6 March 2009
Josh

Mortal Kombat 9 release date set for Q4 2010, says Midway

Midway has announced that they are giving Mortal Kombat and MK co-creator Ed Boon another chance as they slate Mortal Kombat 9 for a fourth-quarter 2009 release date.

Why would that be? Because it seems Midway may have finally realized what everyone else already knows, Midway is a goner without the MK franchise.

They announced that Ed Boon will be pocketing up to $900,000 for his work on the completion and sales of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (which were good at around a million units but under expectations) and will be getting a further $105,000 in bonuses for the Mortal Kombat franchise itself (which comes from the sale of older MK games like Mortal Kombat 2 on PlayStation Network, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on Xbox Live Arcade, the MK movies and such).

This is interesting because Midway does not have money to spend, but they say that the bonuses and payments given to Boon are “critical to maximize the value of one of the Debtor’s (i.e. Ed Boon) primary assets.”

This is good news for Midway and MK fans in general, now hopefully their next game will be better received than MK vs DC Universe was.

And I’m STILL waiting for Midway to announce the release of Mortal Kombat 1, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat 4 on ALL downloading fronts (Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare). Come on Midway! GET ON IT! Not only is that instant cash right there but I’d buy all of those without giving a second thought. LEVERAGE YOUR CLASSIC BACK CATALOG ALREADY!

Jeez. I should be managing Midway myself . . .

UPDATE June 2009: MK creator Ed Boon’s Twitter page sees him mention motion capture work is underway for Mortal Kombat 9! To quote his personal stream of thoughts:

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.

MK Fan (@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.

Update Attendum: The original article references Midway’s “Key Employee Incentive Plan” from earlier this year. Turns out a court committee edited or outright declined this proposed plan later on, explaining why Ed Boon claimed this intel to be false via Twitter (thanks André Lopes). That or he never heard about it with Midway’s plans getting cancelled. As for the release date, let’s hope that estimate isn’t false, I want a new Mortal Kombat game this year as much as the next fan!

Update August 2009: A Warner Bros. Games Inc. Chicago job listing shows Mortal Kombat 9 will focus on online play! The job description reads:
“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 network transport layer all the way to owning the final implementation of brand-new features that will revolutionize online play.

The job opening can be viewed in it’s entirety here at TimeWarner.com’s job page for those interesting in applying to join the team. We can’t wait to see what the team has up their sleeves as far as these “revolutionary features” go. The dynamic interactivity of playing at the arcade has not yet been duplicated properly in an console fighting game yet.”

Update December 2009: MK fansites are now claiming a December 2010 release date for the still tentatively titled Mortal Kombat 9. *fingers crossed*

18 June 2009 11:46
bigMKfan!!!

keep up the good work ed and midway mk rulez i became a fan when i firs played mk4 but i become a biiig mk fan when i saw and playd mkarmageddon ^^ mk coolest game ever

21 June 2009 21:18
IcyOne

Blood & gore are great an’all but what about something new and exciting. Like more realism for example MK Sholin Monks was blody but not too much plus it brought an adventurous twist to MK2 & part of MK3.
Better story line(s).
To make the Characters look real again do what WWE does with the wrestlers.

21 June 2009 21:28
IcyOne

Forgot to mention do what WWE is doing with their latest SvR 2010 game Combine all the stuff that worked with all the games in the series into one perfect mind blowing game. Since after all tis could potentially be your last game since Midway’s going down the tubes after all.

Why Not Go Out WITH A BANG….
FINNISH HIM!!!!
BTW Whens the new movie coming out?

23 June 2009 13:47
Greedy McNasty

This all fun and games but I would love to see more depth added to MK9. Darker and more cartoon style. It worked for Capcom it can work for Midway. Boon you need to go big brother change evolve and take the fighting game market by the……! Story line has to be huge this time, I wish you would go with a mortal cast of just different type’s of Ninjas.

As for character break down this is a list of things each character needs to be successful, or to compete with the other games coming out.

1. story line. Huge story long animated endings. Add friends and enemy fights to the story. BIO’s that are crazy interesting.
2. BONUS STAGES and many of them 10 different that are part of the story line and can be put into the VS also. And the character animations.
3. Character backgrounds.
4. 15 normal punches, 15 normal kicks depending on squatting jumping or standing. All nice and smooth less clunky like SF4.
5. 5-6 special moves, and some of those can be upgraded or EX moves.
6. A SUPER BAR. MK has needed super moves for so long.
7. 4 super moves and ditch moves or aka ultra moves to choose from. 2 are taken into battle at a time.
8. 3 throws
9. 3 grapple moves and a new grapple system added into the game and no it is not like close combat it is just something to add to the throw game so there is not constant battle of tech throws. If both players go to throw at the same time you will go into a grapple animation.
10. 5 taunts to choose from that are nasty.
11. 6 after round talking and animations.
12. 6 pre fight talking and animations, as well as 6 after fight talking and winning animations. 4 normal, 1 friend, and 1 enemy.
13. A ton of blocking animation
14. A ton of getting hit animations with the right amount of blood.
15. standing still animations need to be silky smooth and have the character do more than move back and forth or bounce in place. this go’s for crouching animations as well. Add character by making them fix there cloths or wipe there hands off something human.
16. a hard hitting KOMBAT ATTACK just like a focus attack from SF4 just MK style.
17. 5 different dizzy and or stun animations.
18. Reversal, counter attack, first attack. Drop the combo breakers.
19. personal combos 5-8 different string hitting combos that range from 3 hit combo to 15 hit combo with a super thrown in. Drop the style, and weapon change button.
20. Same strength hits both players get knocked back.
21. random events that happen in between rounds.
22. Stage KO’s and animations. Stage fatalities????? only at the end of the round please.
23. 3-d graphics in a 2-d plane. Camera can move or change to a more 3-d look when supers, throws, grapple moves, ultras + ditch moves, Fatalities, stage ko’s, random events, win animations, pre fight animations are happening or being done.
24. facial body damage system.
25. Team supers (hidden)
26. team fatalities
27. 3 personal fatalities.
28. 1 forced hari kari
29. 1 mercy move
30. KO back ground flashes, super ultra flashes, fatality flashes. does not need to be like SF it could flash blood on the screen or skulls something to make it MK style.
31. 1 string combo that is a group of moves put together like a brutality but personal and unique, with out a body explode at the end.

This is just the tip of the ice burg. If you guys and girls have any questions or ways to make my ideas better drop me a line. All opinions are welcome good bad or indifferent. GreedyMcnasty@yahoo.com

28 June 2009 03:38
bigMKfan!!!

i’ve got some ideas. make grphycs like in mk vs dc, arenas and fighting styles from deception gameplay arkade mode like in armageddon and make some more arenas with people in them-like the dark prison or shao kahns arena it’s kool hearing how they scream yea kill him and stuff like that. and now here are some ideas for fatalities.
stryker: pushis a bomb in oponents mouth and then it explodes, then only legs are there walking around (abit like drahmin deadly alliance) then stryker takes his gun shoots in balls and there is big splash of blood and legs fall.
sub-zero: rips oponents spine out through his ass (that will bi probali allowed cus ic m mature rating) and then beats him with it.
meat: skins the oponent and takes the skin on him. while oponent dies of loosing blood.
drahmin: makes a big armo of flies (like shinnok mk4 or something.) and then smashes the oponent with it.
and put hydro in. and young shujinko.

28 June 2009 04:15
bigMKfan!!!

it wuld be kool to have the opertunity to actualy paint and make your own textures on kaf. mk is awesome keep up the good work midway and mr. ed boon. best fighting game series ever especialy the new ones

28 June 2009 04:18
bigMKfan!!!

new 3 dimentional games are awesome :) make good 3d grphycs plz and try to make those kool kombos avelable in mk armageddon-the ones that can be maked in the air. make it violent and bloody like mkda.

28 June 2009 12:34
André Lopes

Check this out:

http://twitter.com/noobde

Ed Boon just told me (Major_kenny) that everything here is false!

28 June 2009 14:49
Ferry

Andre Lopes: This news came directly from Midway’s proposed “Key Employee Incentive Plan” earlier this year. I’m guessing either court or a committee edited or outright declined this plan later on, explaining Why Boon doesn’t know about it.

Besides release dates are always tentative in the gaming industry.

29 June 2009 00:43
bigMKfan!!!

hey there are some arena ideas:
1)arena that is a platform that levitats through space and if you throw dudes of the platfor they fall and then are eaten by some giant cotopus like monsterus alien.
2)arena that is in watter where you stand in the shallow water and can use fish to smack the oponent and you could throw the oponent to deeper water where sharks are swimming for death trap.
—earthkuake shuld be avelable in options (like the one in deception)
where grou8nd shakes and your loosing health quicker. so you can fight during earthquake.

now some characters that would be nice in mk9: darth vader, wu lae, hydro tremor, shredder (many people say he wuld fit in very cool), dante, vergil, nightmare and kochal-boss.

NOTE: im not complaining or trying to be smart, only giving some ideas and what wuld be cool to see in next mk: 9.