ask that when Scorpion does his fire breathing fatality that Elvira pop up in the corner of the screen and say "Toasty!", tassel tricks optional.

Universal own the majority of interpretations by just hammering out films with those character in.
Hammer own the Christopher Lee version.
Various other studios own their versions.
The point in having these characters in the game would be because they are memorable.
It would make sense to model Dracula on Gary Oldman, Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee & not, i dunno, Butler.
Frankenstein's monster doesn't really work the same way though, Bobby De Niro was kinda shit in the role anyway.


The character list works in MK vs DC because the characters were made to be similar to each other.
Deathstroke & Kano
Batman & Sub Zero
Luthor & Jax
Darkseid & Kahn
Cpt. Marvel & Raiden...

But imagine if that list read:
Jax & Frankenstein
Scorpion & Pinhead
Baraka & Jason, Leatherface, MM, Wolfman, Dracula...

Having multiple characters on the horror side resemble one on the MK side would be horrible & make the game incredibly unbalanced.
Also, you cant really give MM, Leatherface or Jason projectiles unless one of them happens to be concealing a crossbow at the time.

Seriously, The horror characters would work better in a Street Fighter type game where characters don't have as much "magic" moves.
In saying that, Capcom already have the Darkstalkers games which have characters based on old horror villains like Dracula, Wolfman & so on.

Maybe Capcom should just revive that franchise next, it's been long enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDUbuU8ChYE&feature=related


EDIT: Here's a video of a fan made MK style engine fighter called Terrordome.
Look at how shit Myers is.

[Spandau Belly]

I've given this some thought, and I think there is a way to give various horror legend character different fighting styles.

I would say Freddy Kruger would fight most like Kitana, only his stretchy arms acting in the place of thrown fans and fan waves.

Pinhead would be like Shang Tsung. An illusionist type character who's greatest strengths are more disorienting his opponent through teleports and locations swaps. Plus some stun attacks.

Jason would be more like Scorpion. A good attack-oriented character. He could teleport by vanishing in and out of fog. And throw machetes and flaming logs from camp fires.

Michael Meyers would be like Shao Kahn. A big lumbering guy with slow speed and poor movement, but very strong proximity attacks and long range with physical attacks.

Candyman would be like Sub Zero. He could stun you by throwing beehives and stuff.

Leatherface would be more like Kano, a crazy rampaging maniac with good speed but little precision.



I really believe this could be done without bastardizing the characters and without having too much overlap among the characters' ability. But since it never will happen, we'll never know.

[King Of Nowhere]

Midway just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Don't expect the next (and last) MK game to be anything special (read: no crossovers).

[Pacino86845]

I just rented MK vs DC for XBox 360... I like the premise, the cast of characters, and the look of the game. Also the story is done pretty well in terms of tying all the matches together. I don't really understand why there aren't fatalities in the story mode, who cares if the characters are "dying" throughout... it's not like the game is realistic to begin with.

My biggest complaint so far, and it's a deal breaker, has to do with the controls. Wow, I'm not able to do any of the fatalities and the moves show up at random. The best control comes with using the analog stick on the controller, but you can't jump without holding down the left trigger. Using the d-pad you get the "classic" console controls for the game, but the xbox360 d-pad control is completely FUBAR, how did they put out such a shitty product (I'm referring to the xbox controller itself, not the game)? I guess it'd only affect games with similar controls as MK, but still it's a shame as MK vs DC would've been enjoyable if not for the shoddy d-pad controls.

[King Of Nowhere]

The 360 d-pad is widely known as the worst d-pad in existence.
Get yourself a stick or even a 3rd party controller.

I had no problem with the moves using the pad for MKvsDC though, mainly because it doesn't use diagonals that much.
You can mix it up by pressing down & up on the d-pad & left & right on the analogue stick.
Takes a while to get used to but it may feel more comfortable in the long run.

[Pacino86845]

Pressing forward or backward on the d-pad though, it often sets off the diagonals and my characters end up flipping around instead of throwing lightning bolts or whatever. I've basically been playing with the analog stick except when it came time to do a fatality, where I'd switch to the d-pad for more "control." After two hours of playing (mostly story mode though), I have yet to do a fatality... I know my skillz are crap since I'm not really a gamer, but once upon a time I used to be a gamer and I hate this friggin' d-pad!!!

But the game is actually pretty awesome! Did anyone else think that Wonder Woman in this game is the spitting image of Nicole Kidman?

[Spandau Belly]

But the game is actually pretty awesome! Did anyone else think that Wonder Woman in this game is the spitting image of Nicole Kidman?

=



or

[Spandau Belly]

I just rented MK vs DC for XBox 360... I like the premise, the cast of characters, and the look of the game. Also the story is done pretty well in terms of tying all the matches together. I don't really understand why there aren't fatalities in the story mode, who cares if the characters are "dying" throughout... it's not like the game is realistic to begin with.

My biggest complaint so far, and it's a deal breaker, has to do with the controls. Wow, I'm not able to do any of the fatalities and the moves show up at random. The best control comes with using the analog stick on the controller, but you can't jump without holding down the left trigger. Using the d-pad you get the "classic" console controls for the game, but the xbox360 d-pad control is completely FUBAR, how did they put out such a shitty product (I'm referring to the xbox controller itself, not the game)? I guess it'd only affect games with similar controls as MK, but still it's a shame as MK vs DC would've been enjoyable if not for the shoddy d-pad controls.

I can't say I've had any trouble with the controls. In fact, I find it the easiest fighting game in which to perform special moves. In Street Fighter 4, I find the ultras a pisser to pull off.

The fatalities are tricky more because of where you have to stand in relation to the victim. It's kinda stupid because sometimes you're standing right next to your victim when you enter the button combo and then it cuts to the cutscene and your player is standing further back.

And in story mode all the characters come back throughout the story so that's why you can't kill them. But I agree with you, who cares? If they ask me to believe all this other wacky stuff then why can't Liu Kang have survived Scoprion ligniting him with his skull fire?

[TheButcher]

From IGN: Ed Boon: 'Mortal Kombat 9' Will Be Rated M

[Spandau Belly]

Ed is going to have to do more than put some severed heads back in this series because there's little room for improvement over MK vs DC, that game looked great, sounded great, played great.

Until MK vs DC, I hadn't played an MK game since MK3, but from what I hear they've tried a lot of experimental stuff that didn't quite work out. I've heard things about 'stances' that made the game too complicated and some weapons that were hard to use and loads of characters that failed ot become iconic like the ones from the first two games.

I dunno, I thought they integrated the comic book guys really well with the MK guys, so a game that's just pure MK isn't really enough to make me shell out $50 to own it. But maybe Ed has some revolutionary tricks up his sleeve.

[King Of Nowhere]

Don't be holding your breath for the next MK game.
Warner have laid off both Midway development houses.

A producer behind the MK TV shows & Films is also in a legal battle with Warner.

[TheButcher]

From MKO:
Warner Bros. Registers Sonya Blade Trademark

[TheButcher]

'Mortal Kombat Rebirth'? Is This A Movie Tease? Game Trailer?

[Nachokoolaid]

I watched that. I thought it was kickass. And outside of Black Dynamite, that might be the best acting that Michael Jai White has ever done. I hope that it's a trailer for a game AND a film, based on how strong that was. An R rated Mortal Kombat film would be kickass, indeed.

[King Of Nowhere]

Actress Jeri Ryan, seen in the short playing Sonya Blade, offered further comment about the project on Twitter. "It's not a game trailer," Ryan said. "Actually was made for the director to sell WB on his vision for a reimagined MK film." She said she had "No idea yet what WB's reaction to it was."

[Hermanator X]

New GAME trailer

A new Mortal Kombat is on the way. And fatalities are back.

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment just revealed that the famous fighting franchise will return on the Xbox 60 and PlayStation 3 in 2011 in a new MK that will be played in 2D.

The company says that the game will include extensive online play, a "tag-team" game option that supports up to four players in two-person teams and "the deepest story mode of any fighting game." The game will also support classic 1 vs. 1 combat. The graphics engine is said to be brand-new.

MK creator Ed Boon is overseeing the project, which is in development at the new MK-centric NetherRealm Studios in Chicago. "This game really is a response to what players have been demanding," Boon said in a press release, "mature presentation, reinvented 2D fighting mechanic and the best, most gruesome fatalities ever!"

Mortal Kombat was last seen in video game form in 2008's Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe, a T-rated game that toned down the series' classic violence so that Superman could tangle with Sub-Zero and friends. Mortal Kombat has been in the news this week thanks to the Mortal Kombat Rebirth movie pitch trailer that we showcased here on Kotaku.

[TheButcher]

From Game Spot:
Mortal Kombat set for 360, PS3 in 2011 - Ed Boon-led NetherRealm Studios promises "most gruesome fatalities ever," cooperative and competitive tag-team modes.

It's been almost exactly a year since Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon first promised that the next installment in the violent fighting game franchise would receive an M-for-Mature rating after a T-for-Teen crossover with DC Universe characters. Today, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment officially announced that project, simply called Mortal Kombat, will arrive in 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

In announcing the game, the publisher played up its level of violence. WBIE president Martin Tremblay referred to the game as "re-establishing the brand" and Boon was quoted as promising the "most gruesome fatalities ever." That emphasis on violence was also reflected in a live-action teaser for a possible new Mortal Kombat movie that debuted earlier this week.

Beyond the series' signature gore, Mortal Kombat will also feature tag-team fighting gameplay. Gamers will be able to take their favorite pugilistic pairs online to compete against friends, or put aside their differences and play through the game's new cooperative arcade mode.

As always, Boon is shepherding the creation of the new Mortal Kombat, but the development team behind the game has a new name: NetherRealm Studios. A reference to the home of Mortal Kombat series antagonist Shao Kahn, the name reflects Boon's virtual tunnel vision on the franchise. Since the original Mortal Kombat debuted in arcades in 1992, Boon has worked almost exclusively on the fighter, with his most notable side project being the 2001 arcade shooter The Grid.

[Pacino86845]

The move back to the 2D realm is the most exciting aspect of this news.

[TheButcher]

IGN Gamescom: Mortal Kombat First Look

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe looks like Sesame Street in comparison to what Warner Bros. is doing for the franchise reboot on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

[Pacino86845]

Mortal Kombat vs DC was Sesame Street compared to any Mortal Kombat game.

While the move back to 2D is welcome IMO, it doesn't look that great. MK was always sort of torture porn: the video game, and not really a fighter worthy of such a long legacy. The controls were always wonky and since they went 3D they lost what distinguished them aesthetically from other fighters. Even now it looks like they're cheaply imitating what Street Fighter has become. Would've been more interesting to see them try something different with the visuals.

But at least the fatalities look good.

[so sorry]

I'll say this about that Mortal Combat trailer: it didn't make me go into an epileptic fit like the Street Fighter vs. Marvel one did.

[Spandau Belly]

Looks fun, the graphics and the gameplay don't look any different from MK vs DC. From what I understand they've just stripped out stuff from MK vs DC such as the freefall beatings and wallsmash struggles so that they will have a simple 2D fighter just like STREET FIGHTER 4 where the action just goes back and forth in a small non-interactive arena.

I like the visual damage on the fighters. They had that in MK vs DC, but a lot of the time the damage was too subtle to see outside of the close beating mode.

So they've stripped out some gameplay aspects that really annoyed some people, but I thought were kind of a cute novelty, and they've added super gore back even though MK vs DC was still really violent, so I definately don't see anything worth paying full price for. I like MK and I've enjoyed SF4's return to old school fighting, so I'll probably wait until next Christmas and pick this up when the price has dropped.

[Spandau Belly]

Here is where the Mortal Kombat team are putting all their videos about the new game.

It's really funny to watch them try to honour their own legacy by downplaying the advancements in technology. I mean, jeez, you're not dissing Scorpion by simply admitting that the PS3 has more technical capabilities than the SuperNintendo.

http://www.youtube.com/MKCommunityManager

I really like the little History Channel thing of The Pit thing like it's The Statue of Liberty or something.

[TheButcher]

Game Trailers:
VGA 10: Exclusive Kratos Reveal Trailer

Mortal Kombat - VGA 10: Exclusive Kratos Reveal Trailer

[TheButcher]

From IGN:
Kratos Playable in Mortal Kombat - Reported leak also reveals 10 new characters.

According to a report in the Official PlayStation Magazine (via StickSkills), Kratos will be an exclusive playable character in the PS3 version only. He'll even have his own fatalities, combat moves, and God of War-themed combat arena. Unfortunately, it looks as though Kratos will not be available for the game's story mode.

No word yet on what, if any, exclusive characters will appear in the Xbox 360 version.

Also making the rounds this morning is a potential leak of ten new characters appearing the game.

According to fan site TRMK, purported audio files from the game were accidently made public on the official website, revealing still-unannounced characters, game modes, and stage music. The files have since been removed, but not before someone was able to do some digging.

Here's the list of characters found:

- Goro
- Quan Chi
- Stryker
- Noob Saibot
- Sindel
- Kabal
- Shao Kahn
- Smoke
- Shang Tsung
- Ermac

Also according to the website, separate audio files suggest the classic "Test Your Might" mini-game will be making a return.

IGN has contacted Warner Bros. for comment on the supposed leak. We'll post their response when we hear back.

[TheButcher]

From Stick Skills:
KRATOS TO STAR IN UPCOMING MORTAL KOMBAT

Mortal Kombat has seen quite a few changes, mishaps, and styles over the long history of the franchise. After a not so well received Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe hit the market, Ed Boon and the Mortal Kombat franchise are looking to rebound with an exclusive character on at least one of the consoles.

Thanks to the January issue of the Official Playstation Magazine, we've learned just who that character is. When Mortal Kombat drops next year in March, Playstation 3 owners will be able to use an exclusive character none other than Kratos himself from the God of War series. Not only will Kratos be featured in the game, he'll have his own fatalities, combat moves, and his very own God of War themed combat arena.

While Kratos will be featured in the game, he won't be a playable character in the story mode. We're rather happy to see Kratos make his entry into the Mortal Kombat series, as he's known as one of the more iconic members of the Playstation 3 family and he loves violence.

Earlier in the year, around the time of E3, the idea was sparked by the HipHopGamerShow that Kratos would be making his way into the Mortal Kombat series. A few months later, and we finally have the official proof off the addition of of Kratos in the iconic series.

The January issue of the Official Playstation Magazine will go on sale later this week, be sure to pick it up to catch all of the details on Kratos and more.

[Spandau Belly]

If Butchy's scoop is accurate, then the cast of currently revealed characters is:

scorpion
sub zero
reptile
smoke
mileena
kitana
cyrax
ermac
johnny cage
rayden
shao kahn
jax
noob saibot
shang tsung
kung lao
nightwolf
sonya
kabal
sindel
goro
stryker
quan chi
kratos (for PS3)

And I have a hard time imagining that they will omit Kano, Liu Kang, or Baraka. With those three it would bring the cast to 24 characters, about what Boon said he was aiming for.

If the PS3 players get Kratos, maybe us XBox guys will get one of the Viva Pinata characters. Hudson Harstacio for the win.
But they'll probably go with some Halo guy like they did for the guest character in DOA4.

[King Of Nowhere]

Bah, the pc version is getting BLU Scout from TF2.

"Need a fatality here"
"need a fatality here"
"Need a fatality here"
"need a fatality here"
"Need a fatality here"
"need a fatality here"

[Spandau Belly]

I've been revisiting MK vs DC lately and still having a lot of fun with it. The more I read about this next one, the better it sounds. Something I liked about MK vs DC was the silly story, and they say they are going for a much longer and bigger story for MK 9. The story wasn't just good because of the funny cut scenes, I also liked that it got you to try out all the different characters.

It sounds like they are also going for a lot of different modes of play both for single player and multiplayer.

No word yet as to whether the game will feature friendships, babalities, or animalities. I assume and hope we'll get at least one of those. I miss seeing Liu Kang boogie down. They have said that they are considering making additional finishing moves as a DLC, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did a 'babalities DLC pack'.

[TheButcher]

From MTV:
Goro, Jade Returning For Next 'Mortal Kombat' Game

[Spandau Belly]

This one has a lot of gameplay footage.

[TheButcher]

The official release date for Mortal Kombat in the US is April 19th, 2011.

[Spandau Belly]

Here is some cool stuff on the x-ray moves:



I don't really like that the robot characters are just people wearing robot suits. I'd rather they were actual robots and for their x-rays you would see circuit boards smashing and engines errupting, but whatevs, this is really cool.

I liked seeing Goro's skeleton.

[Pacino86845]

The x-ray thing is nice... gimmicky, but MK's hooks were always gimmicky: gore and fatalities. The addition of so many variations on fatalities was really cheap, the x-ray effect is a good balance of giving more and giving something new.

I still can't get over the fact that they imitated the new Street Fighter format: 3D graphics on a 2D plane. It had to be done, but they deserve to be lambasted for not coming up with it sooner, considering they'd been toying around with the 3D world a lot more than Street Fighter had. R-tards!

[Spandau Belly]

Aside from the gore gimmicks, MK's other big draw was accessibility. Anybody could pick it up and play and have fun, and they seem to be going back to that.

I really like fighting games, I would say I'm mediocre at actually playing them, and since the Supernintendo era I've had a hard time finding one that my novice player friends could pick up and have a bit of fun. They either got frustrated by the complicated control systems or the speed and difficulty of the game. It mostly has to do with how much of the time the player feels in control. Stuff like DOA where you get caught up in long combos watching your limp body get ragdolled around is really frustrating for casual players, even for me sometimes.

My friends liked MK vs DC, but it was weird, whenever one of the brief gimmick combat modes (freefall, closecombat, wallsmashing) would happen they would kinda freeze up and get nervous. Those modes definately looked really dynamic and were fun to watch for onlookers, but I think casual players would feel more in control of what was going on in a game where the action just moved back and forth and the controls stayed the same.

So going with a stripped down gameplay for this 'greatest hits' installment will probably get them the broadest audience. The x-ray moves look like pretty short cut scenes involving one or two hits and won't make casual players feel helpless for too long.

[Spandau Belly]

Here is a challenge tower mode similiar to the one in SOUL CALIBUR only with gimmicks a plenty!

[Spandau Belly]

Ed Boon discusses things he cannot discuss.

[Spandau Belly]

So I got this game and have been playing the shit out of it. It`s great. I recommend playing the story mode through first because it gets you to play as many different characters and give them a try and it also unlocks the two locked characters (Quan Chi and Cyber Sub Zero). But in story mode, the final fight against Shao Kahn is a bitch, he`s not that hard in the arcade tower. Shao Kahn really cracked my shit up, it`s obvious they modelled him after some Wrestlemania guy with constant showboating taunts such as `Feel the wrath of Shao Kahn!` and Ìt`s official, you suck!`, I swore the next line out of his mouth would be `Do you smell what the Kahn is cooking?`

Anyway, hours of amusement here kids. Thumbs up from me!