In the October 2003 (171) issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, there is a special feature entitled "Monday, Bloody Monday", which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Mortal Kombat series, providing a look back at the game's phenomenal success. Included is an interview with both co-creators of the game, Ed Boon and John Tobias. Definitely worth a read for any Mortal Kombat fan. When asked what the creators were working on now, Ed replied:

I'm working on a follow-up to Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Our big thing that we're researching now is online. A lot of the magic of Mortal Kombat was the whole arcade social scenario, where you're playing strangers, and how many wins in a row can you get, king of the hill, and all that stuff. That was a really huge part of the game's success. So we really feel that online is the potential next way to re-create that whole phenomenon. We don't have a ship date yet, but we're shooting for 2004.

This is nothing new if you've been keeping up with our coverage since post E3. However, for those who need more reassurance that Mortal Kombat 6 will be online, you have it now. Thanks goes to users scorpio and MickXII for help on getting this update.

Pocket IGN has come through with a hands-on preview of Midway's upcoming GBA-exclusive fighter, Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition! This preview is short on new details, but it does summarize what is known so far. From the article:

Tournament Edition has been handled by the same internal team at Midway that brought Deadly Alliance to life on the Game Boy Advance. Tournament Edition features the same 3D graphic and fighting engine as Deadly Alliance, which is definitely not a bad thing considering how successful a fighting game Deadly Alliance turned out on the handheld. The game looks, plays and feels just like last year's game, so if you enjoyed what Midway offered up with Deadly Alliance, then Tournament Edition could be a no-brainer.

The article also promises a review once the game is actually released. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Our thanks to forum members nthdimension and CAMK for the heads-up on this story!

It turns out that actor Trevor Goddard, who played Kano in the Mortal Kombat movies, did not die of a suicide as many have speculated. Though he did die of a drug overdose (heroin, cocaine, valium, vicodin were all found in his body), the coroner has ruled that his death was an accident.

Also interesting to note, Goddard was an Englishman posing as an Australian. He worked hard at changing his accent, and came up with a story about how he was born in Perth and later moved to the U.S. to become a professional boxer.

Read the full article here. Thanks to Shaz for letting us know.

Nintendo's own gaming magazine Nintendo Power reviewed Midway's soon to be released GBA-exclusive fighter Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition in volume 171 of their magazine, and gave it a fairly glowing review! From the article:

Exclusive characters, tag-team matches, four-player tournaments, a betting feature and new battlegrounds make Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition the best MK game yet for the GBA. The animation is a little choppy and the graphics are often pixelated, but the action is nonstop and the play control is tight and responsive.

The game earned an average of three and a half stars out of five from the five reviewers. The article and review is not online yet, but you can pick up a copy when it goes on sale at your nearest newsstand!

Remember, you can pre-order Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition from the MK5.ORG Online Store. Our thanks to forum/chat member theeldergodofice for the heads-up on this review!

G4 TV, a channel about video games and gamer lifestyle, taped its first video game award show entitled G-Phoria, last night in Hollywood. It was a full-house event featuring an audience full of celebrities, video game journalists, and respected members of the industry. The event was hosted by actor/comedian, Jamie Kennedy. Several awards were given out from such categories like Best Adaptation to Most Annoying Character. Of interest to us however, is that the award of Best Brawl was given to the top-selling fighting game hit, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, beating out Namco's Tekken 4. Congratulations to Midway Games for the continued success of their game!

G-Phoria, sponsored by EB Games and JEEP, will air Friday, August 8th at 8:00 PM EST.