Greetings from Los Angeles, CA on behalf of the entire Mortal Kombat Online staff! We have just wrapped up Day Two of our LIVE E3 Coverage, and it has definitely been an exciting (though exhausting) day at the Midway booth. We have had ample time with Mortal Kombat: Deception and the MK Development Team, and have learned a great deal regarding the next installment of this phenomenal series.

To headline, we are excited to announce that Mortal Kombat: Deception has been nominated as the Best Fighting Game of E3 2004! While the winner has yet to be announced, we are confident that MK: Deception will (literally) beat out the competition. Good luck to the Team MK! Next, we were finally able to access the online portion of MK: Deception, specifically the Kombat mode and the Puzzle MK modes. Scott Howell and D'Arque Bishop were able to kick it back arcade style by facing off in Kombat over XBox Live via the Midway booth's Local Area Network. This was able to provide us with a teaser of how the online functionality of the game will act, and we must say we are impressed. Though it was only over a LAN, we were unable to notice any amount of lag or decrease in game quality for the online experience. This was very promising, particularly as Steve Beran re-confirmed that MK: Deception Online will only be compatible with broadband connections. This is a breath of fresh air for those who feared choppy dial-up opponents.

Also of particular note, we were able to observe the PS2 and XBox versions of MK: Deception side-by-side. While the game looks beautiful on both formats, there are note-worthy graphical improvements on the XBox (including HDTV support, bump-mapping, and smoother textures). The PS2 version still looks fantastic, and both versions are sure to go through some major polishing. Steve Beran noted that the remaining months on the development cycle will go directly towards tweaking and tuning the game for each system, and fans are sure to be pleased with the finished products regardless of which console they play on.

In more exciting news, Midway granted MK Online direct access to the press booth so that we were able to capture exclusive direct-feed footage of MK: Deception! Be sure to check-out the downloads section to see ]{0MBAT and Mobster4Christ face off in battle and showcase many of the game's exciting new elements. The first three videos are in MPEG format, while the Press Kit footage is in Windows Media format.

• Hotaru Vs. Ashrah
• Nightwolf Vs. Bo'Rai Cho
• Sindel Vs. Mileena
• Press Kit Raw Footage 1
• Press Kit Raw Footage 2

As you check out our screenshots and videos, be sure to look out for the many Classic Mortal Kombat throw-backs. MK Chess features a montage of revamped MK1, MK2, and MK3 background elements. This includes The Deadpool (featuring Shang Tsung observing the match from above in his MK2 attire), The Courtyard, The Portal, and a Hall of Fame (with the Destiny Towers of MK1-MK4 looming in the background). Also, Dan Forden has obviously had his hand in remixing classic Mortal Kombat background tracks, as newer versions of these tunes appear in MK: Deception. These added touches truly make the game feel like a tribute to the fans of Mortal Kombat, retouching on the history we all know and love. You may notice that one of the screenshots was taken from Psi-Ops - one of its special features is the early MKD trailer included on the game!  And by the way... who is that old looking gentleman sitting next to ]{0MBAT?

Click here for the entire gallery of media - Well over 50 screenshots in total for this update. Reporting Live Los Angeles, see you tomorrow as we wrap up our final day of coverage!

UPDATE: We are providing a better quality (but unfortunately larger file size) version of the Fan Interview! This version is much brighter and has a much improved audio track derived from the WAV file created by Konqrr! To see the new Fan Interview video, click here. Our sincerest thanks to Konqrr for the better quality audio track used in this version of the video!

A couple of weeks ago, we made the call for the second Mortal Kombat Online Fan Interview. We had a lot of questions submitted, but in the end, we picked what we thought were the best ten. On Tuesday night, at the pre-E3 MK party thrown by Midway, Scott Howell and Justin Deering sat down with MK team leader and co-creator Ed Boon to have him answer the questions YOU submitted. However, as a surprise for you the fans, we are providing the interview not as a expressionless text file, but as a full movie file! This file is encoded in Quicktime format, and comes in at around 30 MB.

To download the Fan Interview, click here.

Our thanks to the many users who submitted their questions and participated in this Fan Interview!

Note: We're aware of the poor quality of the video and the darkness of it; we're working on a tight schedule trying to get everything up in at least some form for all of you as fast as we can. We should be able to get a better version up tonight. It was just the conversion from the camera that made it dark. Later tonight we'll try to get a better version up ;-)

We are now making available even more new screenshots from the Electronic Entertainment Expo as well from the official Mortal Kombat Party at the Standard Downtown LA, on Tuesday Night. Feast your eyes and enjoy... and who is that short guy standing with myself, CCShadow, and ]{0MBAT?

Check out the entire gallery in our E3 2004 Coverage Section!

This is D'Arque Bishop, reporting to you from the show floor of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition. As promised, we're here to cover Midway's new fighter, Mortal Kombat: Deception. After spending last night and this morning playing the E3 build of MK Deception, we feel that it's time to present our impressions of the game so far.

The E3 build has twelve characters playable: Scorpion, Baraka, Mileena, Sub-Zero, Hotaru, Sindel, Kenshi, Bo'Rai Cho, Ashrah, Li Mei, Nightwolf, Ermac. The characters have the same level as detail in MK: Deadly Alliance, and we've noticed some details in the characters that have not been seen in renders so far. For example, characters returning from MK Deadly Alliance tend to have the same fighting styles in MKD. However, we have been told that this is not set in stone; their styles may change. Also, small little graphical details can be seen, such as the fact that Mileena's veil is translucent; you can see her teeth underneath the veil. Li Mei's costume is also much improved, in that while her costume is the same color has her MKDA one, it is much more reminiscent of the armor of a soldier in the Dragon King's army. The three ninjas, while LOOKING like ninjas, are VASTLY different in appearance. For example, Ermac's mask is actually black bandages wrapped around his head, while Sub-Zero's is more like a samurai helmet. Also, some characters have returning moves, such as Sub-Zero's ice clone and Scorpion's teleport punch. (In the case of the teleport punch, Scorpion disappears in a whiff of black smoke, and appears on the other side of the current view in a blast of flame.) Ashrah possesses what appears to be souped-up versions of Raiden's torpedo and Kung Lao's spin. Finally, Baraka's weapon style is referred to simply as Blades, and not Baraka Blades.

The core fighting engine and how characters move is little changed from MK Deadly Alliance. We have been told that more characters now have throws, and also we have observed that combos are easier to pull off. The biggest change in how the game plays is in the interaction of the characters with the environments. One thing we noticed is that a death trap is considered to be the gameplay equivalent of a ring-out. It does not end the entire match; the game continues to the next round with the characters returning to their starting point in the arena. One thing we noticed in the arena that is constantly falling to pieces is that both characters can fall to their deaths on the spikes below at the same time. We have yet to figure out, however, what method they use to determine the round winner. That part may not be finalized. To pick up a background weapon, you choose your weapon style when within range of the weapon, One thing I did notice is that once you grab a background weapon, you cannot change back into another fighting style. Also, if you get knocked into a death trap and the map resets, you keep your background weapon and a new one is put in place.

Not much can be said about Chess Kombat that has not already been said. However, one item that may not have been noticed is that the fighting arenas in Chess are NOT from Deception; the two used are actually 3-D versions of MK1's The Courtyard (complete with aged Shang Tsung on his throne) and MK2's The Dead Pool. As far as Puzzle Kombat goes, one item that makes it much different from games like Puzzle Fighter is that there are multiple rounds in Puzzle Kombat. Also, fatalities are done automatically in Puzzle Kombat.

We have also acquired several official images from MK Deception, including the proposed box art for the game. In addition, we have gameplay movies recorded, and will get those to you ASAP. Finally, for those interested in our Fan Interview, the Interview was performed at the party last night, and we hope to have it online as well.

This is D'Arque Bishop signing off from the E3 show floor. We will be back later tonight with more information.

Last night, we at Mortal Kombat Online had the privilege of attending a party held by Midway Games in honor of their new game, Mortal Kombat: Deception! During the party, a special presentation was made by Reilly Brennan and Ed Boon, giving a brief history of Mortal Kombat, and more importantly, a brief rundown of MK: Deception. During the presentation, Ed gave a detailed rundown of the game modes, including Arcade, Konquest Adventure, Chess Kombat, and Puzzle Kombat.

However, rather than go into detail, we'd rather just have Reilly and Ed speak for themselves. Our intrepid reporter ]{0MBAT managed to videotape the entire presentation. The presentation can be downloaded here. We do warn you that the download is over 240 MB and lasts over twenty minutes. A smaller version is available here thanks to Konqrr.

More information and media will be coming today. Stay tuned to MK Online for the latest in E3 information!