The upcoming movie Press Start, the upcoming low-budget film that will parody all video games (including Mortal Kombat) has released the first in a series of online Flash cartoons that will premier once a month on their site.

The first episode features the Sub-Zero character (named Lin-Ku for reasons that should be obvious to MK fans) and an unexpected event that happened to him at a recent tournament. Hardcore gamers should recognize characters from The Legend of Zelda, Bubble Bobble, and Street Fighter as well.

From the article on their site:

The idea to create a series of animated shorts to complement our upcoming movie was pretty much a no-brainer. The actors are there, the animation is free, and the jokes at the expense of the gaming world are seemingly endless. Also, the animated medium allows us to tell stories and introduce characters that simply didn't fit the scope or budget of the film. Thus, we give you "Press Start: Bonus Levels," a monthly animated series that gives you a sneak peek into our nonsensical videogame world and its outrageous cast of characters!

"Press Start: Bonus Levels" is a bit of an experiment at heart, and each episode is its own unique learning experience. The Flash animation may be a bit crude, but you'll at least find it more detailed than the graphics on your dust-caked Atari. With time, both sound and animation quality will steadily improve.

And some obligatory screenshots:

To check out the site and watch the 'toon, click here. Be sure to read the press release on this here.

Midway Games has released on the official Mortal Kombat: Armageddon website, a new advertisement/logo for the game which appears to be part of the promotional materials for next month's E3 2006 in Los Angeles, California. It has reference to Midway Game's booth area 4001, better known as Petree Hall, which is now Midway's common home at the Los Angeles Convention Center: Thanks goes out to Mortal Kombat Online member for the find!

A new mode was discovered in MK: Shaolin Monks called Survival Mode. This mode lets you fight in the arenas against multiple bosses at once (including a simultaneous fight against the Orochi Hellbeast and Inferno Scorpion!). Level one lets you start out against Baraka, some Nomads, and eventually some Masked Guards.

To access Survival Mode, you must be in the Foundry. Grab the infamous Axe weapon from the MKII background, go into the room with lava that is available in the beginning by breaking the wood door down, jump into the lava and back out, go to room to the right of the save statue, smash the barrel at the end of hall (using the O button ONLY), go up the ramp and to the left where there are two barrels and smash ONLY the barrel on the right, go to the area with the Nitara-type weapon, smash ONLY the barrel on the right, go to the area with the "smashers" and smash that barrel, go back to the Nitara weapon and smash the barrel on the left, and go back to the other area where there were two barrels and smash the one on the left. Be sure you use the O button only. Now, stay there and press and hold the O button down to smash the ground. If you do this correctly, you will see green sparks. Press R2 and you will enter Survival Mode.

It looks like there are a couple exclusive backgrounds to Survival Mode, as well.

Thanks to both and for the info!

UPDATE: We now have video that demonstrates how to access Survival Mode in MPEG format. Click the link below to download the video and see for yourself how it's done!

• Unlocking MK: Shaolin Monks Survival Mode...

ANOTHER UPDATE: We now have videos for all nine levels of gameplay that in Survival Mode, also in MPEG format. Check out the links below to select a video and see it in action!

• Survival Mode Lev. 1 - Baraka, Nomads, Masked Guards
• Survival Mode Lev. 2 - Demons - Handlers, Archers, Generals, Captains
• Survival Mode Lev. 3 - Onis and Warlords
• Survival Mode Lev. 4 - Reptile and Bloody Skeletons
• Survival Mode Lev. 5 - Inferno Scorpion and Orochi Hellbeasts
• Survival Mode Lev. 6 - Clay Soldiers and Brothers of the Shadow
• Survival Mode Lev. 7 - Kano and Black Dragon Mercenaries
• Survival Mode Lev. 8 - Goro and Kintaro
• Survival Mode Lev. 9 - Reptile, Ermac, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero

Next Generation, one of the great places to go for information on interactive entertainment, recently did an article on 100 of the top developers of video games in which Ed Boon was mentioned! Without ranking any one person above any other, they of course mention the Mortal Kombat series as the reason he was picked for the list. From the article:

Boon’s name is irrevocably tied to the Mortal Kombat franchise, and it seems he wouldn’t have it other way. He’s been with Midway since the series’ inception, and has seen it through every up and down, eventually successfully reinventing it for this generation of consoles in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. His games are perhaps the most successful western-designed fighting games there are, and with the recent Shaolin Monks, the upcoming Armageddon, and a confirmation that the series is ready to head into the next generation, it’s likely going to be that way for a while.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Our congratulations of course go to Ed Boon for this award, as well as thanks to MK Online forum/chat member for the heads-up on the news!

IGN's weekly series of top tens, Top 10 Tuesday, has recently recognized Mortal Kombat! In the most recent edition, the rather appropriate Best Gore Effects, the number 10 spot was granted to Jax... specifically, his Arm Rip Fatality from Mortal Kombat II! From the article:

Mortal Kombat is a basic requirement on any video game gore history list. After all, it featured the classic Sub-Zero nervous system yank and Kano heart rip. Instead of just assigning the number 10 spot to everything Mortal Kombat, we decided to give it to the one that we felt was most memorable. For us, it was Jax's arm rip fatality from MKII. Intensely violent while remaining absurdly hilarious, the move starts with Jax grabbing a dizzied opponent's arms. After a few moments of straining, the arms suddenly pop off the corpse, accompanied by a peal of screaming. As blobs of sticky blood spatter around the screen, the opponent then stands upright, armless, with a ludicrous expression on their face and gigantic blood geysers pulsing from their shoulders. The MK series has been trying to top its exquisite simplicity ever since.

Our congratulations to Jax for making this list! To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Our thanks to forum member for the heads-up on this news article!

Our friends over at TRMK have recently learned that a new patch has been released for Midway Arcade Treasures: Deluxe Edition! This patch, hot on the heels of the previous patch which fixed the music errors in the MAT2 games, actually fixes two problems present in every single previous version of Mortal Kombat II that was part of Arcade Treasures and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The first problem it fixes is that Random Select now works at the Choose Your Fighter screen. Second, and likely more important, is that it is now possible to use Down+Start at the Portal stage to find and fight against the elusive hidden Lin Kuei, Smoke! From the knowledge base article:

The following patch has been developed to enable the Dan Forden "Toasty!" - Smoke Fight encounter in Mortal Kombat 2, on the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition for the PC.

Download the Patch to your PC and then double click the patch file (Mat2mkPatch.exe). The patch will make the updates to your installed game that will enable both the Smoke Fight Easter Egg, as well as the random select feature from the character select screen.

...

The opportunity to fight with Smoke was a hidden Easter Egg in the original arcade release. It was also largely dependent on luck, timing, and some skill. We are glad to be able to bring this hidden content to the PC gamers. Thank you all for your comments, patience, and continued interest in our Mortal Kombat games.

To read the original TRMK news post announcing the patch, click here. To read the original knowledge base article on Midway's site and download the patch itself, click here.

Our thanks to forum/chat member and network site webmaster Shinnokxz for the heads up on this new patch!