PC gamers and fans of the live-action webseries Mortal Kombat: Legacy can now combine their passions via Steam! Valve's community platform has added the first two Warner Digital series [released 2011 & 2013] to their Steam Play streaming service!

Warner Brothers has announced a new digital production division today called Blue Ribbon Content.

According to The Hollywood Reporter; WB Animation veteran Sam Register will head the division, set to launch with a full slate of live-action content based on existing and original WB properties. Among the list is the already announced webseries Justice League: Gods And Montsers, a live-action version of Milestone Comics favourite Static Shock, and a new Mortal Kombat webseries to tie-in with the 2015 release of Mortal Kombat X!

Variety reports the new Mortal Kombat webseries is currently untitled -- making its relationship with established series Mortal Kombat: Legacy unclear. Like Mortal Kombat X - the 2015 shorts will split their focus between klassic and new characters.

The next generation in the Mortal Kombat franchise to be released in association with the upcoming “Mortal Kombat X” videogame, slated to bow April 14, 2015. Blue Ribbon Content and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are teaming on the series, which will showcase some of the franchise’s popular characters and introduce a new generation of fighters.

In June, the first trailer for Mortal Kombat X left us with an inquisitive tagline: Who's next? Fans hardly needed prompting to ask. After more than twenty years as a franchise - Mortal Kombat's ever-increasing cast of characters has made this a prevalent question ahead of any new installment!

The aggressive turnover of ideas, designs and playable characters has made Mortal Kombat a unique series to follow. Fans typically hold on to favourites with zealous fervour, but are just as inclined to seek untapped obscurities to keep the final cut fresh.

Thanks to the breadth of Mortal Kombat's reach as a pop culture icon - obscurity comes in many shapes and forms! There's the tradition of in-game easter eggs, hoaxes & rumors, and forgotten cult favourites from side-projects, like Tremor (Special Forces). Then there's the entire world of cross-media licensed adaptations - which brings us to today's feature question!

Many fans within the MKOmmunity have asked and speculated: Could Hydro appear in the next Mortal Kombat? The simple, odds-on answer is: No. The reason: A bit more complicated... Read on for the full story:

Last September; Machinima's live-action web series returned for a 10 episode second season in Mortal Kombat: Legacy II!

Now the online phenomenon is coming to home video with Blu-Ray & DVD releases from Warner Brothers!

Fans & collectors will be able to get their hands on the home release starting in November October! Better still - those who weren't able to enjoy the original Blu-Ray Exclusive release of Legacy Season 1 can now look forward to a long awaited DVD, as well!

The live-action online anthology tells the story of the Mortal Kombat tournament from the wholly unique prism of director Kevin Tancharoen. He completely reinvents the world of the games to tell the converging tales of: Special Forces officers Jax & Sonya Blade, nemesis Scorpion & Sub-Zero, struggling actor Johnny Cage, the conflicted Liu Kang & Kung Lao, and the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung!

It was the toke heard around the world, and for some, it immediately ingrained Matt Mullins as one of the best new finds for the Mortal Kombat movie universe.

His take was different, but that was true of the entire presentation in the short film called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. It captured the imaginations of a vast many and led Mullins and his director to Mortal Kombat: Legacy -- a ten-part live-action series comissioned by WB for digital release.

When a second series of Legacy began filming at the end of 2012, we were surprised to learn Mullins would not be a part of it [original story]. Amidst the chaos of a new year and a filming schedule, we talked briefly with Mullins about his shock departure, Cage recasting, and his plans for the future. [Don't forget to watch Matt Mullins as Cage in Legacy Episode 3]

The inescapable echo of turkey gobbling can mean only one of two things: either someone's cracked out Mortal Kombat II for a little retro revenge, or there are thanks to be given in the MK homeland!

We understand not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving this time of year, but in the spirit of MK's origins and the general act of well wishing, we hope you'll oblige. Afterall, Mortal Kombat fans have had a lot to be thankful for in the last couple of years!

#10 Mortal Kosplay
We kinda missed the boat on Halloween, so why not start simple?
The influx of interest in Mortal Kombat has been a boon [see what I did there?] to fans of dressing up as their favourite kick-butt characters. This kostume kombat phenomenon goes well beyond the thrills of Halloween and officially endorsed costumes, extending to some of the world's biggest pop culture events and contests. There have been official models endorsed, too, as I'm sure you've managed to notice.

As an enlightened bastion of modern thinking, Mortal Kombat Online would never think to stoop to merely objectifying the female cosplayers among us, but that doesn't mean we aren't as thankful for the Kitana and Jades of the world, as much as Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Not to mention some of the less usual suspects! Check out the MKOmmunity's own keruuu (and friend) rocking a seriously bad ass Kung Lao and Nightwolf combo! [pictured right]

Yes, yes. Mileena, too. Perverts...

#9 The Fans
You can't have a wave of living tributes in costume without fans to squidge and wiggle inside them! The ragtag crew in the Mortal Kombat Online MKOmmunity represent only the tip of the iceberg, the coolest and most handsome fans who've flocked to Mortal Kombat in the last few years.

The continued success of the series is a testament to the diehard loyalty of its fans, old and new. Mortal Kombat has always had a sympathetic ear toward the fanbase, incorporating some of our ideas and rumors into the very games themselves! MK and MKO more than anyone knows what it means to be thankful for the fans (most of the time)!

#8 Music & Soundtrack
Fans of the Mortal Kombat games have long been spoiled by the tailor-made soundtracks of Dan "Toasty" Forden. The atmospheric musicman returned in 2011 to work his magic (and "toasty" cameo) in the latest game [read more], but he wasn't the only artist inspired by the warriors!

Mortal Kombat has a long and interesting history with music outside the games. From The Immortals' classic (infamous) concept album and single, to the borrowed music of the movies, music has made fans of many. Songs Inspired by the Warriors took MK back to the pop-alternative masses, uniting characters like Reptile with artists like Skrillex in an audio-concept fusion.

#7 Return to Live-Action
Granted, this step hasn't come without controversy, resulting in a wide variety of perspectives, not all of them good. Even so, however you slice it, the demand for a return to movies has been there since the 1997 sequel flopped, and we're thankful Mortal Kombat is getting another run.

By his own admission, the John Tobias of twenty years ago had no idea he was creating one of the most successful franchises to come out of American gaming. As a young artist in Chicago, Tobias had big ideas, envisioning a fiction that endures to this day (in some shape or form), but the journey to 1992's breakout hit -- Mortal Kombat -- would take more than ideas.

Together with Ed Boon, Tobias holds the credit of co-creator of Mortal Kombat -- an acknowledgment that goes beyond the arcade and home consoles, to result in a massive multi-media phenomenon spawned from ideas and characters!

In Part 1 of our conversation with John Tobias, he took us through some of the early influences that helped shape the series to follow. From abandoned name choices, props and influences, to movie references and guest stars, the games origins are there to scrutinize.

In this second part of our twentieth anniversary retrospective, we continue the conversation, entering the explosion of Mortal Kombat into other mediums, and addressing the final chapter of Tobias' time with the series before his departure in 1999.

Modern Prometheus: John Tobias confronts Goro - brought to life for the 1995 film.

With the latest Mortal Kombat movie rumors sparking a surprised reaction [full story], we're reminded that you can never take for granted what will eventuate from the adaptation process.

Video games have now spent decades flirting with cinema, but in that time, very few movies have broken through an assumed stigma of incompatibility that still exists between the interactivity of games, and the plot structure of popular film. For prominent figures like film critic, Roger Ebert -- who infamously wrote in a 2010 blog, "... video games can never be art." -- the flaw may be presumed to lie in the source.

Despite the inherent similarities between these audio-visual mediums, which fans are no doubt more sympathetic to, critics and audiences have often agreed upon the failings of big screen adaptations, resulting in as many financial flops, as bad reviews.

In the eyes of many, the fighting genre has been particularly guilty of wasting time and money. Typically deviating wildly from the spirit of what made characters successful, fighting game films have contributed some of the most costly disappointments to DVD bargain bins. Infamous titles like; Tekken (2010), The King of Fighters (2009) and The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) have worked hard to earn the mutual ire of critics, fans and audiences alike, shedding dollars in the process. Indeed, as recent reference documents, time and experience has not improved the output of video game adaptations, at all.

Released theatrically in 1995, Mortal Kombat has managed to remain one of the most successful and best regarded movies of its type.

Today marked the release of Mortal Kombat: Legacy on Blu-Ray! Directed by Kevin Tancharoen, the digital series saw success on YouTube earlier this year, with over 60 million views collectively. The success of this project has lead to New Line Cinema giving Tancharoen the green-light to begin production on a new Mortal Kombat film, set to be released in 2013. [Full story]

With a career-defining role as British boxer "Twister" in the 2010 Hong Kong hit, Ip Man 2, Darren Shahlavi confirmed his status as the ultimate martial arts baddie you'll love to hate! A familiar face of film and television, the breakout fighting role made him a natural choice when Kevin Tancharoen was given license to bring MK back to live-action with the anthology webseries, Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Appearing in three of the nine episodes; Darren Shahlavi will be remembered by Mortal Kombat fans as Kano -- the Black Dragon crook famous for killing Sonya Blade's partner and igniting one of the series' longest running blood feuds. Starring opposite Jeri Ryan (Sonya) and Michael Jai White (Jax); Shahlavi plays key to bringing the classic plot to life, injecting MK's original rogue with a fresh brand of delicious contemptibility.

The role proved to be Shahlavi's second brush with MK, one of the interesting facts he shared in this special interview with Mortal Kombat Online. With a Blu-Ray release coming November, MKO probed the actor for further insight into the role, the work, his history, the future, and which character he'd love to beat the snot out of.


[MKO]: How did you get involved with MK Legacy?
[Darren Shahlavi]: I got a message from Larnell Stoval, the fight choreographer, a few months earlier, saying he may want to get me in on something. Later, I heard they were doing Mortal Kombat as a web series, I asked my agent to look out for it, I also contacted Larnell, who knew about me. Kevin [Tancharoen; series Director] had seen Ip Man 2, where I play a rather brash British boxer, and they both thought I'd fit as Kano.

What is your background in martial arts and acting?
I started Judo when I was seven years old, and once I saw Bruce Lee, I was hooked on martial arts and films. I trained in everything and studied all the movies, too. I was most impressed with the Hong Kong films and when I was a teenager I took part in film fighting seminars, including one that [Ip Man star] Donnie Yen was doing in London, England. That gave me the confidence I could work in Asia as a bad guy, and by the time I was twenty, I was out there, working in film.

What was your impression of Mortal Kombat before Legacy?
I was very familiar with MK, mainly the movie and the soundtrack. I loved it. I trained to the music all the time. I didn't play the game much at all.

The first movie I ever did was a Hong Kong movie that starred Robin Shou a few years before he was Liu Kang. We met each other again in Hong Kong in a bar and he told me all about the filming of Mortal Kombat and showed me pics from the shoot in Thailand. I also visited him on the set of Annihilation in London. He said he could get me a small part in it, but at the time I'd just got a lead role in a martial arts movie called Bloodmoon, where I fought Hakim Alston, the guy who Robin fights with bo staff in MK1.