Last year, Valve Software announced that they were introducing their own entries into the world of gaming consoles. Their approach differs from that of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo; they have gone the way of Android, where they have created their own Linux distribution called SteamOS, and are encouraging PC manufacturers to create their own hardware boxes called Steam Machines. While SteamOS can run any Steam game that has been ported over to Linux, its other big selling point is In-Home Streaming, which will allow players to control and play a game from one system while the game itself runs from a second system. Thus, a person with a Steam Machine could play a Windows game from a Windows-based PC on the same network.

Comic books have always been important to Mortal Kombat.

The energetic, visual world of American superheroes helped inspire some of the most iconic qualities associated with the long running series. Co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias have never been shy about their inspirations - frequently citing a pop culture melting pot as crucial education that informed the original games. The association runs deep.

Tobias dabbled in comics as a writer and artist; ultimately utilizing the medium to expand and embellish the saga of the original Mortal Kombat games. His comic styled designs and branching story techniques were a natural fit in the four colour medium, and proved crucial to making Mortal Kombat the complete pop culture phenomenon it became. As he discussed in a 2012 interview with Mortal Kombat Online [read more], his comics fed the growing MK multimedia machine, providing valuable source for the blockbuster 1995 feature film.

Before the movie; Malibu Comics launched an extensive line of licensed mini-series starring characters from Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II. The 1994 series Mortal Kombat: Blood & Thunder started with a version of Tobias' iconic tournament-centric plot, but quickly spun the publications into a variety of original manifestations. Though remembered in infamy, the rapid expansion into comics remains one of Malibu's most lasting legacies, and a fond but guilty pleasure for many MK fans.

Developments in the archaeological world aren't necessarily the first thing you'd expect to read about on Mortal Kombat Online -- or the first thing we'd expect to report -- but when it comes to uncovering the supposed bones of a vampire in Bulgaria [via Cosmic Log], well. That piques a certain MK interest.

Vampire Remains Discovered in Bulgaria [via MSNBC]