After the full reveal at E3, excitement for <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_9/">Mortal Kombat (2011)</a> has been spreading all across the internet. From major media sites to reactions on Twitter, there is a definite buzz in the air around the game. Some of today's biggest excitement for those of us not at the show came with the leaking of a shaky cam video of a few of the game's Fatalities <a href="http://screwattack.com/videos/Hands-On-Mortal-Kombat">from the website Screw Attack</a>. You can watch the video below, but beware it's not for the queasy.
<center><object id="grp78185388" width="425" height="355" data="http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="movie" value="http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="ads=1&embed=1&pid=272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4&play%2Devent%2Dhandler=gr%2Evideos%2EplayerEventHandler&oid=grp78185388&autostart=1&cu=http%3A%2F%2Fscrewattack%2Ecom%2Fvideos%2FHands%2DOn%2DMortal%2DKombat&vi=701983ec04ddf208ca352c6f28128a6773e898cb&min%2Dage=0"></param><embed name="grp78185388" src="http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4" FlashVars="ads=1&embed=1&pid=272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4&play%2Devent%2Dhandler=gr%2Evideos%2EplayerEventHandler&oid=grp78185388&autostart=1&cu=http%3A%2F%2Fscrewattack%2Ecom%2Fvideos%2FHands%2DOn%2DMortal%2DKombat&vi=701983ec04ddf208ca352c6f28128a6773e898cb&min%2Dage=0" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object></center>
Sister site <a href="http://kamidogu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9173">Kamidogu.com put up a great overview of the game</a> along with a few booth pictures. Here is a small snippet that details the new dynamic blood system in the game:
Long time Mortal Kombat fan and friend of TRMK, <b>Dan Amrich</b> aka Activision's own <a href="http://www.oneofswords.com">One Of Swords</a> had a lot of good things to say about it.
<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_MainMenu_DanAmrich.jpg"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_MainMenu_DanAmrich_t.jpg"><br/>Click to Enlarge</a></center>
Another friend of TRMK and President of <a href="http://www.Robomodo.com">Robomodo</a>, <b>Josh Tsui</b> who previously worked on <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_4">Mortal Kombat 4</a> and <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_mythologies_sub_zero">MK Mythologies Sub-Zero</a> had a short message that he <a href="http://twitter.com/robojoshy/status/16318080052">sent to Ed Boon on Twitter</a>.
Newly re-launched video game magazine EGM also revealed that <a href="http://www.egmmediagroup.com/blog/page/276">Mortal Kombat</a> will be the cover story of their SUMMER 2010 issue</a>.
<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/EGM_239_Cover.jpg"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/EGM_239_Cover_t.jpg"><br/>Click to Enlarge</a></center>
GameSpot also <a href="http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265851">did a video interview with</a> a clearly excited Ed Boon. He discusses many things including online and single player modes that we will see much later.
<center><OBJECT classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" WIDTH=480 HEIGHT=310 id="videoPlayer"><PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/eidothea/release/eidothea.swf"><PARAM NAME=scale VALUE="noScale"><PARAM NAME=salign VALUE="lt"><PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high><PARAM NAME=allowscriptaccess VALUE="always"><PARAM NAME=flashvars VALUE="bwr=0&playerMode=embedded&movieAspect=16.9&mapp=embedded_480&gen=1&viewMode=sd&autoPlay=false¶msXML=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo_player%2Fxml.php%3Fid%3D6265851%26mode%3Dembedded%26width%3D480%26height%3D310%26newplayer%3D1%26skin%3DeidotheaEmbedded480_169.xml"><embed id="mymovie" width="480" height="310" flashvars="bwr=0&playerMode=embedded&movieAspect=16.9&mapp=embedded_480&gen=1&viewMode=sd&autoPlay=false¶msXML=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo_player%2Fxml.php%3Fid%3D6265851%26mode%3Dembedded%26width%3D480%26height%3D310%26newplayer%3D1%26skin%3DeidotheaEmbedded480_169.xml" wmode="opaque" allowscriptaccess="always" scale="noScale" salign="lt" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" name="mymovie" style="" src="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/eidothea/release/eidothea.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/></embed></OBJECT></center>
I wanted to bring up the <a href="http://ps3.ign.com/articles/109/1098513p1.html">interview with Ed Boon by IGN</a> again as in this interview they touched on something I've been feeling missing in Mortal Kombat.
I agree 100% with Ed, and feel that the game needs to ship with some hidden undocumented content. Stuff that you can't find in a Strategy Guide or even a moves or FAQ list until someone actually discovers it. The internet was in it's infancy but everyone in the newsgroups used to work together to uncover these hidden moves and secrets. This was great about the old arcade games, and I hope it's something they aim to do again with this game.
Also TRMK Forum member <a href="http://www.trmk.org/forums/member.php/4705-Tedakin">Tedakin</a> gave us his <a href="http://www.trmk.org/forums/showthread.php/12961-Saw-the-demo-at-E3.-Met-Ed-Boon.-My-thoughts.">review of the game</a>. He touched on how detailed and lively the game's backgrounds are this time around:
Tedakin also posted the first full picture of the game's select screen which clearly shows that Downloadable Content (DLC) will be possible in this game.
<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_SelectScreen_Tedakin.jpg"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_SelectScreen_Tedakin_t.jpg"><br/>Click to Enlarge</a></center>
Last but not least, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=199246&id=117266501638089">Mortal Kombat won GameSpot's E3 People's Choice award</a>. So congrats the whole team, it's well deserved. There are also plenty more awards for the game to win, so be sure to <a href="http://e3.gamespot.com/games.html?sort=votes&page=15">do your part and vote!</a>. It's also currently up for <a href="http://games.ign.com/articles/109/1094418p1.html">Best Fighting Game of E3 over at IGN</a>.
<b>Update</b>: Forgot <a href="http://kotaku.com/5565326/the-new-mortal-kombat-cuts-deeper-than-ever-before">Kotaku's very positive review of Mortal Kombat</a>:
Also <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/jeff/">Jeff Gerstmann</a> from <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/news/mortal-kombat-cuts-down-to-the-bone/2203/">Giant Bomb also just posted his review</a>. In this bit he dissects how the game is played, and mentions the market possibility for custom arcade sticks.
<center><object id="grp78185388" width="425" height="355" data="http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="movie" value="http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="ads=1&embed=1&pid=272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4&play%2Devent%2Dhandler=gr%2Evideos%2EplayerEventHandler&oid=grp78185388&autostart=1&cu=http%3A%2F%2Fscrewattack%2Ecom%2Fvideos%2FHands%2DOn%2DMortal%2DKombat&vi=701983ec04ddf208ca352c6f28128a6773e898cb&min%2Dage=0"></param><embed name="grp78185388" src="http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4" FlashVars="ads=1&embed=1&pid=272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4&play%2Devent%2Dhandler=gr%2Evideos%2EplayerEventHandler&oid=grp78185388&autostart=1&cu=http%3A%2F%2Fscrewattack%2Ecom%2Fvideos%2FHands%2DOn%2DMortal%2DKombat&vi=701983ec04ddf208ca352c6f28128a6773e898cb&min%2Dage=0" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object></center>
Sister site <a href="http://kamidogu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9173">Kamidogu.com put up a great overview of the game</a> along with a few booth pictures. Here is a small snippet that details the new dynamic blood system in the game:
Ed described the blood, which now has ultra-realistic properties. Blood sprays depending on the attack, meaning if Scorpion slashes his opponent in a circular motion the blood sprays in a curved fashion. Other advancements include proper bodily damage, which have been expanded to include actual lacerations in the skin. Not only do the characters lose blood whilst doing battle, they can also stain each other. Blood from your opponent can spray onto your kombatant, and stay there for the remainder of the match. The longer it stays exposed, the more it decays and turns darker
Long time Mortal Kombat fan and friend of TRMK, <b>Dan Amrich</b> aka Activision's own <a href="http://www.oneofswords.com">One Of Swords</a> had a lot of good things to say about it.
Dan also posted the first screenshot of the game's menu that really shows the detail in the game's character models. I can't wait to see full 1080p stills in the future. This is an obvious step up in fidelity from <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_vs_dc_universe/">Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe</a>."MK is going to make every old school fan very very happy"
"... MKII, much prettier, much faster, much freer-flowing combos"
<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_MainMenu_DanAmrich.jpg"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_MainMenu_DanAmrich_t.jpg"><br/>Click to Enlarge</a></center>
Another friend of TRMK and President of <a href="http://www.Robomodo.com">Robomodo</a>, <b>Josh Tsui</b> who previously worked on <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_4">Mortal Kombat 4</a> and <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_mythologies_sub_zero">MK Mythologies Sub-Zero</a> had a short message that he <a href="http://twitter.com/robojoshy/status/16318080052">sent to Ed Boon on Twitter</a>.
"@noobde IZZA SO GOOOOOD"
Newly re-launched video game magazine EGM also revealed that <a href="http://www.egmmediagroup.com/blog/page/276">Mortal Kombat</a> will be the cover story of their SUMMER 2010 issue</a>.
<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/EGM_239_Cover.jpg"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/EGM_239_Cover_t.jpg"><br/>Click to Enlarge</a></center>
GameSpot also <a href="http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265851">did a video interview with</a> a clearly excited Ed Boon. He discusses many things including online and single player modes that we will see much later.
<center><OBJECT classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" WIDTH=480 HEIGHT=310 id="videoPlayer"><PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/eidothea/release/eidothea.swf"><PARAM NAME=scale VALUE="noScale"><PARAM NAME=salign VALUE="lt"><PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high><PARAM NAME=allowscriptaccess VALUE="always"><PARAM NAME=flashvars VALUE="bwr=0&playerMode=embedded&movieAspect=16.9&mapp=embedded_480&gen=1&viewMode=sd&autoPlay=false¶msXML=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo_player%2Fxml.php%3Fid%3D6265851%26mode%3Dembedded%26width%3D480%26height%3D310%26newplayer%3D1%26skin%3DeidotheaEmbedded480_169.xml"><embed id="mymovie" width="480" height="310" flashvars="bwr=0&playerMode=embedded&movieAspect=16.9&mapp=embedded_480&gen=1&viewMode=sd&autoPlay=false¶msXML=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo_player%2Fxml.php%3Fid%3D6265851%26mode%3Dembedded%26width%3D480%26height%3D310%26newplayer%3D1%26skin%3DeidotheaEmbedded480_169.xml" wmode="opaque" allowscriptaccess="always" scale="noScale" salign="lt" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" name="mymovie" style="" src="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/eidothea/release/eidothea.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/></embed></OBJECT></center>
I wanted to bring up the <a href="http://ps3.ign.com/articles/109/1098513p1.html">interview with Ed Boon by IGN</a> again as in this interview they touched on something I've been feeling missing in Mortal Kombat.
But what about Babalities and the like? "Certainly this Mortal Kombat game we're taking a little bit more seriously, so we're probably not going to have a friendship move and whatnot," says Ed, "but if we were to do something like that we're definitely not going to document it. That's what I think was part of the fun of the old games. 'You turned the guy into a baby!' What? Or, 'you pulled out a rainbow'! What the? It's such an odd thing. We really want these events – if they happen – to be almost rumors. That's a big part of what Mortal Kombat was. The question mark about - what else is in this game?"
I agree 100% with Ed, and feel that the game needs to ship with some hidden undocumented content. Stuff that you can't find in a Strategy Guide or even a moves or FAQ list until someone actually discovers it. The internet was in it's infancy but everyone in the newsgroups used to work together to uncover these hidden moves and secrets. This was great about the old arcade games, and I hope it's something they aim to do again with this game.
Also TRMK Forum member <a href="http://www.trmk.org/forums/member.php/4705-Tedakin">Tedakin</a> gave us his <a href="http://www.trmk.org/forums/showthread.php/12961-Saw-the-demo-at-E3.-Met-Ed-Boon.-My-thoughts.">review of the game</a>. He touched on how detailed and lively the game's backgrounds are this time around:
When the characters are fighting in the Living Forest there's dynamic lighting breaking through the trees and casting accurate shadows on them. Also, there's a lot going on in the backgrounds. People are being tortured and strangled by vines. Birds are flying around. The big thing I noticed was in Kahn's Arena there is a second fight going on in the background featuring a giant monster that looks like a rancor battling a small group of warriors.
Tedakin also posted the first full picture of the game's select screen which clearly shows that Downloadable Content (DLC) will be possible in this game.
<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_SelectScreen_Tedakin.jpg"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/MortalKombat_E3_SelectScreen_Tedakin_t.jpg"><br/>Click to Enlarge</a></center>
Last but not least, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=199246&id=117266501638089">Mortal Kombat won GameSpot's E3 People's Choice award</a>. So congrats the whole team, it's well deserved. There are also plenty more awards for the game to win, so be sure to <a href="http://e3.gamespot.com/games.html?sort=votes&page=15">do your part and vote!</a>. It's also currently up for <a href="http://games.ign.com/articles/109/1094418p1.html">Best Fighting Game of E3 over at IGN</a>.
<b>Update</b>: Forgot <a href="http://kotaku.com/5565326/the-new-mortal-kombat-cuts-deeper-than-ever-before">Kotaku's very positive review of Mortal Kombat</a>:
Mortal Kombat feels like a solid return to form, a gory, bloody bash, full of what made fans fall in love with the series, a few smartly borrowed mechanics that could make non-fans appreciate what it has in the fighting department.
Also <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/jeff/">Jeff Gerstmann</a> from <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/news/mortal-kombat-cuts-down-to-the-bone/2203/">Giant Bomb also just posted his review</a>. In this bit he dissects how the game is played, and mentions the market possibility for custom arcade sticks.
It sounds like there's potential for some sort of MK-specific hardware down the line, too, as the game's more advanced moves, like tagging and throwing, can be done by hitting multiple buttons on the classic five-button MK setup, as well as via their dedicated shoulder buttons. It'll be interesting to see if that develops.
Last edited: