May 9th, 2000 | ![]() |
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Announcing TRMK's Coverage of E3 2000 |
9:42 AM CDT - TRMK Staff |
As we enter the week of E3, the TRMK Staff is gearing up for this year's E3, May 11-13. TRMK will continue its excellence in E3 coverage from last year with instant updates from the show's floor and immediate postings of screenshots as we get them. We have learned from our experiences last year, and we are more ready than ever to bring you the latest in MK information, faster than before.
But that's not all! TRMK will also be extending its coverage into other select games along with pictures of other happenings at E3. Because of MK's low profile status at this year's show, we are going to be perusing the E3 floor in search of other cool games we think you would be interested in. Now that we have our new Community Section up and running, we are taking suggestions over on our Message Board of what you would like to find out about MK Special Forces or any other game making an appearance at E3. It is your chance to influence what we do here at TRMK. Click on the discussion bubble to add your suggestions directly to the E3 thread! If you missed out on our coverage of last year's E3, check out our E3 1999 Show Coverage. |
May 11th, 2000 | ![]() |
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THEGRID Marquee |
7:09 PM CDT - Jeff Greeson |
We have gotten a hold of a marquee and release date for Midway's new arcade first person shooter! The Grid will be debuting in arcades this August. Expect to hear more about The Grid very soon as more information becomes available.![]() |
E3: MK Special Forces Screenshots |
11:46 AM CDT - TetterkeT |
We just got our hands on screenshots from MK Special Forces! Hopefully we'll have some more exclusive images for you later in the day, but the show has not yet begun. These will have to satisfy your appetite for now. Check out the MK Special Forces screenshots! Don't forget that you can also click on the pictures to see a larger version.![]() ![]() ![]() |
E3: Pre-Show Report |
11:00 AM CDT - Jeff Greeson |
Greetings from Los Angeles! The TRMK Staff is gearing up for the start of Electronic Entertainment Expo in one hour. We are expecting MK Special Forces to be on display in release candidate form at the show. We managed again to sneak on to the floor yesterday while things were being set up. Unfortunately, we saw no sign of The Grid -- yet; however, we did see a single MK Special Forces station amongst the other Midway games, of which many had multiple stations. Check back with us in a few minutes as we upload MK Special Forces screenshots. Also, don't forget to check back frequently as we are going to be constantly updating, directly from the show's floor. |
May 12th, 2000 | ![]() |
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E3: Second Day Agenda |
12:38 PM CDT - Jeff Greeson |
Hello again from Los Angeles. We are planning to have our impressions of MKSF online sometime soon. Check back in a few hours for our quick impressions of MKSF. We managed to take some shots of MKSF ourselves; however, we have not been given the green light to go ahead and post them. The game is exactly as we described in our earlier MKSF Update. The full details are forthcoming.
Just to make things clear, The Grid is not at the show; however, the marquee was on a piece of Midway press literature. Anyway, we are still monitoring the message board. So, if you want to find out anything about MKSF, just drop by and post a message and we'll try to get the answers to you. |
E3: MK Special Forces Initial Impressions |
1:27 PM CDT - TRMK Staff |
With the rise in popularity in games like Metal Gear Solid, it would appear that no title is safe from being influenced by its gameplay. With the addition of a first-person perspective button, such is the case with Mortal Kombat Special Forces. While you traverse the various levels, you have the option of holding a button to see the environment through Jax's eyes. It is an interesting feature in an MK title, but it has its flaws.
Amongst these flaws is the inability to walk around while in first-person mode. You can move your head and fire your weapon, but that's it. We also had trouble navigating the levels because of the games dark surroundings. Doors are difficult to see and enemies often attack you from off screen with no indication of their location. The good news is that Jax has a few of his old moves like the ground pound and dash punch. He also has a myriad of weapons in his arsenal, consisting of: a 9mm machine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, detonator explosives, and a sniper rifle. In addition, there is a combo system that allows finishing moves to be executed at the end of a combo. Check back later in the day for a more in-depth preview of the game. |
May 15th, 2000 | ![]() |
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MKSF Impression to Come and Your Questions |
8:17 AM CDT - Jeff Greeson |
The network serving the LA Convention Center was down the entire day Friday. We managed to get those few updates early in the morning via a modem connection. The promised in-depth feature has been written; however, it is to be hosted on GameSpot's E3News.com. Unfortunately, GameSpot was having their own share of problems beginning the first day of the show. The new layout and backend collapsed under the traffic and was being worked on the entire show. The content is ready and everything seems to be fixed, but updates are only trickling in.
Regarding your questions, Ed Boon appeared to be absent from the show. As a result, none of your questions regarding MK5 were able to be answered. We did, however, find out that the arcade development teams are not allowed to work on multiple arcade projects at the same time. So that probably means that MK5 is still only in the imaginative stages, while Ed finishes up The Grid. Finally, MK Special Forces will most likely not be the last in the series of adventure-based MK fighting games. We are pretty certain that Midway has no plans to end the Mortal Kombat adventure game genre. As far as we know, the MK adventure-fighting games are still viable in the future. As soon as the full impression appears, we'll have the link to it. |
May 16th, 2000 | ![]() |
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MK Special Forces Full Hands-on Preview |
3:56 PM CDT - Jeff Greeson |
Since GameSpot is still having problems with their backend, here is the direct link to the Full Hands-on Preview of MK Special Forces I wrote for GameSpot. I have also been informed that the official release is June 27th, 2000. Here is a snippet from the preview.
MK Special Forces features five levels, each containing about three sub-levels. Each level is in a different location: a warehouse, canyons, sewers, tunnels, and the Outworld. You start out in the warehouse of the Black Dragon, Kano's evil crime squad. Your mission objectives are sent to you via a personal communicator which flashes at the bottom left of the screen. In the first level, your mission is to infiltrate the Black Dragon's warehouse and recover the nuclear warhead stolen from the Special Forces. Throughout the levels, Jax has to find keycards and jewels, hit switches, move boxes, climb ladders, and piecing together access codes in order to progress. Furthermore, Jax will have to be on the lookout for cracks in the wall, which can be blown out by using detonator explosives. Along the way, completing specific tasks will gain in-level checkpoints, returning your character to the checkpoint area if you die within the level. After completing a level you are given the opportunity to save your game to a memory card.Check out the rest of the preview here. |
THEGRID Title Screen |
3:47 PM CDT - Patrick McCarron |
A picture of what looks like the title screen of The Grid has made an appearance over at noob.com. Something we noticed about the marquee and this new title screen is the presence of a red, white and blue icon of a person holding a gun. This icon is similar to the icon used by sports organizations like the MLB and the NBA. This may be a clue to its similarities to the game Smash TV. The Grid probably has a sports entertainment like atmosphere with a touch of extreme violence by the use of guns in some form of arena or maze battle. |