In December of last year it was revealed that two special editions of Mortal Kombat would be available for devoted fans of the series [full story]. One of these editions carries an exclusive fight stick created by PDPgaming, limited to only 20,000 copies across all retailers in North America. PDP will also be holding a live tournament with a $21,000 prize pool.

Taking place in Las Vegas, NV at the Ballys Hotel and Casino the inaugural Mortal Kombat 9 Gamers Tourney will feature a $10,000 cash grand prize to the winner. Presumably, the remaining $11,000 will be split amongst other participants who place highly. This event is scheduled to take place during the weekend of May 14th and 15th, a Saturday and Sunday respectively. Official rules and registration will be made available soon through the official PDP Twitter. Mortal Kombat Online will also have updates as they're available.

Edit: Registration is now open at PDPTournaments.com. Registration requires name, location, and online details, as well as an entry fee of $30, to be paid between the dates of March 7th through May 8th. This tournament does require use of PDP's fight stick on the Xbox 360 platform. You may bring your own PDP fight stick or make use of one on site, which will be provided free of charge.

For a complete list of rules and other frequently asked questions, please visit the official website's rules page. Accomodation information and booking is also made available through the site.

Share your $10K story with MKO by posting your journey to the PDP tournament on the forums. Also; don't miss tournament action as it unfolds across Europe, with official tournaments already under way in the building search for a European champion!

Joystiq.com are reporting claims that Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment are likely to adopt a new online "pass token" system that will effect the coming release of Mortal Kombat.

The system -- designed to curb piracy and the growing second-hand market -- will allegedly not be promoted in any aspect by Warner Brothers themselves, who have reportedly sent information packages to retailers via e-mail, with the intention of marketting tokens for independent sale in stores.

In an excerpt published by Joystiq, a price point of $9.99 is made clear, with players able to access a two-day free trial before being forced into a code purchase. The scheme does not seem likely to effect new copies, which come packaged with the required token.

Mortal Kombat, available on April 19 for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, includes a one-time-use registration code that gives players access to all online modes in the game. Players who do not have a code will get a free two-day trial of the online play and then be able to purchase the online modes for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and $9.99 on the PlayStation Network.

Competitive online play has been a major feature promoted in the build-up of Mortal Kombat. With brand new purchases expected to contain the required online token, the effect of the new system will likely be minimal as the industry adapts to control its market. Similar systems have already been adopted by EA and THQ.

Despite negative reaction online; EA Chief Financial Officier, Eric Brown, told a 2010 Deutsche Bank 2010 Technology Conference that backlash had not been significant for their sports titles [via gamasutra]. The system, in it's infancy, was credited with extending revenue in the secondary market. WB is expected to utilize the online pass in a variety of upcoming titles, in different capacities.

The original report is available on Joystiq.com. Thanks to for forwarding the article. If you have news, let Mortal Kombat Online know about it via the submissions form. You can also follow MKO on twitter, @MK_Online.

After wrapping up the Raiden promotional coverage last week, this week begins a look in on the sixth character to be featured on the official Mortal Kombat Facebook. Despite earlier notions it would be none other than emperor Shao Kahn himself, it now appears that that shifty sorcerer Shang Tsung has taken his place!

With all Shadow themed wallpapers, this feature is a silhouette of what has always ended up being one of the character's in game fatalities. The green aura of the image plays off the sorcerer's soul stealing powers, a trick he seems to be performing on his victim. Given the lack of details on the character in this teaser image, we're unable to tell conclusively what age Shang Tsung is at this juncture, as he has appeared both in his older Mortal Kombat 1 look in stages as well as a younger, Mortal Kombat 3 inspired look in standard gameplay. This is more than likely the former however given the facial hair and what is seemingly a robe attire.

Shang Tsung is the 6th character to receive this treatment. The others include Raiden, Liu Kang, Mileena, Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Stay tuned as these wallpapers usually indicated a series of features on the character, including character vignettes and gameplay trailers!

US gaming magazine Gamepro has obtained information regarding the first batch of Downloadable Content for the upcoming Mortal Kombat. In their May 2011 issue, they claim to have information on the first three characters available. These characters are Kintaro, the Lady in Red and Kenshi. A day following this breaking news, gaming website CVG posted an article with an interview of developer Hans Lo that speaks about the DLC content upcoming for this game [full article here].

Following the break of this story, Netherrealm Studios team members Shaun Himmerick and Hector Sanchez denied the validity of the article's details, with the latter hinting that Kintaro would not be part of any paid DLC package, saying, "#tigerbloodisnotforsale", a hint at Kintaro's tiger-Shokan lineage. With these claims, it seems likely that Gamepro and CVG have partially bad information regarding Kintaro's status as a playable DLC character. Gamepro does however have a render in the upcoming issue, which is very reminiscent of Kintaro's design in MK: Armageddon.

The mysterious Lady in Red, who was possibly partially unveiled by Ed Boon on Twitter back in September during the Gamespot Villain battle has been the subject of much debate for several months, appearing with a variety of other MK females chained in Kahn's Coliseum. Hector Sanchez confirmed on Twitter that this character currently has no official name beyond "Lady in Red". Gamepro specifically mentions the name "Skarlett" and Hans Lo identifies that "Scarlet" is a fan created name. Whether either version of this name sticks remains to be seen. This character's render in Gamepro showcases her blood red attire along with noting that she makes use of throwing knives and wears a mask instead of a veil like Kitana or Mileena (note that the spelling errors below are CVG's).

"Anyone who knows the history of Mortal Kombat will tell you that back in the days of the arcade - when they did just palette swap characters to come up with multiple fighters in the game - there was a glitch in one of the old arcade machines that caused the Jade/Katana/Milena female ninja to glitch and turn red.

"People always thought it was a hidden unlockable character and it wasn't, it was purely a programming glitch. They've always speculated and in fact it was the fans who named her Scarlet to begin with. She's no longer a glitch - she's an actual character, and she'll be coming pretty soon post-launch."

Kenshi is a fighter from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance that will be making an appearance in this translation due to his popularity. The blind swordsman was tricked by the sorcerer Shang Tsung and began his quest for retribution before the chronological start of the first Mortal Kombat game. He missed the boat the first time, perhaps in this timeline he will locate the sorcerer sooner rather than later. His render is faithful to his original look in Deadly Alliance, with slight changes to his hair and armor.

Hans further notes to CVG that these DLC characters will be treated with the same care that the in game characters have been, complete with everything necessary to be a full, original combatant for the upcoming game.

"They won't be copy and pasted from characters already in the game - they're going to have their own unique fighting styles, moves, fatalities and x-rays - all the good stuff," producer Hans Lo told CVG.

Series co-creator and project lead Ed Boon assures the MK faithful that Mortal Kombat DLC characters are not present on the game disc and will not simply be unlocked with a code. Mortal Kombat Online will continue to provide ongoing updates and the latest information on this developing story as information becomes available. At this time, it appears that the Lady in Red and Kenshi are DLC characters with Kintaro either being an unplayable boss or in the game at launch as a hidden unlockable fighter. The release date of any DLC packages is currently unknown.

The official Mortal Kombat Facebook's 5th character tab has been on display for a few weeks now, from a Shadows wallpaper to a Fatality wallpaper, then continuing on with a character vignette and gameplay trailer. The focus on Lord Raiden continues this week as the Thunder God battles Kung Lao across a variety of stages, leading up to a brutal fatality.

The battle rages through three different stages, with Raiden performing one of his signature special moves as the location changes, including The Pit and Shao Kahn's Throne Room. Raiden wins the battle and as a display of power finishes off his opponent. The full uncensored version of this fatality is currently available to customers who have placed pre-orders with Gamestop [which also includes a custom Scorpion skin and fatality, recently advertised] via the Widget.

Thanks to forum member for bringing this story to our attention. If you have a news lead for MK Online, please send in a newslead or contact us on Twitter!