FileFront has posted a new preview of Midway's upcoming action/adventure game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks! The preview doesn't really tell much that we didn't already know, but it still provides a good summary of what to expect. From the article:

Paradox Entertainment is taking the straight combat style of the original Mortal Kombat and putting it into an adventure style that is sure to fulfill any Kombat fan's desires to see the series taken to new levels. The game will revolve around the two Monk characters in the lineup: Liu Kang and Kung Lao, though a few more familiar faces will make an appearance. And even though you are not going to be taking on single opponents in the usual fighting style, there are going to be references to the original games that will make gamers happy the developers decided to embrace the nostalgia.

For instance, Mortal Kombat II had quite a few maps and backgrounds that held a lot of ground with the original fighting areas. With Shaolin Monks, players will get these same backdrops and fighting areas, but in a completely new 3D style. Like other old games that are slowly being swept up into the newly envisioned mainstream, new replicas of the past are going to become awesome places to explore, as you challenge enemies in a familiar landscape.

The developers started with concepts and the actual maps from the Mortal Kombat II game and created entire levels around them. In the case of the spiked ceilings, for example, levels have been designed in order to use those spiked ceilings in order to cast your characters into the eternal abyss. There are going to be quite a few surprises throughout the game, including fatalities worked into various areas of the levels, and other various attributes that will make the game an interesting venture.

To read the preview in its entirety, click here.

Our thanks to forum member mikemcdnet for the heads-up on this preview!

The Mortal Kombat: Deception Online Tournament has raged for the past few months. Kombatants across the continent have pitted their skills against one another in a bid to win prizes, including autographed copies of Mortal Kombat: Deception! But now, the tournament is winding down to a close, and now, we are proud to announce the winners:

Playstation 2 Online Ladder:

Grand Prize Winner: CRKFIEND
Second Place: Aldagod
Third Place: Skaven13

Xbox Live Ladder:

Grand Prize Winner: redsaleen02
Second Place: MrSchpfmut
Third Place: SatanicFreak

Our congratulations to our winning players! Be sure to check your email, as we will be contacting you about getting your prizes out to you ASAP. To everyone who participated, we thank you for joining us in the tournament. We had our ups and downs in this endeavor, but you pulled through, and we appreciate your taking part in this event.

Mortal Kombat Center has interviewed MK team member and Producer John Podlasek about a variety of subjects, including Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Mortal Kombat: Devastation, and even the classic MK games. Although not a whole lot of new information was revealed, many rumors that have been surfacing can be put to rest for good, thanks to this interview. Here's a small portion of it:

MK Center: Are there any secret characters in MK: Deception (without this ones you can have through the Krypt)? We heard rumors from many sources about playing as Motaro or other characters in as 'Super Unlockables', is this true?
John Podlasek: No.

MK Center: Why won't MK: Deception for GameCube be on sale in Europe?
John Podlasek: Business decision by management.

MK Center: Do you have any plans of making MK games for the PC? (would be great for online fighting with todays internet avaible for everyone etc...)
John Podlasek: No.

MK Center: What other bonuses will be for GC version of MK: Deception (besides Goro and Kahn)?
John Podlasek: 6 more characters will be unlocked without having to do it in Konquest.

MK Center: Before the premiere of MK:DA there was a rumor that in game there will be possibility to rip up to pieces your opponent clothes by weapon (there was even an example picture in Midway www site). However in the final version there isn't such a possiblity. Some of us (players) hoped that this would be in Mortal Kombat Deception, but there isn't. Why did you withdraw from that idea? In our opinion it would be a great idea.
John Podlasek: Technical tradeoff. By doing something like this we would have to have dropped something else (or more) to keep the game running at 60 fps.

To read the article in its entirety, click here. Thanks to MK Center's own Bodzio for the word on this update!

Mortal Kombat: Deception has won yet another award for best fighting game of 2004... this time, when popular video game rental service GameFly announced the winnners from its 2nd Annual GameFly Q Awards earlier today. (Also mentioned is Def Jam: Fight for NY which came in second.)

At the 2005 Game Developers Conference, GameFly, the smartest way to rent, play and buy video games, today announced the winners of the 2nd Annual GameFly Q Awards™. The Q Awards are gamers' annual opportunity to vote for their favorite games of the past year. The GameFly Q Awards are named for the GameQ™, a GameFly subscriber's video game wish list that manages which games the subscriber wants to rent and in what order.

"Response to the GameFly Q Awards more than tripled this year," said Jung Suh, co-founder and VP of content/strategic alliances, GameFly. "Our subscribers called 2004 'the year of the sequel' with Halo® 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and even classic franchises like Mario Party® taking top awards."

We extend our congratulations to Midway for another well deserved win! To check out the full list of winners, click here, and to read the full press release, click here.

The guys over at G4TV will be airing (well, re-airing) some footage from Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks on March 10, 2005 at 9:30 A.M. EST (8:30 A.M. CST) on their show, Cinematech. The episode, "Hodge Podge" originally aired on a few days ago on March 5, 2005. For more information on this episode, click here. Thanks to MK Online reader (and forum/chat member) DECEPTION for the news on this update!