Recap of Mortal Kombat at GamesCom and X'10 Canada

<img align="right" src="http://www.trmk.org/images/gamescom.jpg" style="float:right;margin:5px;"/>Last week representatives from <a href="http://www.netherrealm.com">NetherRealm Studios</a> went to <b>GamesCom</b> in Germany and <b>X'10</b> in Canada. In addition to <a href="http://www.trmk.org/news/13095/kitana_cyrax_unveiled_for_mk_2011_at_gamescom_2010.html">the two characters revealed</a>, some additional info was revealed in various interviews that have since been posted over the past week. We embedded the interview videos below, but here's a recap of what we learned so far this week.

With regard to characters, the bosses will likely locked at the start of the game. On the other hand, the majority of non boss characters will be unlocked and playable at the start of the game. I'm sure they'll hide a special character or two for us as well to find, but we will likely not know anything about them. We were also told that the Story Mode will be almost two times longer than <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_vs_dc_universe/">Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe</a>.

As far as online goes, big improvements are on the way according to <a href="http://kotaku.com/5618460/mortal-kombats-post+launch-balancing-add+on-character--pc-plans">Kotaku's interview with Ed Boon</a>. The game's online mode will be able to rebalanced after release on the fly via various hooks implemented into the game. This is huge because previous games were seldom patched due to various reasons beyond the team's controls. Now they'll be able to tweak the game to make sure it's nice and balanced for those playing online. Thusly it should hopefully find a home as a featured game at upcoming <a href="http://evo2k.com/">EVO</a> tournaments. Ed also said there is a possibility that they make make a PC version of the game.

Another common question was the DLC plans for Mortal Kombat. The team is looking to not only allow downloadable characters, but also stages and maybe even Fatalities. This is a bold move to have so much available. It would be an awesome way for them to expand the game beyond just making people buy another game like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Street_Fighter_IV">Super Street Fighter IV</a> did. But anytime DLC discussion takes place, some fans get upset by thinking they are paying for things already included in the game. This is not the case here, as they are looking for ways to EXPAND the game after release. Thankfully an anonymous producer at NetherRealm Studios <a href="http://jabronireport.blogspot.com/2010/08/post-in-which-i-defend-mk-dlc.html">wrote a blog defending and clarifying their DLC plans</a>. The article is a great look into what they are trying to achieve in this next game with regards to DLC and is a must read. Here's an excerpt:

What we are trying some strategies on, and this is what Ed alluded to in his article, is a method that once we start working on DLC, we can get it in the hands of all players, whether they purchased the DLC or not. We are still working out if this is possible, but in an ideal world, you'd be able to fight against a DLC character even if you have not purchased it...and that somehow requires us to get the content onto your machine. We're going through a lot of negotiations to see if we can make this happen...it may not be possible, but we are certainly trying to do something we think would be a very cool way to make DLC "seamless" in terms of both those who chose to purchase any new content and those who would prefer not to.

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<b>Kotaku</b> also had an additional discussion with Ed Boon, in which they talk about <a href="http://kotaku.com/5620295/whats-next-for-mortal-kombat-netherrealm-studios">the future of NetherRealm studios</a>. Our favorite game <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/the_grid_arcade/">The Grid</a> was mentioned to be picking up steam before the Midway collapse of 2009. Also a sequel to the beloved <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_shaolin_monks/">Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks</a> is also mentioned as a possibility to see a release eventually.


<center>Ed talks with with Germany's <a href="http://www.mkuniverse.de/">MK Universe</a> at GamesCom.
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<center><a href="http://www.GameSpot.com">GameSpot</a> interviews Ed Boon at GamesCom
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<center>Producer Hans Lo <a href="http://g4tv.com/videos/48241/Mortal-Kombat-All-Access-Preview/">sat down with G4TV</a> at GamesCom
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<center>Executive Producer <b>Shaun Himmerick</b> talked with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3AoOZkRlDg">Console Creatures</a> at X'10 in Canada
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Good stuff, Pat.

MK will be represented at EVO 2011 by me, at least. I am bringing UMK3 and MK9 (if its worthy) to EVO next year. The ball is already rolling.

But kudos to Ed and company seeing that they need to make an MK worthy of being played at tournies etc. Like it or not, but SF4 was a monumental success in that way. and monumental doesnt even quite explain it correctly.

Cant wait to see the others characters i know are in the game tho. Hopefully we'll get a good 4-6 at PAX!

This was cool to help catch up on lol I feel until it finally comes out that it's going to be so hard to keep up with everything coming out lol

Tim Static said:

Cant wait to see the others characters i know are in the game tho. Hopefully we'll get a good 4-6 at PAX!

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My guess is no more than two more for PAX, if any new at all as it's so close to GamesCom and likely playable by all at PAX from what we're assuming.

Do you think we'll know the entire roster by launch or will there be some sense of opening the package can't wait to find out kind of thing?

From what Boon's been saying these past weeks I think we'll have a lot secrets left when the game ships.

I hate those.

~EDIT~ Ehhh that was supposed to be funnier because I was going to post that twice, but I didn't feel like waiting 30 seconds..

Anyways, that's what I was hoping for, and I hope they can SOMEHOW work it to make it like it once was, where there was stuff hidden until THEY decide to release how to find it.

Sub-Zero said:

Do you think we'll know the entire roster by launch or will there be some sense of opening the package can't wait to find out kind of thing?

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While there will be secrets, they will have the whole entire game roster revealed by the time it ships. The hidden stuff hopefully stays hidden until after someone finds it after launch.

Patrick McCarron said:

While there will be secrets, they will have the whole entire game roster revealed by the time it ships. The hidden stuff hopefully stays hidden until after someone finds it after launch.

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Meh they should only announce up to half, I want to be surprised at something when I open the box.. Sure I like the secret stuff, but something I don't have to work for at first would be nice lol

He did say most of the characters wouldn't need to be unlocked (a good idea I say, he made a good argument for it) but that doesn't mean they need to tell us what they all are...all this media spoils the surprise a lot these past few games. I remember in MKDA I didn't know who half the characters were and unlocking them was a great surprise.

Being that they're focusing a lot more on the 2-player/online modes, I doubt that's gonna be the case.

That is excellent news.

Yeah I don't mind working for characters, but I would do what I always do, unlock the ones I don't and not the ones I don't want lol so I don't know if that would effect online play or not? I don't see why it would.