It feels like the year 2010 just started, but January is about to come to a close. It's been fairly quiet in the MK world until this week with a few little tidbits we'd like to share with you. Earlier this month MK Universe noticed that one of the MK Team's PSN accounts was noticed connected to the PSN Network while play testing a build of MK9. Some have assumed it was Ed's PSN account because of the word "Noob" in it, but in fact it was one of the many public accounts created for the "Fight the Developers" night from a year ago. These accounts have been fairly dormant since then, so either this was a planned "leak" or an accident on the part of one of the game's developers. Also some more rumors of a new MK Movie has been floating around again. This time the new owners of the Mortal Kombat franchise, Warner Bros is in the middle of the latest rumors. Bloody Disgusting is reporting that WB recruited budding screenwriter Oren Uziel to write a reboot ...

News on the Mortal Kombat 9 front has been quiet for a while. The team is hard at work now that things have settled down after the Warner Bros acquisition was completed. They have been actively hiring team members to fill out the development studio since summer. We don't expect the silence to last for too much longer as the hype machine is likely to start rolling up soon as the release is coming! Recently we've been hearing various murmurings that the Mortal Kombat Team has a set timeframe for Mortal Kombat 9 already. All signs appear to be pointing towards the team targeting to have the game shipped and in our hands by Christmas 2010! We haven't heard a concrete release date at this time, but we know for sure that's the internal project timeframe is to have it released just in time for Christmas. Fans around the world better be nice next year if you are anticipating Santa to put a copy of Mortal Kombat 9 in your stockings a year from now! So you don't want to be getting on Santa...

The humor website College Humor has set the bar high for those making Mortal Kombat parodies. In this hilarious video, they break down how unfair the Mortal Kombat "Tournament" is. I don't want to say much more to spoil it, so just watch it below. See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor. Do you agree or disagree that this is one of the funniest MK parody videos yet? Go and discuss it in the comments as we'd like to know what you think....

This week's Mortal Movie Monday featured presentation is another much older video from the early years of Mortal Kombat. It's a tour of the Williams/Bally pinball factory along with the Midway game development studios from the long running WTTW Chicago series Wild Chicago. They stop by to talk to series creators Ed Boon and John Tobias just after the development of Mortal Kombat had wrapped or was about complete. Lots of great history is to be found in this rare look into the past of Mortal Kombat and Midway Games. Thanks to @OriginalRazer on Twitter for suggesting us the video. Come back next Mortal Movie Monday for another great video. We're always looking for great clips to showcase, so don't forget to suggest us a future video to be featured....

This week some proof of a cancelled sequel to fan favorite Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks was discovered. The details found the personal website of a Matthew Doyle, a former Midway Los Angeles employee, who posted some level design concept from a Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks 2, which was marked as cancelled. Click to Enlarge When FDMK questioned him about the title, Matthew said that the game was cancelled early on his tenure at the company, and at the time was working under the codename of Fire and Ice because of the use of Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Matthew Doyle: It was canceled within a few weeks of my arriving at Midway. I don't have anything else to show you unfortunately. Half the studio was laid off, and new management was brought in. Then we started work on TNA Wrestling. A prototype level was built, but that was it. A few design docs were worked on, and a few characters were made in 3D - Scorpion and Subzero. The game was codenamed Fire & Ice - as those two c...

This week's Mortal Movie Monday featured presentation is a bonus video from the game Mortal Kombat Armageddon. In the video you see the audio team at Midway putting together sound effects and voices for the game Mortal Kombat Armageddon with the help of many various other employees at the studio. We actually found this video on an old backup drive earlier today, hense the older TRMK logo, but figured it would be a perfect video for this week's feature. Come back next Mortal Movie Monday for another great video. We're always looking for great clips to showcase, so don't forget to suggest us a future video to be featured....

This week's Mortal Movie Monday featured presentation could be considered a piece of Retro Mortal Kombat as there are not many videos from this era. Around the time of the original release of Mortal Kombat on the home consoles, the popular UK video game show Gamesmaster had a Mortal Kombat themed episode in September of 1993. In the episode they brought over the actors from the game to talk about how it was made, and even includes a challenge between Sonya and Johnny Cage in a round of Mortal Kombat. The actors who appeared are: Elizabeth Malecki who played Sonya, Dan Pesina who played Johnny Cage (and the ninjas) and Ho-Sung Pak who played Liu Kang. You should watch the clip to see who goes home the victor. Thanks to Tim Static for suggesting the video and MKSecrets for providing the video. Come back next Mortal Movie Monday for another great video. We're always looking for great clips to showcase, so don't forget to suggest us a future video to be featured....

A recent job posting made by WB Games Inc. Chicago for the upcoming Mortal Kombat 9 is revealing that the Mortal Kombat Team is aiming to focus on strengthening it's online game play. In particular they want to make the game the “gold standard” for online games and add "brand-new features that will revolutionize online play." Here is the relevant part of the job description: WB Games Inc. seeks a Senior Software Engineer, Network to help us implement cutting-edge online features to ensure the Mortal Kombat franchise is an industry leader in online functionality. We are looking to position Mortal Kombat as the “gold standard” for network play, and we are looking for someone who wants to push the boundaries of what is possible with online interaction. You will work closely with architects and designers on both the Mortal Kombat team and the advanced technology group to help design and implement functionality ranging from the core ...

This week's Mortal Movie Monday is another great Mortal Kombat reference parody found in another medium. As we all know, Mortal Kombat is referenced and parodied all around the world. So it wasn't a total surprise to see a great parody of Mortal Kombat in the menu system of the DVD for The IT Crowd Series 2. For those unfamiliar with the show, The IT Crowd is a british comedy focusing around a small group of IT workers and the people they interact with. It's a brilliant show created by the self proclaimed geek Graham Linehan and is created in such a way it appeals to the geeks and non-geeks alike. It wasn't available until recently in the US, as reruns now air on Tuesday nights on IFC Channel. Also earlier this year the DVD sets are becoming available on Amazon as well as instant streaming on Netflix. The previous season's IT Crowd DVD had many pop culture and video game references, and the second season goes above and beyond that. It is riddled with video game references from ...

This week's Mortal Monday video was again pointed out by none other than Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon via Twitter and is another This Ain't No Game (TANG) feature from Giant Bomb. This TANG is the follow up to the video review of the original Mortal Kombat movie from a few months ago, this time it takes aim at the sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis literally rips apart the "simply awful" Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. He also points out some of the bizarre things that happen throughout the movie that don't make sense even to the fans watching the movie. They also put together an excellent montage of the horrible CGI effects though-out the movie. This video clip should definitely makes anyone laugh at it's clever criticism of this very terrible movie. Come back next Mortal Movie Monday for another great video. We're always lo...

Since as of today Midway Games is now Warner Bros., I decided to run a video this Mortal Movie Monday that was put together by Midway called The History of Fatalities. The feature goes into the history of our favorite finishing moves and it's use in Mortal Kombat over the past 15+ years. It is over twenty minutes long, and talks with various developers on the Mortal Kombat Team about what their favorite or least favorite Fatalities are. The video was only available on the bonus DVD that came along with the Premium Edition of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the PlayStation 2. So sit back, grab some popcorn and watch this week's Mortal Movie Monday clip. Get the Flash Player to see this player.var so = new SWFObject('http://www.trmk.org/embed/video/player.swf','mpl','550','412','8'); so.addParam('wmode','transparent'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addParam('flashvars','&file=http://www.trmk.org/video/History_of_Fatalit...

We've received confirmation this morning that the name Midway Games is no more after today. The company will drop it's over fifty year old name, and continue operations under a Warner Bros. moniker effective Monday July 13th, 2009. It is likely they will be operating now under the Warner Brothers Games moniker. Development of Mortal Kombat 9 should be unchanged but will just continue under the new company name. I'd also expect to see re-releases of any of intellectual property purchased by Warner Brothers earlier this month without the Midway name attached to it. Additional confirmation can be seen from a few of the Mortal Kombat developers on Twitter. Both Hector Sanchez and Hans Lo have put out their own tributes to the company name on their feeds today. As someone who grew up with the Midway name being on most of my favorite games at the arcades, and later on the home video game consoles, this is quite an end to an era. I was always proud that Midway Games was centered i...

For the past three years, rumors have been flying around regarding a third Mortal Kombat movie and everyone of them have been proven to be false. The latest comes from actor/martial artist Chris Casamassa, the original Scorpion in both movies. In an interview with the San Gabriel Valley Tribute, Casamassa slips that filming for the third Mortal Kombat movie begins in September. Can this even be possible with the recent legal proceedings between Threshold Entertainment and Warner Bros., new owners of Midway and the Mortal Kombat franchise? Could a script and casting have already been completed by Threshold and the project carried over to Warner Bros.? Is Warner Bros. even included in the movie rights? No word on whether the ruling of Threshold Entertainment's claims to the movie rights to Mortal Kombat during the bankruptcy proceedings were successful. Both Threshold Entertainment and Midway refuse to comment to TRMK regarding the movie rights matter. More rumors and more specu...

Today on Twitter, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon revealed a render of Quan Chi from the unreleased/cancelled downloadable content (DLC) for the 2008 game Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. The other character that was to be released via DLC is DC Comic's Harley Quinn. Here is what Ed had to say: "Excited about MK9 and WB, but wish we could have released DLC for MKvsDC. Here's a peek." - Ed Boon via Twitter on 7/7/2009 Ed previously stated that the DLC was nearly complete, but we are to believe it's release is unlikely due to the team focusing on Mortal Kombat 9. The exact reason for the cancellation of the DLC is unknown, but it's likely to be because of Midway's financial situation with the bankruptcy proceedings and the cost of further testing and publication & certification of the DLC with Sony and Microsoft. Also, Warner Bros. was on the list of companies Midway owed money, which probably didn't help with the cause much. With Warner Bros. now owning Midway, it is...

After a few weeks off, Mortal Movie Monday (MMM) returns this week with a great new feature. This week our own forum member itobandito submitted a video he created. Ito works with Retroware TV and hosts this week's episode of their show From Pixels To Plastic where he discusses his ultra rare Goro statue that he found on eBay. The origins of the statue are unknown, but appears that it only was released to retail in Japan back in the early 1990s. There is no known place to get these easily, but there are likely some sitting around in someone's storage room right now. Yet you can find the very similar, yet unpainted, resin kit for around $65 on eBay. Check out the video below for more information. Thanks again goes out to itobandito for another great MMM submission. We at TRMK are always looking for great clips to showcase, so don't forget to suggest us a future video to be featured. Come back next Mortal Movie Monday for another Kompelling video....

Yesterday, a Delaware bankruptcy judge approved the pending sale of Midway Games to the sole bidder Warner Bros. For the sum of $33 Million, Warner Bros. makes away with the majority of Midway's heart and soul, including the gigantic Mortal Kombat franchise and development team supporting it. No word on the recent objections filed by Threshold Entertainment, producers of the television and cinematic Mortal Kombat projects. Although many Mortal Kombat fans would be highly supportive of Warner Bros. becoming the rights holders of the TV and movie projects, as Threshold has been suspiciously quiet on their parts in creating new projects. Although the judge has approved the sale, it appears that a few things are left to clean up. But for now, it appears that the Mortal Kombat franchise and development team can continue to work on their future projects, namely Mortal Kombat 9....

The LA Times is reporting today motion picture studio Warner Bros. is the sole bidder in the auction sale process of Midway Games. Their original bid of $33 million USD emerged as the only bid that Midway Games got during the bidding process that occurred during the last month, despite many other parties taking a look at the studio. Next week will be a hearing with the US Bankruptcy Court regarding those parties who are objectifying to the sale of Midway Games. One is Threshold Entertainment, which we covered yesterday, and the other is Vin Diesel's Tigon Studios which is questioning the sale of the movie rights to the game Wheelman. Before the deal goes through, the Delaware court overseeing Midway's bankruptcy will have to resolve complaints by several creditors about the acquisition process. One of those is producer Larry Kasanoff's Threshold Entertainment, which produced two previous "Mortal Kombat" films and claims it has exclusive big-screen and TV rights to the se...

Game Politics is reporting that Mortal Kombat movie production company Threshold Entertainment is seeking to gain partial ownership rights of some of the Mortal Kombat intellectual property, including film and television rights. Here is an excerpt from their complaint sent to the US Bankrupcy Court. The Mortal Kombat series, as it stands today, is far more a creation of Threshold and Kasanoff than of Midway. Midway's creative input was almost entirely limited to the videogames. On their own, the videogames provided only minimal back-story and mythology, and only flat, "stock" characters... Kasanoff and Threshold were responsible for virtually all of the creative input that went into turning the videogame concept into a multimedia enterprise. This is highly unusual seeing as appears to fans that his company Threshold Entertainment stopped supporting the Mortal Kombat franchise many years ago. Just look at their website MortalKombat.com which hasn't been updated in over five...

Today we've got the first confirmation of the assumption that Mortal Kombat 9 will be returning to it's former M rated glory, after the T rated Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. That confirmation comes from Ed Boon's personal Twitter stream via a series of updates earlier today while discussing some motion capture work that was in progress at for Mortal Kombat 9. Ed Boon (@noobde): Motion capturing special moves & fatalities today....they are kind of sick !! Ed Boon: Carlos & Rick O. doin some kool fatalities. I hope we aren't taking these too far. :( Me (@McCarron): @noobde If you are not sure if you are taking them too far, that means you can go further. Ed Boon: @McCarron U r absolutely right. People want an M-rated MK....dammit we will give them an M-rated MK. Ed Boon: still...they are sick. : I think this is great news, as it shows that the MK Team is attempting to push the envelope of the M rating in Mortal Kombat 9. I believe they will be amping up the violence to ...

This week's Mortal Movie Monday presentation is a home made presentation by yours truly. Many people are unfamiliar with one of the most fun shooter games ever made, Midway's own The Grid. It was made by the Mortal Kombat Team between Mortal Kombat 4 and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. It also served as one of Midway's final games put out to the arcade before their switch to the home consoles. I was a big fan when I first saw the game in testing around Chicago, and immediately started the creation of The Grid Guide here for TRMK all those years ago. I was even lucky enough to have my name added to the game's awesome end sequence (YouTube link). Back to the feature at hand this week. Last fall I personally purchased three cabinets of The Grid from the former collection of the Chicago arcade, Dennis' Place For Games, that had gone out of business in late 2007. A month ago I finally got all three cabinets moved into my garage and had friends over to play the game for the first t...