Have you ever wondered where they come up with all those crazy finishing moves? Boy, I know I sure have! IGN tackled the subject from another perspective when they spoke to series co-creator Ed Boon, asking him what his Top 5 Favourite Fatalities are! Check it out:

Fans of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy may be disappointed to learn Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection has been removed from the Steam digital store.

Mortal Kombat Online has learned the three-in-one game was removed Friday, September 5th. At the time of this reporting, no additional information was available.

Update Sep. 25: Arcade Kollection (mislabelled as "Mortal Kombat Kollection") is now back online! Check it out now for $9.99.

Anecdotal evidence points toward problems relating to the closure of Games for Windows Live [full story] and resulting corruption errors from profile retrievals. Some players have reportedly experienced virtual disk space crashes.

Arcade Kollection is still presently available for home console downloads via Xbox Live and PlayStation Store. The PC version was originally staggered from console releases, available from February, 2012 - some nine months after console release.

Mortal Kombat Online will continue to follow the story as more details become available. Special thanks to MKOmmunity User ShoeUnited for providing information. Register to share your MKAK experience with us on the forums.

If it isn't already: Chicago's Galloping Ghost Arcade is on the fast track to becoming a mecca to Mortal Kombat fans!

Its proximity to the traditional base of operations for today's NetherRealm Studios makes it a natural home away from home for the klassic fighting series. GGA boasts a comprehensive working collection of now klassic Mortal Kombat arcade cabinets. Go there on the right day, and you might even come across some of the klassic faces who made them happen!

Last weekend (June 28), the arcade hosted Shang Tsung's Fight Night IV -- a live event that brought together a rogues gallery reunion of actors who appeared in the original digitized games!

The event was open to the public for a marathon 11AM to 2AM session at only the standard admission charge! It was a historic gathering for the cast -- some of whom didn't even appear together in the same game(s)! Continuity wouldn't get in the way of fans taking the opportunity to get autographs, photographs and a rare opportunity to mingle with the fighting game icons!

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.]

Back in March, Mortal Kombat Online took an overview of the winding Saga of Mortal Kombat HD. The ill fated project began life as a contemporary remake of the classic games, using new actors to recreate the original sprites in an HD digitized format. As revealed by an unnamed source who worked on the project: the game was shelved by Warner Brothers for internal reasons [full story].

Little has been made known or available from the aborted Mortal Kombat HD project, but thanks to make-up artist Tanea Brooks -- we've now got our most intimate look at some of the work that took place!

After 20 years as a successful franchise, its the sequel to the eponymous Mortal Kombat that many still regard with fondest memories. For fans who live and bleed Mortal Kombat, however, the tournament-centric original can never be completely forgotten. Such is the dedication of a focused group of industrious fans, who've applied themselves to independently designing and developing a playable revamp of the original dubbed: Mortal Kombat HD.

Determined by consensus; the objective of Mortal Kombat HD was to create a slavishly complete, high definition remake of the 1992 arcade classic. Built from the ground up, using popular 2D freeware engine MUGEN as a playable base and 3D models -- the project would be made of all original resources, designed to imitate the original as exactly as possible. Therein would lie the problem, however, leading to an effective shutdown of any intention to release a working product, rendered by Warner Brothers late last week.

While the enthusiasm of fans may lead them to desire otherwise, Warner Brothers' position represents an open and shut case. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it's also a self-evident example of copyright and trademark infringement. Exceptions may exist at the prerogative of intellectual property owners who choose to overlook infringements, but they are always within their rights to shut down unlicensed fan projects.

On the surface, this would appear to be an effective end to the MKHD fan game as it was intended. To release any playable version to the public would be to court personal ruin. No fan will play it. Much less clear, however, is the exact motivation for Warner Brothers' intervention. While there is broad intellectual property protection and brand management to consider -- there is an extensive history behind MKHD.

In what will no doubt go down as one of the finest moments in gaming press; NetherRealm Studios head Ed Boon appeared live on the Giant Bomb stream for the final day of the 2014 Game Developers Conference (GDC). The appearance capped off a mammoth five hours of streaming, now available archived on Twitch.tv [embedded below]. Boon appeared opposite what was left of Midway alums: David Lang (Iron Galaxy Studios CEO), John Vignocchi (Disney Interactive Executive Producer), and regular Giant Bomb host Jeff Gerstmann.

Extreme flooding in Chicago's Midwestern suburbs has had an impact on NetherRealm Studios figurehead and Injustice: Gods Among Us Creative Director, Ed Boon. As he tweeted recently, natural disaster was turned to archival gold as the Chicago native uncovered undamaged, classic memorabilia from the early days of Mortal Kombat!

According to the traditions of the Chinese calendar, 2012 is determined the current Year of the Dragon. If impressions are anything to go by, it was purely serendipity that made this the perfect date for the twentieth anniversary of a series so widely identified by its iconic Dragon Logo.

The origin of the Dragon Logo symbol was just one of the topics covered when Mortal Kombat Online entered in to a conversation with a man whose legacy now far exceeds his time with the Mortal Kombat franchise.

It has become tradition for Mortal Kombat Online interviews to begin with the simple question of, in their own words, who the subject is. In the case of John Tobias, introductions are hardly needed. Together with Ed Boon, Tobias is credited as being the co-creator of Mortal Kombat -- a video game dynasty that dominated arcades until their eventual demise at the turn of the millenium, and continues to rule on home consoles.

As the man responsible for creating the original characters (and premise) that have populated Mortal Kombat in its every iteration, the influence of John Tobias is felt throughout the series -- even in the latest game, which set out to reboot the franchise by rewriting its history.

Join us in returning to the original source as John Tobias discusses Mortal Kombat's origins. In Part 1, we review how the series got its start, the names and faces that nearly led it down a different path, and the impact and legacy the original games have had.

With the release of the 2011 reboot, Mortal Kombat strived to go somewhere it had never convincingly gone before: the competitive scene. With its reinvented retro-inspired gameplay a bonafide success, the latest game may now be taking the series further than anyone could've rightly expected -- to Japan!