CVG recently caught up with producer Hector Sanchez at Gamescom and decided to touch on an all too familiar subject: Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter. The two fighting series often cited as the birth of the mainstream fighting genre have been rumored to join forces several times over the last decade. Mortal Kombat series creator Ed Boon has stated multiple times he would love for the project to come to life.

Hector used the word "inevitable" to describe the game, but stated that it largely depended on the success of the upcoming crossover title Street Fighter vs. Tekken. Though the obvious problems such as which company would produce the game and how Capcom would feel towards Mortal Kombat's higher level of violence would need to be addressed. This is obviously not a confirmation any new progress has been made, but it at least shows the continued interest of NetherЯealm Studios to pursue this title.

The idea for this game was featured in a recent poll on GameFAQs with several other options, competing competitively in the results and bringing in over 20% of the vote.

To read the article on CVG, click here.

Thanks to forum member Mick-Lucifer for the word on this story!

Shacknews has posted an informative hands-on preview article from the Microsoft event X10 concerning various aspects of the latest installment of Mortal Kombat. Below are a few interesting excerpts from the article.

"Each level is designed to have at least one unique feature. The newest level I was shown featured rolling sandstorms that grew as matches progressed. The effect can sometimes blind the action but never in a way that disrupted the combat".

"Fatalities return as a demonstration of how brutal the series can be. Sub-Zero's final move, for example, freezes an enemy from the waist-down before the masked fighter rips the torso from his or her body. Blood and guts are back, ladies and gentlemen. In its current state, Fatalities are a simple two-button combination of buttons. Producer Urbano says that will change but notes the team isn't against keeping it extremely simple in the final version. Personally, I'd prefer it simple".

"As for the game's story mode, players will run through a "much longer" narrative that was present in MK vs. DC. In the mode, players will play as multiple Mortal Kombat characters. According to Urbano, the "story" component of past Mortal Kombat games usually get ignored by players in favor of arcade action. They'd like to change that this time around."

Over on the official Mortal Kombat Twitter page, the fans were challenged to give their favorite fatality for the original Mortal Kombat arcade game, as part of what was tagged #MortalMonday. The votes are in, and today the winner was announced as part of #FatalityFriday. The winner, unsurprisingly. is Sub-Zero's spine rip!

Undoubtedly more #MortalMondays and #FatalityFridays are on the way; once we learn of them, we'll report it here!

Our thanks to forum member assasSINister for the heads-up on this news story!

Mortal Kombat is making the rounds today as coverage of Gamescom in Cologne, Germany has gotten under way! German fansite MKUniverse is covering the event and are reporting that the two characters alluded to by Ed Boon are the Princess of Edenia, Kitana and the yellow cyborg Cyrax. The two arenas mentioned by Ed are both from Mortal Kombat 3: The Bell Tower and Jade's Desert.

Undoubtedly more news will surface throughout the day, but these much anticipated confirmations have made their presence known fairly early on.

Update #1: An image bundle has been released by Netherrealm Studios showing us six high resolution images including the newly announced characters Kitana and Cyrax as well as the newly re-imagined Bell Tower and Jade's Desert arenas. An additional community-exclusive image of Scorpion using his spear on Johnny Cage is also available.

Update #2: Also IGN has published a Hands-On article of the game which describes one of Cyrax's fatalities. "Cyrax takes his saw blades and sheers the opponent's body into five pieces that stay together, finishing him up with a body-shattering kick."
Also described is the previously seen Stage Fatality. "The Pit II – a recreation of the same stage in Mortal Kombat II – gives winners the opportunity to uppercut the losers off the ledge onto spikes below, but the twist is much more grotesque, with endtrails shoved up out of the body and sticking to the spires." You can view the article in it's entirety right here.

Update #3: Game Informer has just posted an online Article stating that the game is "Built For Post-Launch Balancing". The article states that the game has been designed to accomodate future tweaks and to fix inevitable exploits over looked during development. Their full Interview Transcript with Ed Boon will be available on their site next week.

Update #4: Kotaku has just posted their impressions for the game. The article talks about how Cyrax and Kitana play aswell as listing Kitana's fatality and Cyrax's second. Kitana's fatality comprises of chopping the arms of her opponent then severing their head. Cyrax's on the other hand has a "more powerful net that he can throw at opponents, one that passes through their bodies like a razor wire mesh, slices off limbs and head and, in general, fucking them right up." You can view the article in full right here .

Update #5: Spanish gaming site Meristation has posted a hands on preview of the game as well. New tidbits such as the return of the Krypt are alluded to and new details regarding the difficulty system of the game are revealed, including that currently the AI is set on the same level. Upping the difficulty increases the amount of damage done to your character. Thanks to MK Online forum member Shinomune for providing translation. MK Universe.de has posted their interview with Ed Boon as well. Click here to check it out.

Update #6: A new Ed Boon video interview, one from GameSpot . The most exciting piece of information seems to be the mention of a new challenge mode in single player, although the full details haven't been officially announced yet. To watch the GameSpot interview, click here.

Update #7: Another Ed Boon interview from GamesCom is up, this one from GamerLiveTV. They mostly discuss video game violence as well as the fact that MK (2011) is a return to the first three MK games. Check it out here.

Update #8: The folks over at MKUniverse.LU have posted an interview with both Hans Lo and Ed Boon. They ask about multi-tiered stages, the return of Dan "Toasty" Forden, Test Your Might, and more. You can watch part 1 of the interview here. (Part 2 should be available soon.)

Update #9: Another Ed Boon interview from GamesCon 2010, this one from GameTrailers. Not a whole of new information at this point, but check it out here.

As the event has come to a close, this likely concludes coverage of Gamescom 2010. We will keep an eye out for any additional material that may surface in the coming days, however.

Our friends over at TRMK have just posted a pretty amazing bombshell: according to their sources, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is in the process of developing a re-release of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3! However, this collection will have more in common with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix than Midway Arcade Treasures. Entitled Mortal Kombat HD Kollection, the game will be a high-definition remake of the first three Mortal Kombat arcade games. From the article:

Unlike Capcom's Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, which required new character drawings, remaking Mortal Kombat in high definition is not as easy. In order to properly recreate the series in HD, Warner Bros. needed to film actors performing the moves like they originally did 20 years ago, just now with better high-definition cameras. Resorting to hand-drawn characters, or using 3D models in place of real actors would just not look right and cause many fans to revolt. However, things are not as simple as that. Since the previous actors are now 20 years older and - in most cases - wouldn't look to be the right age in high definition, Warner Bros. has hired new actors for the various roles and have been busy capturing them over the past few months at a Warner Bros. Studio in Los Angeles. TRMK has also heard that some of the original cast is involved in the filming in some capacity as well.

...

Since we know the filming was taking place as recently as earlier this month, the latest rumors placing it's release to be before Christmas is questionable. While it is possible, the rumored release is fairly unlikely unless the replacement of the character sprites is one of the final steps left in development. It just seems too close to be possible given time needed for testing, certification, etc. We also doubt that Mortal Kombat HD Kollection is only for the PlayStation 3 unless some really good exclusivity deal was reached with Sony, as currently fighting games for both systems sell fairly well unlike the previous generation of consoles which favored the PlayStation 2.

TRMK also notes that they're not sure who is developing the game, as Netherrealm Studios is neck-deep in the new MK game. Their guess is Backbone Entertainment, but that is not certain, especially given that filming for the game is taking place in a different city than Backbone's offices.

We'll definitely keep an eye out for this game; as we learn more, we'll be sure to report it here!

To read the original story at TRMK, click here.