GameSpot has posted a preview of Midway's upcoming action/adventure game, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks! According to the article, the game will be released for the Playstation 2 and X-Box platforms in late 2005. The preview also gives some information about what to expect from the game. From the preview:

Few hard details have been revealed so far about Shaolin Monks' gameplay or setting--the game looks to be a brawler-style action game, and it's a pretty safe bet that we'll be seeing plenty of places and faces from previous MK fighting games in this new action adventure. Mortal Kombat fans will notice Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Mileena, and the recently returned Baraka in the new screenshots, not to mention backgrounds like the portal and the tower from Mortal Kombat II. Interestingly enough, some screens show several Baraka-like characters fighting at one time. Perhaps we'll finally get some more background on Baraka's often-discussed race of Outworld mutants as Shaolin Monks' storyline unfolds.

The game will have both single-player and cooperative modes, and though the number of simultaneous players hasn't been revealed, it's worth noting that the screenshots don't seem to contain more than two classic characters onscreen at any one time. Like the recently released Mortal Kombat: Deception, Shaolin Monks will contain many backgrounds with interactive features like spiked ceilings, acid pits, and living trees (we appreciate the many nods to MKII that are apparently being included in the game). And of course, no Mortal Kombat game would be complete without a host of gory new fatalities.

The article also contains eight screenshots of in-game action. To see the preview in its entirety, click here.

In addition, GameSpot has posted a news article acting as an announcement of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. Of particular note is a statement by Midway CEO David Zucker concerning the release schedule of future MK games. From the article:

The other big change to the Mortal Kombat series is its frequency. In a statement, Midway president David F. Zucker said a new game in the franchise would arrive each year. “Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is also our first step toward delivering something that Mortal Kombat fans have been calling for: a new game set in the Mortal Kombat universe every year," he said. "We are planning our Mortal Kombat release schedule with the expectation that we will deliver a new Mortal Kombat title annually.�

To read the news article in its entirety, click here. Keep checking back with us; as we learn more about Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, we'll be sure to report it.

Our thanks to forum member OmegaOne for the heads-up on this breaking news story!

The guys over at BradyGames have updated their Deception section, or as I call it, their "Desection". From their site:

Mortal Kombat Fans!

Here is the first of several updates. Download this PDF which contains information for all the unlockable items in the Krypt. Coming soon are the Fatalities and the Konquest walk through.

Thank you for your patience.

- The BradyGames Team

Visit their MKD section here, or download their update as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file directly here.

UPDATE -- October 22: Looks like there's 2 more PDF's. The Konquest Walkthrough is 11 MB, and the Fatality Guide is not nearly so big, at a mere 2 MB. Thanks to MK Online forum/chat user Bloodline666 for the notice!

A site called Figures.com has announced that there will be a new line of action figures based on Mortal Kombat: Deception. These figures, first mentioned on WAM Entertainment (the site for the MK: Deception comics) will be out by Jazwares, Inc. (already responsible for a superb line of Street Fighter and Megaman action figures). According to the article, the first line of toys will include Raiden, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion, will include 30+ points of articulation and will feature highly detailed sculpting.


Click here to read the article in its entirety. Thanks to MK Online reader BigCen for the word!

A transcript is now available here. Thank you all for coming, more news about our trip to Midway Game's Studio will be released in the coming days!

--

It's that time once again! Have you ever wanted to interview the Mortal Kombat: Deception development team? Do you have a question you'd just love to have Ed Boon answer? Now's your chance!

Mortal Kombat Online proudly announces the return of its celebrity chat feature, FIGHT NIGHT! Our guests will be the development team for Midway's blockbuster fighting game, Mortal Kombat: Deception, including project lead Ed Boon! The chat will take place on Monday, October 25th at 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time. The event will last for about an hour, and it will take place at the #MortalKombat Online IRC Network!

Because of the anticipated extremely high attendance we will be handling question submission differently this time around. From now until Saturday October 23rd at 5:59 PM EDT, we will be pre-accepting questions for the chat at fightnight@mortalkombatonline.com. We will be accepting approximately ten to fifteen questions from the pre-submitted queue, time permitting. Then, attendees will be able to submit questions at the actual event itself. The remainder of the questions for the evening will be picked from the questions asked at the event.

Again, the event will be taking place Monday, October 25th at 8 PM EDT. We look forward to seeing you all at FIGHT NIGHT!

The website for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, now has its own website at: www.mkshaolinmonks.com also available at www.mortalkombatshaolinmonks.com

Nothing much on the site yet, except for a Coming Soon message and the classic MK dragon symbol - but this is a good indication that things are progressing on the next MK game.

Thanks go to out to MK Online forum/chat user DECEPTION for the tip!