Soon after the chat with mk co-creator Ed Boon last Wednesday, IGN Cube reported about how Ed Boon mentioned he was impressed with the GameCube's power when asked if he had received the GameCube kit. A day later IGN Cube reported that an anonymous Midway source confirmed that Mortal Kombat 5 is headed to the GameCube, as well as the two other next generation systems, the XBox and Playstation 2. With all this hype about what consoles Mortal Kombat 5 will hit it's very unlikely that Mortal Kombat 5 will make an appearance in the arcades. More news as it becomes available.

The MortalKombat.com chat with co-creator Ed Boon has come to a close. We have now learned that Mortal Kombat 5 will not be making a release until 2002 - still no official word if Mortal Kombat 5 will skip arcades. Ed Boon did mention however that Midway leaving the arcades has not affected the games progress and that its been "business as usual". Also Ed Boon made it very clear that some teasers should start hitting the web in the next few months. Thanks to everyone that came and participated.

A transcript of the chat is now available.

Don't miss the chat with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon tonight at 6 PM Pacific/9PM Eastern only at MortalKombat.com! More details will be provided later tonight at their website along with a quick link to their chatroom. Your hosts for the evening will be KungLao from MortalKombat.com and myself. We expect a huge crowd and we will moderate if necessary. See you tonight!

Our friend Chris from MortalKombat.com has informed us that they have scheduled a chat with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon in the second week of April. We have been given a tentative date and time for the chat, but we won't release it until I see it posted at their website. I will be an operator for this chat session. As soon as we can post the date and time for the chat you will see it here.

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.