It has been rumored for the past few months, but now it's official. Today,
Midway officially announced, in a
press release, the title and release date of the next installment of the
Mortal Kombat series,
Mortal Kombat: Deception. Here is a bit from the press release.
Shocking and evil, Mortal Kombat: Deception pushes martial arts-style fighting and the Mortal Kombat franchise to new heights with an innovative fighting system, unparalleled depth and brutally intense action that will appeal to long-time Mortal Kombat fans as well as next-generation gamers. The game features lightning-fast hand-to-hand and special weapons combat, secret and returning characters, moves and combinations with new death-dealing battles and fatalities.
The release date is set for Fall 2004 for the
Sony PlayStation 2 and
Microsoft Xbox consoles, but it looks like no Nintendo GameCube port this time around. Some features they mention are the return of multiple fatalities and the long requested "multi-tiered interactive backgrounds". It is also known that there also will be internet play, but it wasn't mentioned in the press release. The GameCube's lack of proper Internet play abilities is probably what lost them a port of the game.
Midway also launched the official
Mortal Kombat: Deception website over at
www.mkdeception.midway.com. The website has a style very similar to the old
Mortal Kombat 2 attract mode intro. There you can currently view or download the game's teaser trailer, which shows a bunch of quick edits showing various characters and it ends with a stage Fatality. On the site you can
sign up for game news updates from
Midway.