Midway Games has sent out a press release in which they finally officially announce the next two Mortal Kombat games: Mortal Kombat: Unchained for the Sony PSP handheld system, and more importantly, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for console systems. True to its name, Midway is hyping up the fact that MK: Armageddon will be the final chapter in the current MK storyline. From the press release:

CHICAGO – February 28, 2006 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment industry publisher and developer, announced today that Mortal Kombat®: Armageddon™, the final franchise installment on current generation systems featuring the most extensive cast of playable characters in the series to–date and an all–new create–a–fighter mode, is currently in development for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is expected to ship Fall 2006.

"As the final chapter of Mortal Kombat on current generation gaming platforms, we're eager to raise the bar for the fighting genre yet again with Mortal Kombat: Armageddon," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Building off of the tremendous successes of Mortal Kombat: Deception in October 2004 and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks in September 2005, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon introduces the most comprehensive cast of playable characters from every Mortal Kombat title, both past and present, in addition to the first create–a–fighter mode in franchise history"

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Midway also revealed today Mortal Kombat®: Unchained™ for the PSP™ (PlayStation® Portable) system from Sony. Mortal Kombat: Unchained delivers the deepest fighting game ever on the PSP with the lethal intensity that helped establish the franchise as the ultimate fighting game of all time! With multiple fatalities per character, multi–tiered interactive backgrounds, extensive game modes including head–to–head Wi–Fi capabilities, six new fighters, and a new endurance mode Mortal Kombat: Unchained revolutionizes the fighting game genre once again and is expected to ship Fall 2006.

To read the press release in its entirety, click here.