The folks over at Microsoft have released another backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360! While Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks were again passed over, another Midway-published title made the cut: Unreal Championship 2! Unreal Championship 2 is of note to Mortal Kombat fans as it represents the first teaming of Unreal and Mortal Kombat (prior to the announcement that MK8 will use Unreal Engine 3): everyone's favorite Thunder God, Raiden, is an unlockable character in the game!

As for the absence of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, we'll be keeping an eye out and seeing if we can get some new information. If we learn something new, we'll be sure to report it here!

To view the full backwards-compatibility list for Xbox 360, click here.

Gamespot has released a short series of new images pertaining to the Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon! Among these images are the standard demonstration images we have seen in the past. Four new images are present, showcasing special moves from Fujin, Frost, Ermac and Baraka. An additional two images feature Motor Kombat. One shows the driving mechanics by using the Wii controller as a steering wheel type device and the other shows Raiden using a special on Johnny Cage.

To visit Gamespot's screenshot library for the Wii version of MKA, click here.

Thanks to forum member for alerting us to these new images!

EDIT - 7:30 PM CDT - Midway has made the screenshots available for us to host here. Our thanks to our contacts at Midway for providing us with these screenshots!

The folks over at Midway have released yet another bio from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon! This time, the bio is that of the popular Tarkatan/Edenian hybrid clone, Mileena! In this bio, it shows the end result of her attempt to gain control of Kitana's army, how she found herself back in Shao Kahn's good graces, and how her backstory intertwines with Shujinko, of all people. From the bio:

Outworld was MINE! Posing as the Edenian wench Kitana, I gained command of her army and with it took control of Shao Kahn's fortress — all in the name of "peace." I had planned to continue my charade until the Edenian forces could be corrupted enough to follow me as Mileena, the true conqueror of Outworld. But my plans were foiled when the fortress was attacked — Shao Kahn had returned!

And he was not alone! As I watched the initial assault from the safety of the imperial balcony, I recognized the two warriors who aided him: Goro, Prince of the Shokan, and Shang Tsung, wretched Sorcerer of Darkness – my creator. They crushed all who defended the stronghold.

I hid in the throne room and commanded the Edenian mages to cast a defensive ward upon the main door. It was of no use. Their magic was nothing compared to the might of Shao Kahn. He shattered the door and strode in as confidently as ever.

As he stood before me, the two mages rushed to defend their princess, positioning themselves between Shao Kahn and myself. What a surprise it must have been when their own "princess" stabbed them from behind. They fell limp to the floor. Shao Kahn paused, momentarily confused. Removing my veil, I knelt before him, "Welcome home, my master."

Shao Kahn accepted my surrender and later ordered me to capture the Earthrealm warrior known as Shujinko. He was to be used as a bargaining chip to help forge an alliance with Onaga, the former ruler of Outworld.

I sent the fool an invitation, hoping to utilize his arrogance and pride by acknowledging his heroic deeds. The ruse worked; soon he was at the main gate. Reiko's men, dressed in the armor of slain Edenian soldiers, led him directly to the throne room where he was confronted by the new Dark Alliance. I did battle with him as Shao Kahn commanded, defeating him with surprising ease. He was then cast into the dungeon, where he will remain until Onaga arrives.

I do not relish serving Shao Kahn. I am destined for greater things. An entire realm was once in the palm of my hands — and I will not rest until I regain that status! Though it will be impossible to rule Outworld now that Shao Kahn has returned, there are other realms ripe for the taking. Edenia will be mine!

More bios are sure to come; as we learn of them, we'll be sure to report them here!

To view the original bio page for Mileena, click here.

Our thanks to forum member for letting us know about this new bio!

Following the release of Mortal Kombat II for the Playstation 3 via the Playstation Network service, GameSpot has released a review of the game. Overall, their review showed that the port of the game is a strong port for the most part, but shows a bit of lack of polish due to some quirks in the online play and emulation. One interesting mention in the review was that while the game itself was $4.99, it states that the download was "roughly 250 MB". This puts it at half the cost of Ultimate MK3 for Xbox Live Arcade, but over five times the size. Not having a Playstation 3, we cannot confirm that this is not a typo in the article, although it does seem very likely.

While the review does call the port an "accurate version" of the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II, it does note a couple of weird issues in online play and in the emulation. From the review:

The online mode in MK2 is really weird. Rather than set up some sort of custom two-player match that is book ended by menus and scoreboards, hooking up to another player just runs an emulated version of the arcade machine game. But instead of having a second player sitting next to you, that person is someone else in the world. So, if you wanted, you could just not hit start, not join the game, and simply watch a player play single-player. And games don't end until one player disconnects from the match. This aspect of the online play feels rushed and sloppy, especially when you consider that there's no manual or anything to tell you that you need to hit start to play. In these early hours after the game's release, expect to run into a handful of new players who have no idea how to join your game. And because there's no voice chat or other method of in-game messaging, you have no way to tell other players "Hey, hit start!" Most of them figure it out after a minute or so.

The game has an online leaderboard, but it doesn't make much sense. The scoreboard just lists a number, and it's not just a raw count of the number of wins you've scored. After playing for a few hours, we found ourselves with a score of seven points. What the heck does that even mean? The world may never know.

There are also handful of technical glitches and emulation issues. For whatever reason, the fighters don't cast shadows in the Dead Pool background in this version, though they do in the arcade version. When starting a match, the audio seems to cut out for a split second, occasionally making the announcer sound like he's saying "ound" instead of "round." Also, the fatality music cuts off and the game goes nearly silent if you do the first part of Sub-Zero's two-part fatality over and over again. In the arcade version, the music just keeps looping. None of these are absolute game breakers, but they're all disappointing.

Overall, the review notes that while overall the game seems rushed and lacks extra features such as a round-robin tournament mode like UMK3 for XBLA has, it's still worth $4.99 as it's still an accurate port of MKII with online play. In the end, it was given a rating of 7.9 out of 10.

To read the review in its entirety, click here.

Our thanks to forum/chat member for letting us know about this new review!

The entire slipcover for the case of the Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has been revealed as Total Mortal Kombat posts the PAL version of the game! There are some notable changes for the boxart, as the back cover now features five gameplay images from the Wii version of the game along with the standard Wii tutorial image underneath the screenshot. Of special note, one of these five images features the first in-game shot of the exclusive character for the console, Khameleon! While the image is small and the details hard to see, it does appear Khameleon will retain the same colour changing properties as her male counterpart.

To view the image directly, click here.

Thanks to forum/chat member for alerting us to this.