As one would have never expected, a phoenix has risen from the ashes of Mortal Kombat Conquest. Once thought to be left treading water without a lifeline of a network syndicate and banished into the depths of television's own outworld, Conquest, after a 10 month hiatus, is the strong candidate to replace Star Trek: Voyager on UPN next season. Although the news story only says that 'Mortal Kombat' is being brought in to replace Voyager, it is pretty safe to say that Conquest will be the one, since Threshold Entertainment still has the television rights to the Mortal Kombat franchise. Expect to hear from Threshold about this news soon.
Once the chosen graphics chip for Mortal Kombat 5, Midway's Zeus II graphics processor is seeing its arcade debut with Cruis'n Exotica. Check out the link for Cruis'n to see some screenshots. As noted by Ed Boon in both of his last chat sessions (see links under the What's Hot section), Mortal Kombat 5 will not be using the Zeus II graphics chip. Instead MK5 will be employing a "next-generation" graphics chip from 3dfx Interactive. Given the time frame of development, the next graphics chip from 3dfx, VSA-100, will probably not be the chip powering MK5. As we previously reported, the most likely candidate for the graphics chip powering MK5 is 3dfx's code-named Rampage graphics chip. From recent interviews with 3dfx, we have come to know that all future 3dfx products will feature 3dfx's patented T-Buffer technology, already available in the VSA-100. T-Buffer effects feature real-time full-scene hardware anti-aliasing (FSAA), depth of field blur, motion blur, and soft shadows and reflections. Imagine playing Mortal Kombat in FSAA with fists and projectiles flying so fast that they blur on the screen. It will definately be a sight to see. Unfortunately, there is still a strong chance that MK5 will be pushed back to a release of the middle of next year due to the fact that the developers are determined to not be rushed by the business side this time around, unlike MK4. The current projected release date is the end of this year.
