Our friends at NetherRealm Studios have officially released new high quality render poses of MK's two most iconic hat wearers, Kung Lao and Raiden!

The heroes of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II return in the new game, joining forces once more to quash the threat of Shao Kahn and the forces of Outworld! These renders follow the recent release of a dynamic Raiden wallpaper art, via the official MK Facebook. The Kung Lao render appeared previously with the announcement of an Italian tournament announced by cartoomics.it [full story].

Mortal Kombat is on the home stretch, released April 19 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Fans unable to wait that long can download a PlayStation Network exclusive demo, which includes Stereoscopic 3D elements and four playable characters, as well as an extensive preview trailer for those who defeat it's challenges!

The demo -- already available to PlayStation Plus subscribers -- will be available March 15! Those unable to download the preview can seek it out on the Mortal Kombat Truck Tour, currently touring the United States until the release of the game. MKO has pictures and reports from the first stop, as well as fully updated times and locations.

It's the first official look at Michael Jai White as he enters the world of Mortal Kombat in the latest photographic offering from live-action series director, Kevin Tancharoen!

Using Twitter; Tancharoen delivers a Jax fully decked out for action, wearing matching gear that recalls previously released shots of Jeri Ryan, who appears as Jax' iconic partner, Sonya Blade.

The image comes almost as a response to IGN's interview from the set, which featured brief bytes with the Jax actor, dressed in less vivid attire. It shows that Jax will be more than ready to kick butt when he and Sonya clash with Kano, played in their chapters of the anthology by Darren Shahlavi.

In the games; Jax famously joined Sonya in combatting the forces of Kano's Black Dragon clan, as members of the Special Forces. Together they would be founding members of the Outer World Investigation Agency (O.I.A) -- a government organization formed to police threats from potentially hostile realms, like Outworld.

For more information about Mortal Kombat, coming April to digital outlets, follow MKO's full live-action series recap. Included are links to all the previously released shots, and cast and crew information. Follow us on Twitter, @MK_Online.

A week ago a "shadows" theme wallpaper teasing the God of Thunder, Raiden, was released [full story]. True to form, a week later a detailed stage wallpaper featuring the same character was released. The official Mortal Kombat Facebook as well as the Gamestop widget have updated with a new wallpaper featuring one of the first seen characters of the game, Raiden himself.

An electrifying piece, Lord Raiden harnesses his trademark powers of the storm to destroy his opponent. As with other wallpapers released for the game, the opponent lacks detail outside of skeletal parts, blood and shadows. This victim was electrocuted with enough intensity to sever his arms from his chest, blowing them outward while sending blood spray into the air. This devastating fatality is performed in the classic stage, one of many retooled stages from the classic games appearing in the soon to be released game. If we can trust the trend of these wallpapers, this is likely one of Raiden's in game fatalities being demonstrated. Liu Kang's similar set of wallpapers revealed last month showed the shaolin warrior punching through the chest of a victim, a fatality we later confirmed as one in his arsenal.

If you missed other character wallpapers, be sure to check them out here on MK Online.

Scorpion wallpaper
Sub-Zero wallpaper
Mileena wallpaper
Liu Kang wallpaper

Thanks to MINION for the word on this story!

NetherRealm Studios revealed a new render of Kung Lao, Liu Kang's trusted companion and hero of Earthrealm, as well as one of the first characters revealed way back at E3 2010, in connection with the Mortal Kombat European Tournament.

We have seen Kung Lao in many screenshots and videos and this render, chest out, brow furrowed, standing strong in front of a blood splatter, depicts the fan favorite Shaolin Monk as the steadfast warrior his in-game persona suggests.

The Official Italian Mortal Kombat Tournament will be held at Ludica 2011 with the winner earning the honor of representing Italy at the grand finals, held in Birmingham in April. All participants at Ludica will receive a free gadget while the top three winners will earn a trophy as well as the Kollector's Edition of the game.

You can find a full translation of the article here.

Mortal Kombat launches April 19 for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles.

Last week, IGN released a comprehensive preview of Mortal Kombat's Challenge Tower mode [full story], detailing several of the exciting new single player missions available to fans. Today, they have conducted a follow-up interview with series co-creator and project lead Ed Boon and hit on various facets of the game including Story mode and the aforementioned Challenge Tower.

A goal for the team was to create a game with a strong single player experience, since in the genre of fighting games the strongest element is a multi-player experience. This was the goal of the 300 mission Challenge Tower mode, to serve as a complementary piece to the game's story mode. Offering a variety of challenges, from mini-games such as Test Your Sight to tossing grenades to fighting upside down, the mode will test players for several hours and provide a unique single-player experience for a fighting game.

The story mode, which has been quietly elaborated on since it's announcement is touted by Ed to be the best plot of any Mortal Kombat released thus far. He again hints that some things players expect to happen in the story may not take place, and those that take place instead will be surprising but that at its heart it is still a Mortal Kombat story.

Ed speaks about striking a balance between showing off what's in the game and keeping some things secret so players can discover as they play. Though difficult in the digital age, he suggests there are many undocumented fatalities that will never be revealed in interviews or media hype packages, intended to invoke the nostalgic feeling of discovery from the classic Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 days.

Check the video embedded above or click here to view it on IGN.