At Midway Winter Gamers Day 2007, the folks from Game Informer also got the chance to sit down with Mortal Kombat creative director and series co-creator Ed Boon. Of course, the topics of the day were Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the Nintendo Wii and the yet-to-be-named Mortal Kombat 8. While most of the material covered in both topics were also covered in our own interview, Game Informer did learn that not only will Mortal Kombat 8 use Epic Games's Unreal Engine 3 (which powers such games as Gears of War, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and Unreal Tournament 3), Ed was actually heavily inspired by the look of Gears of War. From the interview:

GI: How far into development is it?

Boon: The main thing we’re doing right now is the core technology. We’re using the Unreal 3 engine, and we’re getting our base, “How do display a character, normal-mapping, bump-mapping, shadows” all the things that are expected of the game. I have a bunch of ideas on paper in terms of things that I’d like to theoretically try, but it’s not like it’s in a playable state yet.

...

GI: How has the experience been with the next-gen, and what are some of the nuances that you’re finding with the Xbox 360 and PS3?

Boon: Our goal, graphically, with this game is to be as gritty and—I don’t like to use the word “dirty,” because I don’t want to imply not-cool graphics—but a very dark, serious Mortal Kombat. Not vibrant, saturated colors, but more of a really down and dirty Mortal Kombat game. To me, when I saw Gears of War, I was like, “Holy s___! That’s the look that we’ve been talking about.” Visually, that’s what we want to do. Gameplay-wise, I kind of attribute it to what we did with Deadly Alliance, where everything is thrown out. We’re not going to have three fighting styles, we’re not going to have the same punches and kicks and the same kind of control scheme. Everything is getting trashed. We’re reinventing everything from the ground up. We really think that’s needed—you know, we’re on Mortal Kombat 8, in a sense—to kind of wipe the slate clean every once in a while, and I kind of feel that now is the time. Our visual presentation and our game presentation and our thing that you’ll hear about very soon are all going to be new to this game. It’s going to be nothing like you’ve ever seen before.

To read the interview in its entirety, click here.

Our thanks to everyone who sent in news leads about this important news story!

The folks over at Midway have gone ahead and posted another bio from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon! This time, the bio is that of Johnny Cage, whose actions leading up to MK: Armageddon have been heavily hinted at in several of the previously released bios. In it, he tells about his confrontations with the fallen Elder God, Shinnok, and his decision to take on the leadership role for the forces of good previously held by Liu Kang and Raiden. From the bio:

It used to be, when there was a threat to Earthrealm, that Raiden would rally the Forces of Light to face the enemy in Mortal Kombat. Somehow he could always discover the truth behind the deception. I was one of his allies and fought with him against the Forces of Darkness. In those early days Liu Kang was the point man, he was the star. The rest of us played supporting roles, clearing the way so he could take on the main threat.

But times have changed. Raiden has abandoned us. He's become darker, using more ruthless ways to keep the "peace." And Liu Kang was killed. Though his spirit is still around to help us, eventually he'll pass on into the Heavens. It seems like we have no clear leader. We're just not the fighting force we once were. We're scattered all over the realms. Maybe it's because there hasn't been a real threat since we took care of the Dragon King, I don't know. But I can't help but feel uneasy about the future. I used to think, "What if there's a new threat? Who's gonna lead us?" With Raiden gone, how would we even tell when something bad is about to happen?The answer came soon enough. I started having visions of someone we had defeated years ago: I saw the Fallen Elder God Shinnok plotting something and I decided to find out what. In my visions I could see Shinnok in different locations, conjuring these communication portals to give orders, which I couldn't quite understand, to his minions. I followed him, finding each place I saw in my visions, and always there was evidence that he had in fact been there. My visions weren't dreams after all. Shinnok was back!

In my last vision, I clearly heard Shinnok say the next place he was going to contact his minion from was Shang Tsung's island fortress. That place has played a big part in the fight between good and evil. It seemed fitting that I would confront Shinnok there.

When he finally showed up, I watched him for a while, to try to get some idea as to what he was planning. Was I surprised to see that the "minion" in the portal was Quan Chi! Shinnok ordered him to gather the Forces of Darkness and retake Shao Kahn's fortress in Outworld. When he dismissed the sorcerer, I approached Shinnok. He was startled and immediately conjured up a skeleton hand to trap me. I jumped out of the way and followed with a Shadow Kick to the chest. I pummeled him, and he never regained his composure. The coward escaped in a cloud of smoke... a teleport of some kind, I suppose.

I seem to have discovered the next great threat to Earthrealm. Now I need to find the others. I'll need their help if I'm going to defeat Shinnok's forces. The fate of Earthrealm depends on me.

To see the page in which the bio was posted, click here.

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

GameSpot has done another update on MKII for the PS3, after checking it out again at the Midway Winter Gamer's Day. The most notable news is the price for this gem (which is worth way more to us MK fans): $4.99.

To read the article in its entirety, click here. Thanks to for the word on this update!

It's that time of year again! I'm out here in beautiful and sunny Las Vegas, Nevada, where Midway Games held their annual Winter Gamers Day event, to show off upcoming games to the press! Of course, the main game on tap for the Mortal Kombat franchise was Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the Nintendo Wii. We weren't able to take video of the presentation; however, unlike previous presentations, this one was the same video shown on GameSpot's site a couple of days back demonstrating the use of the Wiimote in the game. In the meantime, however, we can give you these official screenshots, complete with demonstrations of Wiimote use.

In addition, Midway had several of their upcoming Playstation Network titles for the Playstation 3 onhand, including Mortal Kombat II. I spent some time playing MKII to get a feel for the game (especially in two-player). I walked away feeling that the emulation of the game was almost bug-free and arcade-perfect. The one bug that I encountered was in fact a common bug; I could not get Random Select to work properly. Otherwise, the game played almost flawlessly.

I also got to take the time to interview Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick. During the interviews, we got hit with a couple of surprise revelations. One of these revelations had been suspected by fans before but is only now being confirmed. The other had actually gone against previous information we had been given.

• Khameleon will in fact be a playable character in the Wii version of MK: Armageddon.
• Midway is currently working on a Mortal Kombat title for the Nintendo DS.

We didn't find out too much about the DS title that's in development. All that Shaun would hint at was that while it wasn't a direct port of a previous title, it wouldn't be a brand-new game either. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this story; as we learn more about the DS version, we'll be sure to report it here.

We have the interviews in both Apple Quicktime video format for broadband users, and also an audio-only version in MP3 format for those people who would merely like to listen to it.

• Ed Boon audio interview at Midway Winter Gamers Day 2007
• Shaun Himmerick audio interview at Midway Winter Gamers Day 2007
• Ed Boon video interview at Midway Winter Gamers Day 2007
• Shaun Himmerick video interview at Midway Winter Gamers Day 2007

• Transcript of Ed Boon interview
• Transcript of Shaun Himmerick interview

This has been a quiet Gamers Day, all told, save for the two new big pieces of information we got in the interviews. As I said before, though, we'll definitely be keeping our eyes on these news stories, and when news breaks we'll be sure to bring it from you. From Las Vegas, this is D'Arque Bishop.

The folks over at GameSpot recently took the time to talk to Mortal Kombat co-creator and development lead Ed Boon concerning the upcoming port of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the Nintendo Wii. Several tidbits of new information were revealed about the Wii version of MK:A during this brief one-page interview. For example, one of the first questions asked was about how feedback from the already-released versions of MK:A affected the development of the Wii version. From the interview:

GS: Did any of the user feedback on the released versions of Armageddon affect development of the Wii game?

EB: Yes; MK fans will notice some additional features and tweaks to the kombat. For example, we have implemented and are tuning some new kombat centered around the "laying down" actions in the game. We listen closely to feedback on the game and like to make things better where we can.

In addition, Ed goes into some detail about the control scheme in MK: Armageddon, revealing that the game can be played with the Wiimote and the classic controllers (the classic Wii gamepad or the GameCube contoller).

GS: How did you approach control in the game? Did you feel like you had to use the Wii Remote and motion sensing? How did you implement it?

EB: Using the Wii-mote for MK: Armageddon was a must for us. We felt there would be no point in doing this game for the Wii if we did not support the Wii-mote for all modes and features. We didn't want to just support it, though--we wanted to utilize it and customize the gameplay experience. When you play it, you will notice that every single super move in the game is controlled by a Wii gesture system; also, the fatality systems will use the gesture system. For example, to do a move like throw Scorpion's spear, you will swing the Wii-mote away from your enemy and then bring it back toward your enemy, as if you are throwing the spear yourself toward the enemy, in an "away-toward" motion. It makes all of the moves feel more visceral, and it feels like you are more directly doing the action over just button presses. We want the controls of MK: Armageddon to be the biggest feature of this game on top of all of the content it already has.

GS: Did you implement alternative control methods to make sure longtime MK vets weren't alienated?

EB: Yes! To make sure we stayed true to our fans and people who like the other controllers, we are also supporting the Wii's Classic Controller as well as the GameCube controller for use in MK: Armageddon for the Wii. You could be playing Mortal Kombat with one person using a Wii-mote and Nunchuk, one person with just the Wii-mote, one person on the GameCube controller, and one person on a Classic Controller. We wanted the player to have as many options as possible.

Finally, Ed does mention the two changes made to the game from the XBox/PS2 versions, and the one thing that had to be removed.

GS: How much Wii-exclusive original content is in the game?

EB: There are two main things that we are bringing to the Wii exclusively over the PS2 and Xbox versions. As we've talked about, we have focused a lot on the controls and how we'll use those in the game as creatively as possible.

Additionally, we have implemented a new mode called "Endurance mode" for the Wii. We wanted to enhance the single-player experience on the Wii. In this mode you will fight a series of opponents one round at a time, without getting any additional health after each enemy. How many can you beat? Can you beat all 20 in Endurance mode?

GS: Is there any online functionality in the game?

EB: No. The online components of the Wii were not ready for us when we would have needed them in the development cycle.

In addition to the text interview, there is also a video of Ed demonstrating the Wiimote control system for MK: Armageddon. However, it should be noted that all of the demonstrated moves were for special moves and kreate-a-fatality, and not of actual normal fighting or chain combos.

To read the interview with Ed in its entirety, click here. To watch the video demonstrating playing MK: Armageddon using a Wiimote, click here and choose Official Movie 11.

Our thanks to forum member for letting us know about this important interview!