We were promised new characters in Mortal Kombat X - and it was during the E3 Sony Press Conference that we were given our first glimpse! Three never before seen characters topped the details coming out of a trailer that revealed hard hitting gameplay, grim 'n' gritty designs, and a whole new direction from the classic franchise!

As we gear up for next week's E3: the leading topic of speculation remains the next playable roster! Mortal Kombat X will be at the annual gaming mecca to reveal at least 2 more playable characters -- "brand new", or so we're told. We expect to see plenty of familiar faces to go along with them, but not everyone character can make the cut.

Project Lead Ed Boon has spent the last few days setting expectations for E3. Amongst his various clues, allusions & titbits -- the kibosh for some of the more obscure characters fans have requested. With speculation running wild, it's time to spin the wheel of broken dreams and reflect upon Ed's Kharacter Deadpool!

Mortal Kombat X may have been an instant global phenomenon, but Rome wasn't built in a day! A lot of hard work goes into making these games and it looks like the team at NetherRealm Studios have been burning the midnight oil!

Project Lead Ed Boon tweeted out a couple of pics last night: one of them the clock reading 2:50AM! That's either a seriously cryptic clue, or some serious dedication! He also shared an image of the office after dark -- and its that image that really has our attention!

This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3, to the cool kids) is one week away, and anticipation for Mortal Kombat X is already topping everybody's lists! The cross-gen 2015 fighter will be at the annual expo and we can expect a few new things coming our way when it is! Creative Director Ed Boon has continued his role as hype beast letting some key details about the new game out:

It started with a simple white circle, but in a matter of a day - it transformed into an all-new Dragon Logo!

The klassic symbol for Mortal Kombat has become the avatar for everything from Ed Boon's twitter (@noobde) to the official MK Facebook! As we count down to a June 2nd reveal -- it's a done deal! This is the new symbol: Kombat will kontinue!

What's black and white and read all over? Ed Boon's twitter feed (@noobde) since he updated his avatar and profile background! [Update: Who's Next? Is This The First Promo Poster For Mortal Kombat Sequel?]

In what is sure to go down as one of the most compelling moments of the hype train -- the NetherRealm Studios Project Lead has switched his old question mark avatar out for a white circle on black.

The cryptic meaning behind the geometric development is too vague for us to nail down any definitive theories, but the Mortal Kombat franchise is certainly no stranger to circles.

With less than a week to go in the Boon prompted countdown to June 2nd -- this could signal a place holder for the long awaited return of the classic MK dragon logo! There's also Shinnok's Amulet -- a suitably Euclidean artefact at the centre of the original Mortal Kombat 4 plot -- which we expect to see reprised in some fashion in a sequel. [Relate Article: Kountdown: 10 Returning Kombatants Ready to Kontinue!]

NetherRealm Studios Project Lead Ed Boon is tweeting down to something in June. The cryptic countdown hit 24 today, and it's got Gameinformer feeling just a little self-conscious.

Anticipation for the next game from NetherRealm Studios has already been high, but it's about to reach fever pitch as we scramble for clues in the race to this year's E3!

Always on hand to add fuel to the fire: Creative Director Ed Boon has begun what appears to be a thinly veiled countdown that hits zero on June 2nd! This puts the mystery a week ahead of the June 10-12 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

It's been a rough ride for Mortal Kombat fans dedicated to Nintendo home consoles. From game 1, Nintendo fans have more often than not had the short end of the kombat stick. In 2012, Gameinformer ran a comparison of 16-bit era games, highlighting the steep superiority of the bloody Sega versions of MK. If for some reason you've still wanted to revisit those bloodless days -- don't hold your breath!

Series co-creator Ed Boon knocked out hopes for a Wii U Virtual Console rerelease, describing the odds as a definitive: "0.0%". [That, or 0.0% was his expression when anyone showed any interest in Nintendo ports.]

Edit (Apr. 2): If you read it elsewhere, you might have been fooled, but if you were here on Mortal Kombat Online, you clearly knew it was all part of our annual April Fools tradition! We played this for the long game, but even with a genuine tweet from Ed Boon -- you couldn't be fooled! You guys are just too good! This article and the material within it was a complete fabrication. You can spew disdain for our juvenile behaviour on the forum, or come down from the high with a calming art tribute to Mortal Kombat's greatest hoax: Ermac! See you next year!

Well, it looks like the "others" have it! Since revealing his work on an unspecified Mortal Kombat in an interview with IGN [full story}; Kiefer Sutherland (24: Live Another Day, Pompeii) has been the absent subject of much speculation.

With expectations reasonably targeted at an anticipated sequel to 2011's Mortal Kombat -- the prime suspects for his unknown role revolved around new additions to the reboot line-up. Mortal Kombat Online Users voted MK4 big bad Shinnok as the most likely casting, but in response to our Kommunity Kountdown article, the star re-emerged briefly to clarify: