We're packing our bags, getting on a jet plane.. and we're not sure if we'll even want to come back again! Get ready as Mortal Kombat Online takes the sky to Los Angeles, California to kick off its LIVE coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo on Wednesday, May 12^th! With Mortal Kombat: Deception and Midway Arcade Treasures 2 center state at the Midway Booth, we envision this being our most exciting coverage ever done from the E3 show floor. Last night the deadline came for our fan interview with series co-creator Ed Boon, and well over a hundred die hard questions were submitted. We've picked the top ten, and they will be released as well during the week of E3; you won't want to miss out! With that, here's a little something to hold you over...

As previously mentioned, GameSpot has given to us 3 new videos featuring the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Deception! We start things off with yet another "official trailer" that begins much in the same way as the first of two trailers that IGN released two days prior. There isn't too much in this one that hasn't already been seen. This time we're treated to an excellent shot of Nightwolf facing off against Sindel on the spire-like arena followed by several glances of the "Yin Yang" arena, Ermac performing his Telekinetic Slam (which gives an early indication that he does indeed retain his telekinetic powers in spite of Kenshi), and finally, the Courtyard background featured in Chess Kombat that GameSpot mentions in their preview, complete with monks and patrolling guards.

The second video is more interesting than the official trailer and shows a few special moves, more weapon use, and more detail in the modes overall. It opens up with Scorpion performing his Summon Hellfire move from Deadly Alliance on Baraka. Beetles can be seen crawling on the wall in the background. This is followed by a shot of Li Mei performing her Flying Fists on Ermac. Sindel wields a hammer of sorts and knocks Sub-Zero off of the Sky Temple, with the fall shown in its entirety. From this it cuts to Chess Kombat, which looks to be coming along quite nicely. Again, the MK1 Courtyard background is shown in this mode and a better shot of the patrolling guards is given. This segment ends with a brief scene of Li Mei and Ermac duking it out for a square, finishing him off with yet another special move, her Klock Kick. Ermac now has his own icon below his life meter (fans everywhere can rest). The video wraps up with various shots of Konquest and Puzzle Kombat. Some old, some new. One scene, located in a dojo, shows your Konquest character facing up against Bo' Rai Cho, completing objectives via moves much like in Deadly Alliance's Konquest mode. The Puzzle Kombat shots are completely new and sport a background with a steel press on each side.

The third video is an interview with the man himself, Ed Boon. While brief, he discusses various details about the game, such as the main grid of characters, gameplay improvements, and the Krypt and Konquest mode. As for the the number of characters that will be playable in the final game, the given number by Ed is 24, but also makes note that there will be more. Though it is unclear if these characters will be playable or not. Also hinted is the possibility of features that will not be apparent on any main select screen. Moving on to the topic of gameplay, fighting styles will be even more distinct from each other. The combo system has been revamped. While still elaborate, it will play less of a role in the actual fight, for players can now break out of combos, creating more of a strategical battle. Expansion upon the juggling system will give players more control over where you want to position yourself and your opponent with respect to the background. Finally, Ed discusses what's in store at E3. The E3 build of the game will feature 10 playable characters in the fighting game, 6 to 8 selectable characters along with 4 backgrounds complete with fatalities in Puzzle Kombat, Chess Kombat will be playable and mostly complete, as well as a peek of the first and second realms in Konquest mode. In actuality, there is a 4th trailer. However, it's identical to IGN's Trailer 2. On a final note, you must be a subscriber to GameSpot Complete in order to view the interview with Ed Boon.

You can find all of the media located here. Our thanks go to Mortal Kombat Online forum member Konqrr for the news tip!

The guys over at Gamespot have managed to get their hands on the playable Mortal Kombat: Deception demo, which will appear at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next week in Los Angeles, California. After giving the pre-release version a complete analysis, they have posted an in-depth preview of the demo, including information on the E3 roster. From the article:

The work-in-progress version of the game features an impressive sampling of some of what the final game will offer. The first mode in the game we tried was the traditional fighting mode. The roster of available characters clocks in at 12 characters--roughly half of whom will appear in the final game. Old-timers Baraka, Nightwolf, Mileena, Sindel, Ermac, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion join Deadly Alliance's Li Mei, Kenshi, and Bo Rai Cho. All the characters' designs have had varying degrees of work done, resulting in slightly new looks for everyone. In addition to the old crew, newcomers Ashra (the Raiden-looking female seen briefly in the first trailer) and Hotaru (a male warrior sporting an elaborate suit of samurai-inspired armor) are on hand to brawl.

New details are also given on the interactive environments, but a lot more significant information has been learned about the fight status indicators that will appear on screen during battles. These will assist players at any skill level; by giving notice of elements during gameplay, including death traps, that can change the entire outcome of the fight. GameSpot continues to say:

While the fighting system is still a work in progress, since the team is still balancing everything out, what's on hand offers a good idea of where things are headed. The basic combo and three-fighting-style systems are back but are enhanced by some significant additions. The fight-state indicator system lets you gain a better understanding of the flow of battle, because it lets you track your vulnerability and that of your foe. The indicator offers three color-coded warnings--red, blue and yellow--that let you know when you're open to attack during a battle. The system has been tweaked since our last look at the game to make the indicators less obtrusive on the screen. The meters for you and your opponent now appear under your health bars, as opposed to up the side of the left and right sides of the screen. Another addition to the game is marked by the return of the old-school uppercut, which is a comfortable amenity to have in a fighter's arsenal of common melee attacks.

Moving on, GameSpot also provides a detailed explanation of what to expect in the new Puzzle Kombat and Chess Kombat mini-side games. Here's an excerpt of what to except in regards of chess, Kombat style:

The goal of the game is to take out your opponent's leader with the assorted "pieces" at your disposal. Your pieces are fighters that you assign to one of five classes. The classes affect each character's attack and life stats, forcing you to be a little careful with how you deploy them. The "leader" is the equivalent of your king in standard chess. Your "champion" is essentially your queen and is the most mobile of your pieces. The "grunt" is your pawn, and it serves as cannon fodder. The last two classes, the sorcerer and shifter, don't have ties to traditional chess and are more in tune with MK sensibilities. You'll actually have two sorcerers--in good and evil flavors--who are able to cast spells. The good sorcerer will cast support magic that will let you heal, protect, and resurrect fallen pieces. Your less virtuous spellcaster will be able to do all the fun stuff, like instantly kill one of your opponent's pieces, teleport one of your pieces anywhere on the board, and sacrifice one piece to heal another. Before you think you can kick back and let your sorcerer's do all the work, you should know that you're only going to be able to cast these spells once over the course of a match, so you'll have to use your head. Finally, your shifter is a unique piece that transforms into an exact copy of his or her opponent. This actually makes for a good test of skills, because then you can see who knows how to play a specific character better.

GameSpot concludes the article by giving a breakdown of the online Konquest mode, detailing their comparison of how the graphics compare to MK: Deadly Alliance; also providing some information on the music and audio that appears in the game. But not to spoil us even further, they also showcase a whole slew of new screen shots. Why most focus on the game environments, including a prison stage, (see who you can make out behind those bars!), we are also treated with a few new renders that first appeared in print publications.

For a complete look at this preview, click here. Thanks goes out to Mortal Kombat Online forum users, MrShadowMan and Faction, for the heads up! Stay tuned for another update about new videos that have been released, including a GameSpot exclusive interview with MK: Deception lead, Ed Boon!

With all the updates and hoopla over Mortal Kombat: Deception, it's important that Midway Arcade Treasures II not be forgotten. This collection of classic arcade Midway games (20 games for $20) features MK1, MK2, and MK3. There's also some cool artwork of different icons representing various games on this trailer, and a cool picture of Sub-Zero is used to represent MK (no pun intended!). You have to be a member of GameSpot Basic to download the video - account registration is free, so don't worry. Special thanks to Mortal Kombat Online forum member CAMK for the word!

IGN has just posted not one, but two brand-new trailers from Midway's upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat: Deception!

The first trailer is more of an official trailer, complete with the opening narration from the first trailer. It also continues the FMV battle between Mileena and Baraka seen in the first trailer, as Baraka is knocked through a wall into the temple below, followed by Mileena. As Mileena readies her sais, Baraka picks up the stage weapon, and they both charge at each other. The video then shows plenty of gameplay, including such scenes as a kombatant being kicked through the ceiling of a level, flying across the arena above, and crashing through the glass floor of said arena to land on the opposite end of the original arena. A number of characters are shown in the trailer, including the first known gameplay footage of Bo'Rai Cho. Chess Kombat is also featured, this time with actual MK: Deception characters instead of MK:DA placeholders. Puzzle Kombat is the next to be demonstrated; unlike Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, the cartoonish characters constantly battle each other while the game progresses, and a fatality is shown when Ermac drops a one-ton weight on Sub-Zero's head. Also, two known stage fatalities are shown: a character is kicked into a grinder, and a character is smashed by steelworks after being kicked into a forge. Then, once you think it's over... the fatalities start. Among the fatalities shown are Hotaru picking up a character and smashing him face-first on the ground several times until he explodes, a character ripping another's arm off and beating her with it, the aforementioned Hotaru snapping his own neck in a hara kiri move, Mileena biting off Sub-Zero's head, and Sindel kicking Nightwolf off a tall spire so that he impales himself on a spike far below.

The second trailer looks far less official, and seems to be comprised mostly of ingame footage. Of note in this trailer is the fact that in Konquest mode, characters speak using both voiceovers and subtitles. Moreover, it appears that buildings/doorways of note are indicated by a green light under them. Also, in Puzzle Kombat mode, Hotaru also drops the one-ton weight on Baraka; whether other fatalities are available is yet to be seen.

To see the trailers in their entirety, click here. Please note that you will need to be an IGN Insider member in order to acquire the higher-quality Quicktime versions of these trailers. Our thanks to forum member Kel-X for the heads-up on these trailers!

UPDATE: For those of you not members of IGN Insider liking to see a higher quality version of the above released "MK: Deception Trailer 1", it is now available for download via TeamXbox. Thanks prince_goro78 & Hydro.