We're bringing an early start to our E3 2005 coverage this morning, with a press release from Midway announcing its lineup for the show this year! The release gives information on Midway's upcoming action-adventure game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, as well as the two upcoming PSP games featuring MK! From the press release:

Midway's E3 2005 lineup features such highly acclaimed brands as Blitz®: The League™, L.A. Rush™, Mortal Kombat : Shaolin Monks™, The Suffering®: Ties That Bind™ and Unreal Tournament® 2007. This year's portfolio also showcases the company's new kid's properties as well as the first look at its high-end PC titles and new offerings for the Sony PlayStation® Portable entertainment system.

"We are extremely pleased with the quality and diversity of our 2005 E3 lineup as it truly reflects our product strategy," said David F. Zucker, president and CEO, Midway. "Not only do we have a slate of new products already in development for the next-gen systems, but we are also bringing select high-profile properties to the new Sony PSP as well as entering the high-end PC market and the kid's category."

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Mortal Kombat®: Shaolin Monks™ (PS2, Xbox; Fall 2005) -- Experience the Mortal Kombat franchise from an entirely new action/adventure perspective by exploring the vast Mortal Kombat II universe as two of Mortal Kombat's favorite Shaolin Monks: Liu Kang and Kung Lao. It's the first time ever a Mortal Kombat action/adventure title has featured a multi-directional Kombat system, joining an array of features that include a deep storyline, single-player and two-player co-op modes, more comprehensive fatalities, mutalities, brutalities and special attacks.

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Midway Arcade Treasures™(working title) (Winter 2005) - Now you will be able to play classic arcade gaming titles anywhere, anytime. Midway Arcade Treasures features an incredible roster of old school favorites including, Spy Hunter® (single-player), Sinistar® (single-player), Defender® (single-player), Paperboy® (single- player), 720�® (single-player), Klax®, Joust®, Marble Madness®, Toobin'®, Rampage® (3-player), Gauntlet® (4-player), Rampart® (3-player), Wizard of Wor™, Xybots™, Championship Sprint™, Arch Rivals™, Cyberball 2072™, Xenophobe® (3-player), Mortal Kombat®, Mortal Kombat II, and Mortal Kombat 3. Midway Arcade Treasures features 5 single-player and 16 wireless games, with some wireless titles including 3 and 4-player compatibility.

Mortal Kombat®: Deception™(working title) (Winter 2005) -- Mortal Kombat: Deception revolutionizes the fighting game genre while maintaining the lethal intensity that the franchise has been known for since its 1992 debut in arcades, with online competition, multiple fatalities per character, multi-tiered interactive backgrounds and new game modes. Mortal Kombat: Deception delivers an enhanced free-roaming Konquest mode, an action/strategy board game and a unique puzzle game that compliment the one-on-one fighting mode that has helped establish the Mortal Kombat franchise as the ultimate fighting game.

While the PSP titles are listed as being at the show, our sources within Midway have informed us that they will only be shown via videos on the show floor, and will not actually be playable. Keep it tuned here today, though, as we will be providing live updates from the show floor and keeping you, the fans, appraised of what we learn of these games first-hand!

Just in time for the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week, Midway Games has released the updated Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Official Website! Though more is promised to come, it does offer official trailers for the game and a slew of in-game screenshots. Thanks goes to site and chatroom user Total-MK for the heads up!

Also, don't forget to tune in tomorrow as we kick off our fourth coverage of the E3 Expo LIVE from sunny Los Angeles, California! Get ready as the team of Mortal Kombat Online provides you with our in-depth coverage of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks including interviews, videos, hands on impressions, and more!

The latest issue of ToyFare magazine (Isse 95, July 2005) has some pictures of the Jazwares figures of MK Deception figures, first reported by us on our May 3rd update.

The pictures are all exclusives, as you will see Raiden, Baraka, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion in poses that are different from what are shown in our May 12 update. Furthermore, you can see Scorpion's alt costume with the skull for a head, Scorpion in his normal costume wielding a sword as well as his infamous spear, and Action Figure Express' Cold Snap Sub-Zero, complete with his Kori Blade (which will first be available for sale at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Do you live overseas, or just can't find this mag near you? Not a problem, you can order this issue here. And although we first heard about Toyfare's exclusive pics from Jazwares directly, we'd still like to thank MK Online users fraysol and Ermac-daddy for notifying us when they received the news.

The folks over at IGN have previewed MK Shaolin Monks, in addition to posting eight direct feed videos of the game! From the article:

Our gameplay demonstration began with Liu and Kung leaping heroically into an awfully disgusting pit. Turns out we were in Goro's Lair, the second to last boss stage from the original Mortal Kombat – even the piles of skeletons were intact. Before we could get to punching some ogre face, Raiden showed up and spoke briefly about duty, heroism, the plight of Earth, electricity, amperage, etcetera. The basic gist of his little speech was, "Y'all need to be pummeling some bad dudes, so...get it on!" And right about then, the combat began.

Enemies, like in most beat 'em ups, appear in waves. We fought them with normal attacks, power attacks, launching attacks, throws, an attack modifying shift button and a lock-on / block combination button. The basic action included a lot of fluid combos. It was somewhat reminiscent of Soul Calibur in that pressing any buttons in sequence without any real applied skill yielded an appreciable result. It was also super easy to transition in and out of moves and switch from blocking to fighting, unlike other games that play long animation routines and force their users to stupidly sit and wait until the combo is finished.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Also, be sure to check out the 8 videos. Here's a list of what to look for:

• 2-Player Co-op
• 2-player VS.
• Single-player 01
• Single-player 02
• Moonlit fight
• Clearing the caves
• Baraka fight pt. 1
• Baraka fight pt. 2

So definitely check out the videos page here. The videos are free to download in the WMV (Windows Media Video) format for all, or as QuickTime files for IGN Insider members. Thanks once again to MK Online chat/forum member DECEPTION for the word!

Sites like GameSpot and GameTrailers have updated with the latest trailer for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks! It's being widely referred to as the E3 trailer, but since E3 hasn't started yet, it's more like a Pre-E3 trailer, or as I call it, a PrE3 trailer.

Long-time fans will note that unlike the other intro video which seemed to contradict some elements of the MKII storyline, the details mentioned in this video seem to go hand-in-hand with it. This time, it shows that Shang Tsung hungered for revenge after losing to Liu Kang in the Shaolin tournament. The Shaolin, having control of the tournament restored to them, awarded their champion with a medal. Then the famous battle of Baraka (and his Tarkatan hordes) attacking the Shaolin temple is depicted, and Liu Kang and Kung Lao practice fighting before venturing into Outworld.

Definitely worth a download! Check out:

• MKSM PRE3 Trailer (Quicktime) - 15.6 MB
• MKSM PRE3 Trailer (WMV) - 16.3 MB

Thanks to MK Online user DECEPTION for this news (as well as many other recent news postings here!)