News late last week of the shock passing of music legend Prince has inspired an outpouring of mourning and tribute from fans the world over. The global pop sensation was prolific throughout the 1980s and '90s: as remembered for his unique visual signature and fashion sense, as his provocative music and lyrics.
Purple was the color of choice; forever associated with the musician thanks in no small part to his 1984 record and film: Purple Rain. Rolling Stone call the soundtrack the second greatest album of the eighties. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score that same year.
The success of Purple Rain led Warner Brothers to apply the resident artist to Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film. An odd combination complimented by the madcap antics of the purple villain Joker. Mortal Kombat and Prince may seem an even more unusual combination, but as many fans know: Series co-creator Ed Boon is a self-professed long time fan, who stumbled into his own living tribute to the artist through the game series, in 1995.
Kotaku jumped on the connection, pulling a quote from a 2011 interview with PlayStation.Blog:
Cinema's fractured white knight Harvey Dent warned, "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." It's the perilous reality every long running video game franchise faces, sooner or later. Some series rise to the challenge, enjoying the vigour of reinvention. Others smash face-first into the pounding surf as they descend steeply from their wayward trip across the proverbial shark's back.
This week on Retronauts, the evergreen podcast tackled the subject of When Games Jump The Shark. You'll be shocked and appalled to hear Mortal Kombat among the list - but the Retronauts are taking the good with the bad.
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.
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.
Pop Culture Shock Collectibles continue to set the standard in high-end merchandise based on some of the worlds most popular fighting video game series. The statue makers have a new addition to their Mortal Kombat Klassic 1:4 scale line-up and Mortal Kombat Online has the exclusive first look!
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.
Mortal Kombat may be brand new to the PlayStation Vita this month [full story], but the reboot title officially celebrated its first anniversary at the end of April!
Adding to the continuing retrospective; Atomhawk Design have released a follow-up wave of concept resources, expanding the gallery of their contributions to the hugely successful title with images of Kintaro, The Armory, Goro's Lair, Evil Monestary and the apocalyptic vista from Sonya Blade's ending!
Computer gaming nostalgists will be able to go home again with mouse and keyboard in hand thanks to the official release of Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection for PC!
GamersGate currently have the game listed for $9.95, for a 428.81MB download file. Arcade Kollection contains versions of the original games that made the series, a perfect package for curious millineals and 2011 converts who missed the early nineties originals -- Mortal Kombat (1992), Mortal Kombat II (1993) and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995).
System requirements:
Operating system Windows Vista (32/64 bit) / Windows 7 (32/64 bit)
Processor: 2.0+ GHZ Single Core Processor (Minimum Requirements) / 3.0 GHZ Dual Core Processor (Recommended)
Memory: 1GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA 6200+ or ATI Radeon 9600+ Video Card, Shader Model 3.0 compatible, Supporting 16:9 Aspect Ratio (Minimum Requirements) / NVIDIA 7900 GS or Equivalent (Recommended)
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Celebrating today's release of the Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection, gaming website IGN has updated with a Vignette Video featuring the three classic games of the popular fighting franchise:
