GamePro's October 2004 issue features a three-page preview of Midway's upcoming fighting game, Mortal Kombat: Deception! While much of the article is stuff we already knew, there are some tantalizing tidbits. For example, the character count is touched upon:

Deception's lineup consists of 24 fighters - 12 that are available at the start of the game and another 12 that can be unlocked - "and then some super-unlockable ones," says Ed Boon. "These are the ones that you dig up in Konquest mode way after you're done with the game."

Also, Boon comments on the new "combo breakers" and air juggles:

"One of the comments that we got from the last game was that the role of the combos is kinda high," says Boon. "So we added ways to break or get out of combos." When fighting on the ground, you can knock an attacker away in the middle of a combo by simultaneously pressing into them and pushing the Block button. The jury's out on countering air juggles, though. "We're still toying with the idea of making juggles uncounterable," says Boon, "as our air juggles are more elaborate here than they were in Deadly Alliance."

Hari kiris and death traps are touched upon as well. The new information given includes Sub-Zero's hari kiri (he freezes himself solid and then falls over, shattering) and confirmation that death traps can be turned off, even in online play.

The island stage was also touched upon by Ed, as he explained how the death trap might work:

One intriguing stage takes place on a tropical desert island with the time constantly changing from day to night. "There are two different versions of a ring out in this stage," says Ed Boon. "During the day, it's like Virtua Fighter where you're floating in the water; at night, pirahnas attack you."

Finally, Ed hints to a new aspect of two different fan favorite characters... namely, Smoke and Noob Saibot:

"Noob Saibot and Smoke are two characters that are kind of fused into one," says Ed Boon, "so they're going to have all these weird juggle-combos with their different fighting styles."

As always, due to copyright reasons we are unable to provide scans of the article. However, the October 2004 issue of GamePro should be available at newsstands soon!

Our thanks to forum members ermac07 and ShoHayabusa for the heads-up on this news story!

GameSpot has released a video featuring a history of Mortal Kombat, with commentary from Ed Boon. The video starts with the first game, and leads all the way in to Mortal Kombat: Deception. While newly available for download, the video itself is not entirely new; it was first premiered at the pre-E3 Mortal Kombat Deception party.

The video is 140 MB in size for the hi-res version, and 62 MB in size for the lo-res version. GameSpot Basic members can download the video, while everyone else can stream it for free. To see the video, click here.

Our thanks to forum member sub-zeromasta for the heads-up on this news story!

PS2 IGN has posted a new exclusive video, this time demonstrating the new game modes featured in Midway's Mortal Kombat: Deception! The video features MK design team members Dan Forden, John Vogel, Steve Beran, and Ed Boon as they describe Konquest Adventure, Chess Kombat, and Puzzle Kombat. While nothing groundbreaking is shown (though we see Shujinko's arrival in what appears to be the Netherealm and a confrontation with Mileena), it does give a summary of what can be expected out of the new game modes.

As always, the videos are available in Quicktime format for IGN Insider members and Windows Media format for non-Insiders. To see the video, click here.

Our thanks to MK Warehouse webmaster Murdoink for the heads-up on this news story!

Another interview with producer John Podlasek and game programmer Nick Shin surfaced today at PhantUm.com. The interview doesn't contain that much new information, other than that the team is putting on the finishing touches on Mortal Kombat: Deception. It also mentions the release date of October 4th, 2004. Also of interest is the second mention of a possible sequel:

I can say that it’s probably a safe bet that there will be another MK title in the works sooner than later :-) ...What, when, where, etc are obviously still up in the air at the moment.  Our energies right now are focused towards the completion of Deception and we’re really excited to see what you guys think!

To read the interview in full, click here. Thanks to user Jason Leyanna for bringing this to our attention!

With Mortal Kombat: Deception still two months from release, it comes as quite a surprise that we are reporting on the first news of Mortal Kombat 7! According to a statement by Midway Games CEO David Zucker at the RBC Capital Markets North American Technology Conference in California, the next chapter in the series is underway. From the webcast:

We’re making Mortal Kombat 7. We’ll have a PS3 SKU and an Xbox 2 SKU and we’ll have a wireless SKU.

If any new developments surface we'll keep you updated. You can hear the webcast for yourself by clicking here.