Dutch gaming website Gamer.nl is reporting that Midway Games has registered the trademark Mortal Kombat: Deception. A search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website confirms the existence of this entry. While this is not any kind of confirmation, it is strong evidence that this will be the name of the next Mortal Kombat game. In the meantime, we will contact our sources within Midway to see if we can get an official confirmation.

To read the article in its entirety, click here. Please note that the original article is written in Dutch.

Our thanks to MK5.ORG forum members RequieM and chief-sharif for the heads-up on this news story!

In an ongoing undertaking to reclaim its name as the leading prominent developer, Midway Games announced earlier today of the hiring of two more paramount figures in the industry to its board of directors. Making the total of board members at eleven, comes Robert Waxman and Jay Whipple. Both backed by their financial endowment of many years in the business, this is yet again one of many favorable changes within the company since the hiring of Steve Allison as CMO and John Romero and Tom Hall of Ion Storm. From the press release:

CHICAGO – January 6, 2004 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, announced today the appointments of Robert N. Waxman, CPA, 67, and Jay N. Whipple III, 47, as two new independent Board directors, effective December 31, 2003. Mr. Waxman also joins the Board's Audit Committee. The addition of Messrs. Waxman and Whipple brings the total number of directors on the Company's Board to eleven, nine of whom are independent.

To read the press release in its entirety click here.

Along with the Kombat Pavilion's update last week, fellow MK5.ORG Network Sites Mortal Kombat Kourier and Mortal Kombat Shin have simultaneously relaunched today on New Year's. MKK opens with a ton of MK information and fan art, as well as multiple themes for users to choose from. MKShin's back-end system now sports integration with MK5.ORG's, allowing users to submit content using their existing account. All three network sites have some great stuff in the works for MK5.ORG, so be sure to check them out.

As you begin to celebrate the holidays, the staff at MK5.ORG is also celebrating an exciting achievement in the site's history. Five years have passed since that Friday morning, when a small group of fans were introduced to the birth of what later became the internet's largest Mortal Kombat community. Decked up in Christmas decor, the site created a stir among newsgroups and other Mortal Kombat websites as it claimed it would someday be the dominant source for information on the series. Though many were doubtful the site would stay around with its lack of validity, MK5.ORG has continued to triumph and remain the most trusted name for all that is Mortal Kombat. Becoming successful was not easy by any means. It has taken years of dedication, hard work, and determination to achieve that goal. None of this would have been possible without the people that take time out of their lives to give fans a site they can call home. This list of people includes not only the staff, but also its fans, forum moderators, and chat operators. The site would no longer be standing without the efforts of all of these fine individuals. And for that, we thank you. This has been an incredible experience for myself and my partner Joseph. Words can not fully explain how proud we are of this website.

Looking into the future, trust us when we say 2004 is going to be a very interesting year for not only Mortal Kombat and its fans, but even our website. Though we have clearly gained your trust as the reigning source for Mortal Kombat news, we still have a lot of work to do. Through the thick and thin of the development process of the next installment of the Mortal Kombat series, we plan to raise the bar even higher. If the last five years before us hasn't been enough indication that we are going to cover the MK franchise at the top level, just wait and see what we have in store in the months and years to come. We would personally like to thank Ed Boon for his continued support he has given us, as well as anyone at Midway Games who has helped contribute to our success.

With that, MK5.ORG wishes you all the joys of the holiday season!

To celebrate MK5.ORG's 5-year anniversary, our network site Kombat Pavilion has updated with a collection of Mortal Kombat Animations! Most of them are GIFs or Flash files, while some of them are in Shockwave Director format. Many of you may remember these animations from the MK5.ORG forums over the years.

MK5.ORG and The Kombat Pavilion would like to thank each and every one of the animators who contributed to this collection, and we hope you enjoy it. Visit the MK Animation collection now.