Last night was the big hands-on event at the GameStop Manager's Conference. Hundreds of GameStop mangers got their hands on Mortal Kombat (2011). As Ed Boon said on Twitter, it was "panda-f***ing-monium!!" last night with a overly positive response from all who attended. We've since heard back from some friends who got to play the game for the first time. Below are some impressions and information from them:
Trash sent along a great breakdown of how the game played and handled:
The game plays soooo smooth. And its very fast, almost seemed too fast at first. Its like the RUN button is always on. It's not clunky like MK vs DC was. I asked Ed if Capcom made it, I don't think he liked that comment. LOL
Combos just seem to flow out so naturally, the possiblities for them seem endless. I won my match by using a simple standing double punch into a fireball juggle, then shadow kick. (that seems like a good 40%) Ed said the combo damage will be toned down drastically in the next build.
Seems you can use your breaker to snap out of Scorpion's spear before you are combo'd/hit. Reptile does more damage while invisible. Also saw, when Sektor vs Sektor, the homing missles cancel each other out if done by both players at the same time.
Also saw a Kung Lao player throw his hat, teleport kick opponent into oncoming hat, teleport again, into a 3 hit combo, finished off by a hat throw juggle! That got applause from the crowd.
Another friend JRF gave us an overview of all the characters that he played as during the night:
Scorpion – His spear comes out very fast, and has a popup move with his blade and you can Teleport or Spear afterword. His old Mortal Kombat 2 Leg Take Down is really impressive, and can be linked at the end of a kombo. His Hellfire works as a nice stun move still.
Reptile – His slowball is great for an easy juggle setup, and almost seems to wait for you to use a few juggles. His fastball is quick and useful. He has a quick dash move that goes past you and elbows you on the other side like in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. His fast dash has really cool animation, where he almost phases out of view… really cool scifi looking. He also has the acid spit which is quick, and a forward quick dash that hits you from the front. I enjoyed playing as him.
Kung Lao – He seems more of a technical player. His moves are quick, and attacks different points in your body to keep you on your toes if you need to block high or low. His teleport has cool animation with wind swirling around. You can choose to just teleport or come out of it with a 2 legged jumping kick to push people back. His straight hat throw can be guided. He also has a hat throw where he throws it at the ground and it bounces up, hitting the person in mid air or when theyre walking up. This can be used in many ways, is a really cool move.
Mileena – She seems like another technical player. Her low game is quick, and she can go high and low to keep you guessing, and just roll under you quick or do her dropping kick. She was my favorite to play as tonight.
Sub-Zero - Didn't play as him, but his winning stance is kinda neat. The screen zooms out as he faces it, and shoots ice at it…you see ice crystals start to form around the screen.
Ed Boon also dropped a hint regarding a certain mysterious red ninja's presence in the game:
Ed was speaking about balancing characters, and how it’s a hard process. I said “It must be hard balancing Ermac because of his telekinesis moves?" Ed then smiled and said his moves are really cool.
Also because it's a Gamestop event, we got a bit of word on the pre-order bonuses and possible console exclusive content. I assume we'll get more official details on this as release date approaches.
The pre-order bonus for Gamestop will be a DLC code for an additional stage and a tattoo sticker sheet of some kind. Rumblings of the PS3 version getting an exclusive stage made for 3D.
Before anyone gets up in arms about this, it's likely just a way to quickly unlock a stage that everyone will have access to and not something non-preorder fans would have to buy on their own.
Here is some photos and gameplay videos taken at the event. There is likely even more to come, so watch YouTube, as a lot of people were filming and taking photos at the event. Sadly one of our friends had his camera stolen at the event by a fellow GameStop employee, and thusly couldn't get any pictures for us. Luckily JRF did manage to get a few photos, including Ed Boon playing the game on the big stage screen. He also managed to get two gameplay videos which we tossed up on the TRMK YouTube account and embedded below.
After E3 2010 a friend of ours donated a great item to us for a contest. Our friend is Dan Amrich, who is now Activision's Social Media Manager OneOfSwords, sent us his personal E3 2010 Mortal Kombat shirt to giveaway. We then decided to bundle it with some other Mortal Kombat Games and T-Shirts that we had sitting around the office. Here is a picture of all that is included:
4 MK Shirts (MK9, 2 MKvsDC, MKA), 5 MK Games, EGM "Komeback Issue" plus various Midway Swag
We've been waiting for a good time to do a giveaway, and now with the various video game industry events going on we thought it would be a good time. But since it's a pretty awesome prize package, we wanted to make you fans to have to do a little bit of work to win.
What we want you all to do is just a little creative writing. Simply describe to us, in at least 50 words:
How you would envision Goro as a character in the proposed Mortal Kombat Rebirth alternate reality?
E-mail your entry along with your name, address and TRMK forum username to: ADDRESS REMOVED. Feel free to send along anything like pictures or drawings to help explain your idea, but are not required.
All entries are due by Mortal Monday, September 13th 2010. Which is the 17th anniversary of the release of Mortal Kombat 1 for home consoles way back in 1993! We'll pick the best and then announce the winner later that week, and we may also post up the other best ideas that were submitted to us. Right now there is also no second or third place, but we're considering that option depending on the entry quality we get.
Not only is today is the first day of PAX Prime 2010, but it's also the first day the general gaming public will get their hands on Mortal Kombat (2011). We're not expecting any new major changes to the game build since GamesCom Germany or the GameStop Manager Meeting. We are willing to be surprised though. To kick off the conference, WB Games sent along four new "Super High Definition" screenshots of the game which you can see below:
Sadly we couldn't make PAX, although we really wanted to, but we'd love to hear fan's feedback on the game if you get a chance to play it. Send us with your reviews, and we'll publish the best reviews in our recap of the show.
The past few days more evidence of the upcoming Mortal Kombat HD Arcade Kollection has surfaced. First the major UK Retailer Game has listed the game for pre-order. Game doesn't offer many details beyond a release date of 11/2010 which is similar to the previous European leaks.
Yesterday we got our first US retailer leak. A reader, Lucas, reached out to let us know that US retail distributor Ingram Entertainment now has the game listed for pre-booking. Pre-booking is basically what a store does to place advance orders for their customers. Here's a screenshot of the game's listing in the system:
What is not pictured is the release date of November 17th in the system. Oddly enough that is a Wednesday not a Tuesday. Also as with with the other leaks there is no indication of a Xbox 360 version of this game. We think it's likely going to be released as a Sony PlayStation 3 HD Collections title. We don't expect it to be 100% exclusive to the PlayStation 3, but rather we'd bet that that a lack of Xbox 360 leaks point towards it being a timed exclusive where the game eventually gets released for the Xbox 360 after a period of time. We don't think they'd exclude all potential Xbox 360 customers, especially after having lost the ability to purchase Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on Xbox Live Arcade.
With the unconfirmed release date being only two months away, we bet an official announcement is not far off.
Gamespot is currently holding a Best Villain contest this week. Today is the final day to vote for Shao Kahn vs General RAAM from Gears of War. As I write this Shao Kahn is behind by a mere 50 votes! So he needs everyone's help to move on to the "Evil Eight" round tomorrow. Did you already vote? Well using your cell phone for a 2nd vote, every vote counts and helps the cause!
Why should you vote for Kahn over RAAM? Our friend Darque Bishop from Mortal Kombat Online said it best:
* Shao Kahn conquered entire realms and survived past his initial game.
* RAAM died in his first game failing to conquer anyone.
* The worst RAAM can do is kill you.
* With Kahn, you risk losing your soul to him.
Ed Boon also added some incentive on Twitter to vote. He said he will "reveal another character or screen shot or something cool about the new MK game" if Shao Kahn wins! So go and Vote for Shao Kahn so we can move him on to the next round!
To inspire other readers, please share this on Facebook and Twitter using the buttons below. Also be sure to leave a comment on the story.
Update 9/10 11AM CST There is not much time left, get out there and vote. Ed Boon posted a teaser of the reveal that he'll do if Shao Kahn wins. Get out and vote, and be sure to leave a comment here!
NetherRealm Studios has debuted the second season of the "MKast", the official podcast for the Mortal Kombat developer. Hans Lo and Hector Sanchez sit down for the premier episode in the last days of the old Midway building before moving to new offices within Chicago after the transition to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
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We could see this coming, as all other retailers who had posted the information had it removed soon after.
Update 9/22 1pm CST: Forum member Tim Static delivered some bad news that the game was removed from GameStop's in-store systems overnight. So this means anyone who pre-ordered the game will have to move your pre-order to the new SKU once it's back in the systems again. But don't worry, we still stand by our word that the game is on the way. We expect an official announcement when the time is right.
Also forum member fan-o-fire found that online retailer eStarland also has the game up for pre-ordering. Just more fuel to the fire that this game is close to being announced, as it's not only GameStop that is listing the game early.
Earlier today the French website jeuxvideo(English Translation) posted the possible box art for the Mortal Kombat HD Arcade Kollection. Information wise there isn't much new besides a very interesting "3D Compatible Game Video" logo which could explain why this is a PS3 Exclusive right now. They also have the game's release date as November 18th and it'll be on sale for 30 Euros ($40 USD) as well. Here's a look at the artwork:
Update 9/25/2010 12am CST According to MK fan redCassandra555 on Twitter, the red corner DOES say that a demo of Mortal Kombat (2011) is included. This is great news as we all may be playing the new MK game demo in our homes in a few short months!
The official Mortal Kombat website TheMortalKombat.com was updated yesterday and is now home to a new design along with a countdown timer. That new countdown timer will expire at 12am midnight central time on Mortal Monday October 11th, 2010.
It's unclear what the countdown will reveal. But we're guessing that it will be the official launch of a website similar to what our friends over at Mortal Kombat Online discovered was accidentally leaked earlier this weekend.
