Team X-Box posted an interesting news article on their site, concerning the upcoming FPS for the X-Box, Epic Games's Unreal Championship 2! As a result of Midway Games's publishing this title, a very familiar character from the Mortal Kombat universe is making a guest appearance in the game! From the article:

But without a doubt, the most interesting surprise was the unveiling of the secret Mortal Kombat character that will make his way into a crossover that blends the fighting and shooting genres; and the winner is… Raiden!

Yes, the Thunder God has been selected to venture into the Unreal universe and his selection makes sense when you consider he has always battled in the Mortal Kombat tournaments when the Outworld and Earth realms merged.

Now that the Unreal and Mortal Kombat universes are melding into one, he once again must put his own immortality to risk by transforming into a mere mortal to compete in The Liandri Corporation tournament.

His incorporation comes together with Raiden's voice actor and the option to swap the Unreal host with the classic Mortal Kombat announcer, providing a nice MK touch that will be welcome to fans of the fighting franchise. Mike Capps, Lead Designer of UC2 and President of Epic Games, also revealed that the incorporation of the character, as well as other Mortal Kombat elements, were implemented with the input of Ed Boon.

Note that Raiden's inclusion in UC2 was known as far back as Midway Gamer's Day, where we got a picture of his silhouette on the UC2 character select screen, along with another mysterious kombatant's. However, this is the first official confirmation we have seen regarding Raiden's presence in Unreal Championship 2. We'll keep an eye on this game, and as we learn more, we'll report it here.

To see the Team X-Box article in its entirety, click here. To see the previous MK Online news article with the UC2 screenshots, click here.

Our thanks to forum/chat member CAMK for the heads-up on this news story!

MortalKombatKontroller.com, the official site of the Mortal Kombat: Deception controllers, has updated with pictures of each of the 6 MK:D controllers available - Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Baraka on both the Play-Station 2 and X-Box consoles, respectively. The X-Box controllers will actually have animated holograms on them, and a demonstration of this is available on the site. You can also buy the controllers through the site or at the retail stores mentioned there!


Thanks go to MK Kool for the news!

Spike TV has announced the nominees for its upcoming Video Game Awards 2004, and Midway's Mortal Kombat: Deception has garnered a nomination for Best Fighting Game! It faces stiff competition this year from other games such as Dead or Alive: Ultimate, Def Jam: Fight for NY, Fight Night 2004, and WWE: Smackdown! Vs. RAW. The Video Game Awards 2004 winners are decided by vote, so be sure and make your voice heard!

The Video Game Awards 2004 will be aired live on December 14th at 9 PM EST, hosted by Snoop Dogg. To cast your vote, go to the VGA 2004 website, which can be located by clicking here. (Warning: the site requires Macromedia Flash Player.)

Our thanks to forum/chat member DECEPTION for the heads-up on this news story! In addition, we at MK Online would like to extend our congratulations to the MK: Deception design team on this achievement!

The future bodes well for Midway Games, who has added three new important members to their internal product development team, all of them top industry leaders.

• Scot Bayless, VP, Midway's Chicago studio. Notable achievements: James Bond 007 franchise, Daytona USA, Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Denise Fulton, Studio Head, Midway's Austin studio. Notable achievements: Deus Ex: Invisible War, Thief: Deadly Shadows, NHL 2001
• Stephan Martinière, Visual Design Director, Midway's Chicago studio. Notable achievements: Myst, special effects on feature films such as Star Wars Episodes II and III, I, Robot, and The Fifth Element.

Read the entire press release here.

As November 19 draws nearer and nearer, game stores (and their respective web sites) the world over prepare for Mortal Kombat: Deception. As was reported earlier this summer, in France the game will be called Mortal Kombat: Mystification due to translation issues (namely, "deception" happens to be a word in French which means "disappointment"). The City Disc Website - a European music/game store - has posted the box art for the French MK Mystification.



You can check out their product page for the PS2 version here, and the X-Box version here.