With less than two months remaining before the release of Mortal Kombat worldwide* -- the team from NetherRealm Studios are taking their game on tour for a six week hands-on invasion of the United States!

Get Over Here! MK Truck Tour Invades Burbank!

The 2011 Mortal Kombat Truck Tour marks the return of the series to America's roads, which were first assaulted by the games' brutal fatalities and 3D rendered fighting in 1997 with Mortal Kombat 4! It's one of many details surrounding the games that have made this a nostalgic experience, as much as it is the beginning of a new era.

It was in July, 2009 that courts approved the sale of all intellectual properties owned by bankrupt publisher, Midway Games, as part of a multi-million dollar deal that saw Warner Brothers acquire the lucrative Mortal Kombat license [full story]. In response, MK co-creator and on-going series Creative Director, Ed Boon, could only remark at the time, "[L]ooking forward to the focus being on the games, making them better and less on the noise surrounding us."

It would be untrue to say that there hasn't been a lot of noise surrounding Mortal Kombat in 2011, but it's all in service to a game that is coming together very nicely!

The MK Truck Tour is only the latest move in the cross-media assault by WB designed to fully capitalize on and restore the power of the MK license! Trucks adorned with the Scorpion and Sub-Zero game coverart wil be on the road from now until the official realse of the game (April 19), which will see the trucks make their final stop back in MK's spiritual home of Chicago!

Photographs from the first stop in the tour, Burbank, give fans the opportunity to peek inside the demo station that allows eight players to enter kombat at a time!

The tour will remain in Los Angeles until March 5, before moving on to Austin, Texas.
Complete details will be made available as they become known via the official Mortal Kombat Facebook. Current dates are listed as:

  • Los Angeles, CA (March 3 - March 5)
    Best Buy #109 @ 11301 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064 (3rd & 4th)
    Best Buy #1198 @ 2375 N. Tustin, St. Orange, CA 92865 (5th)

  • Austin, TX (March 11 - March 12)
  • Dallas, TX (March 19 - March 20)
  • San Francisco, CA (March 25 - March 27)
  • Minneapolis, MN (April 8 - April 10)
  • Chicago, IL (April 16 - April 19)

Update Mar. 8: An updated list of times, dates, and addresses can be found in our full update.

Update: As reported by MKO user , participants were shown BluRay copies of the soon-to-be rereleased films [full story], while they waited, and were treated to free download cards for tracks from the upcoming concept album, Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired by the Warriors [full story]. The download provided the first listen of Baraka's theme, performed by Run DMT, along with previously released Liu Kang and Mileena tracks.

The playable demo featured Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Johnny Cage, and Mileena, who were pitted against each other in an improptu tournament. MKO congratulates longstanding users
on winning the tournament! He received a shirt, headband, interview, and will be e-mailed unspecified DLC content. Thanks to drpvfx for also providing photographs from the event:

The same playable demo will be exclusively available to the PlayStation 3 March 15th, with a timed exclusive for Playstation Plus users March 8 [full story]. The demo is unlikely to include materials from the recently revealed Challenge Tower -- a new incentive mode revealed recently via IGN [full story].

* Mortal Kombat will be released in PAL regions April 21. The game is currently Refused Classification in Australia, but will be appealed when WBIE resubmit the game for reclassification. Mortal Kombat Online is following the story closely. For more updates, follow @MK_Online!