Midway Games has released a press release with information that the company will be abandoning the arcade hardware market and apparently turning all of its attention on console gaming. Midway also states it has laid off approximately 60 employees from its coin-operated division. Midway will now move almost all of its coin up projects straight to home consoles. Mortal Kombat 5 originally planned for arcades could be coming straight to home consoles sooner than expected. Here is a quote from SegaDojo.com:

"Midway's possible departure from the arcades is unfortunate, but they will remain a strong presence on the home console front, as almost all arcade projects that were still in development will be moved to console platforms. Specific platforms have not been announced, but we can expect to see San Francisco Rush: Hot Rod and Mortal Kombat 5 coming to a console near you sometime in the future."

The Mortal Kombat Team has stated in the past that there was always a possibility that MK5 could skip the arcades. We will let you know if this holds true.

Since there is obviously nothing else to report on, we might as well mention that Michael McDonough is pouring in news for our viewers once again with information that some UK site called Epic Heroes is selling Mortal Kombat Action figures for £12.99. According to MK Extreme these figures are around $12.99 here in the U.S. These figures ironically are the same ones we reported about last June by Palisades Marketing. In our previous update about these figures we have the prices listed as low as $10.95.

Also we reported back in June 2000 about Infinite Concepts first line of MK Action Figures that look extremly better than the ones mentioned above. At the time of our original posting we did not have a price tag or even a release date for these figures, but you can now find them at Magic Touch's Website for $11.99.

Oh, that's not it - we also reported back in June about Infinite Concepts 2nd Line of MK Action figures. (See screenshot below) This line contains Rayden, Johnny Cage, Jax, Kitana, and Reptile. We have no clue what ever happened to these figures. They were supposed to be released in the 2nd Quarter of 2000. They don't seem to be anywhere on Magic Touch's Website. Also we reported last July that a 3rd Series was set to launch in the 4th Quarter of 2001 with figures including Baraka, Jade, Kintaro, Shao Kahn, Kano and Smoke. That's the news for this month. We'll keep ya posted.

The associated press reported yesterday that Andrea Wilson from Norwalk Connecticut filed suit on November 22, 2000 against Midway Games who manufacture Mortal Kombat and other video games. Andrea Wilson claims that her son Noah and his friend were playing an arcade version of Mortal Kombat. Soon after Noah was wielded by a kitchen knife by his friend who Andrea claims was mocking the Mortal Kombat Arcade Game. 13 year old Noah died Nov. 22, 1997 just an hour after the incident. Noah and his friend were on their way to seeing Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Here is an excerpt from part of the suit:

“Mortal Kombat was intentionally and/or negligently designed by defendant Midway to addict young viewers to its realistic violence through the use of virtual reality, while convincing these immature viewers that what they observed was only a game and no one would be harmed if these viewers 'played' out the violent acts they observed, notwithstanding the very real violence portrayed in the video game.â€?

To see the whole article click here. Do you think Mortal Kombat is to blame? Voice out your opinion in our message board. Thanks to mikemcd@afn.org for the news tip.

Today marks the two year anniversary of MK5.org! Our popularity has sky-rocketed since we first made our appearance on the web. Starting out with just a few hits a week, we've expanded into the most talked about Mortal Kombat website in the world! Each day this site brings in over five-hundred unique visitors, and we only expect this number to grow as the fans gear ready for the release of Mortal Kombat 5 in 2001. Over our long reign of bringing news, rumors, and information to our readers, we have received recognition in such places like Ed Boon's website and even GamePro Magazine! It doesn't stop there. Our message board has brought in over 30,000 posts with fan's ideas for the next installment of Mortal Kombat! I would like to thank our entire staff and our readers for your continued support in making this website - The Voice of Mortal Kombat 5. Here's wishing you a wonderful holiday season!

Earlier tonight The Mortal Kombat Netherealm hosted a chat with members of The Grid Development Team! No information on Mortal Kombat 5 was released. If you missed this event a log should be made available shortly at their website.