Rumors as far back as November of 2011 [full story] of an upcoming Mortal Kombat release for the Sony Playstation Vita handheld system are finally coming to fruition. This comes just days after Sony Director of Hardware Marketing, John Koller made a quick mention at CES 2012 of Mortal Kombat's existence on the platform. [link] Previously rumored to be called Mortal Kombat: "Vitality", the press release on The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch closely confirms the new title is being developed by NetherRealm Studios which will include several new gameplay features as well as release set sometime as soon as this Spring. From Market Watch:

BURBANK, Calif., Jan 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces Mortal Kombat will ship for PlayStation(R)Vita system in Spring 2012. Developed by NetherRealm Studios, the game delivers an experience designed specifically for on-the-go gaming with brand new gameplay features and content developed exclusively for the new handheld device.

"The NetherRealm team is committed to making sure that we follow up the success of 2011's Mortal Kombat with an equally compelling experience on the PlayStation Vita," said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. "The original game content and new features we developed for the PlayStation Vita will provide gamers with the best fighting game experience available on the new mobile platform."

Selling more than three million units worldwide in 2011, Mortal Kombat became the highest-selling fighting game of the year and has won numerous "Best Fighting Game of 2011" awards including Spike TV's 2011 Video Game Awards, Official Xbox Magazine and GameTrailers.com.

In a triumphant return to the game's original mature presentation, Mortal Kombat offers over-the-top fatalities and cringe-worthy X-ray moves. This latest iteration in the franchise brings the game back to a 2D fighting plane and introduces a number of new gameplay features including Tag Team, Challenge Tower and a deep story mode. Several new features have been developed exclusively for Mortal Kombat for PS Vita system, which will be revealed in the coming months.

Play Mortal Kombat for PS Vita system by visiting the Vita Hill Social Clubs. More information can be found at http://us.playstation.com/psn/events/vitahillsocialclub.html .

For more information about Mortal Kombat, please visit www.themortalkombat.com , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mortalkombat or on Twitter @MK_Mortalkombat

About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all current and future platforms, including console, handheld and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.

Mortal Kombat(TM) software (C) 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Developed by NetherRealm Studios. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Mortal Kombat, the dragon logo, NetherRealm Studios, NetherRealm logo and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and (C) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD: (TM) & (C) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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SOURCE: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Update 1/19: Since our original update we have received official confirmation from NetherRealm Studios of the validity of this press release. As well, confirmation comes from the official Mortal Kombat Facebook page, as well as in the form of a tweet from @WB_GAMES_UK confirmng its Spring 2012 release date. Information regarding the introduction of Mortal Kombat at the Vita Hill Social Club is forthcoming, according to our sources.

As well,  lead Ed Boon has broke the silence on the Official U.S. PlayStation Blog today, revealing some of the key new gameplay features. From the interview:

Ed Boon: The fundamental necessity is quick access to gameplay, whether it’s online or locally. The mobile gaming experience is shorter bites of time. We identified the Challenge Tower as a perfect fit for mobile sessions, so we expanded it greatly for PS Vita. There are actually two Challenge Towers in the PS Vita version, and the new one has 150 challenges that are exclusive to PS Vita. A number of those challenges use PS Vita’s hardware features: the touch screen, the accelerometer. [...] In terms of gameplay, we’ve always wanted MK to be as accessible as possible. For example, you can touch your X-ray meter to execute an X-ray attack. For fatalities, you can “slash” the screen with the appropriate inputs — say, away, away, up — to execute the fatality. It makes some of the more difficult fatalities easier and it’s fun to slash at your screen to fire off a fatality. I was surprised by how engaging it is.

Ed Boon also shares that Mortal Kombat will be keeping its frame rate of 60 fps, however the game will have a more limited polygon count which Ed claims will not take too much away from the overall gameplay experience. We will report more as this breaking story develops.