6 March 2009
Josh

Mortal Kombat 9 release date set for Q4 2009, 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.”

24 July 2009 17:28
Josh

I think that they should remake the whole series, kinda like the movie, mk is one of the best games ever, make more secret characters, and how come does nobody ever hold a grudge aganist somebody, all the evil characters decieve each other constantly, and come back and work togeter or are friends. Im not the expert, but I be knocking heads off all day with Johnny Cage.

25 July 2009 05:59
TAMIR

well mortal kombat and king of fighter series are my fev’ in mortal kombat armageddon and mk3 can i make good combos and i wish that would be the combo system come back in the ix toghter with large rooster of characters incloding speciel force characters and maaan i hate dc univers so i kick all of them with m.k characters but one thing i most expect is the conquest mode like deception that was my fev’ game. last thing we need dafinitly a new game of mortal kombat to wahs our brains in blood again

26 July 2009 05:40
rythm

NO SWITCHING FIGHT STYLES AND MAEK IT RELEASE ON ALL 3 CONSOLES

12 August 2009 17:48
lyle alezandre

i deeply love fighting games and mortal kombat is my first favorite i hope mortal kombat 9 will not be rated AO. can u guys make mortal kombat 4 or gold go on the xbox 360 arcade

19 August 2009 12:25
BullseyeBrandon

F*ck every Mortal Kombat past Deadly Alliance because they all sucked!

The best MK had to be #2 or Trilogy because the combo’s, fatalities, and amount of characters made for a truly fun game.

I would love to see a MK vs. Killer Instinct, MK vs. Street Fighter, or MK vs. DOA now that would be sick.

The best fighting games of all time have been Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and yes Dead or Alive 4.

F*ck they need to seriously sit down and not screw this one up.

Make it dark, make the fatalities sick, and please leave out Babalities and Friendships lol.

Oh and I would love to see an option for 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 matches to make it hella exciting.

Online play would be sick but only on Xbox live because then it would be a lot faster and better.

If you made it 2D then it would definitely rock especially if it was like a Marvel vs. Capcom style. But I could actually go for a Dead or Alive 4 style too because that game is amazing. The counters in that game make it so fun and unpredictable.

I hope Ed Boon takes a lot of our opinions into consideration and doesn’t make a MK vs. Flinstones because he’s kinda been failing these past few years.

I hope he can do it!

Because if he doesn’t then this is the end of Mortal Kombat for good!

I’ll cross my fingers!

Oh and bring back Shao Kahn! I want to see Kintaro or Goro, and Shang Tsun and Quan Chi, Smoke, Noob Saibot, Rain, Scorpion, Sub Zero, Reptile, Liu Kang, Kun Lao, Baraka, Johnny Cage, Kitana, Mileena, Kabal, Raiden, Fujin, Reiko, and a few others but they have to be in it for sure!

F*ck I’m rambling!

Peace!

19 August 2009 16:05
bigMKfan!!!

kool ideas:
sub zero: fatality freezis the oponent and does his famous head spine rip and then uses the spine head as hammer and to beat the oponent into the ground somethink like supermans brutality and then preforms a brutal hit to crush the oponent.
bo rai cho: farts to the oponent and when green smoke dissapears you see a meat like thing lying on the floor deformd by tha stink (reptile kind’a thing to do.
and an arena idea: you stand on a spinning fan and if you go to a wrong place you fall and get ripped in two halves
and a liu kang and scorp and nightwolf fighting style changing: one normal fighting style and animal one so he becomes animal instead of a weapon noob smoke switch in that way. and a story idea: kenshi gets kano-type robotic eyes so he can see by the black dragons but that allso corrupt him and ashrah stats to lose power so she seeks to return into hell and while that sub zero gets her kriss and uncorrupt noob with it so there are two sub s and allso help raiedn becvome good again. and make quan chi die by scorps cus he piss me of by killing scorpions familly and clan so scorpion shuld own him

20 August 2009 05:36
bigMKfan!!!

nope this time not an idea just a wishlist of characters:
minor: wu lae tremor(duuhhhh) and hydro and dark kahn mabye even old subby.
normal: kenshi kintaro moloch baraka scorpion-with mkvsdc kostume and ermac don’t try to ubgraade his kostume too much it’s just briliant allready.
new: white ninja
and guests: darth vader, shredder, nightmare, master chief, general greivous.

27 August 2009 10:13
bigMKfan!!!

id love to see motaro with four legs, kai in handstand pose and guest dante.
now some trap ideas:
-killer plants
-shark tanks

31 August 2009 18:51
STARLING

1) A MI ME GUSTARIA QUE TENGA UN LUGAR COMO EL PIT 3 ALGO DE DONDE TIRARLO
2) QUE ALGUNOS DE LOS FATALITY SE PUEDAN VER EN PRIMER PLANO!!
3) UN PERSONAGE COMO Sabrewulf DE KILLER INSTINCT PERO BIEN SANGRIENTO!
4) UN PERSONAGE QUE TENGA UN PITBULL QUE EN EL FATALITY ENTRE Y LO DESGARRE!!
5) LOS PERSONAGES MAS REALES POSIBLES CON FATALITY QUE IMPRESIONEN DE TAN REAL
6) QUE EN OCASIONES LOS FATALITY O LOS MOVIMIENTOS AGAN EXTEMESER LA CAMARA!
7) MAS PERSONAGES NUEVOS ROMPEDURA DE HUESOS EN EL MEDIO DEL JUEGO
UN ASESINO PSICOPATA ALGO COMO ENFURIADO Y QUE EN EL FATALITY AGA ALGO COMO despegarle un brazo a mordidas y luego votar el braso y despegarle una pierna y hacer como quanchi con la pierna darle hasta mas no poder casi todo en primer plano
9) UNOS 45 PELIADORES MINIMO, QUE NO ALLAN JUEGUITOS DE ESO MINI GAME ESO NO SIRVE!
10) Y POR ULTIMOS MAS, SALVAGE, AGRESIVA, SANGRIENTA, PERVERSA, BESTIAL, SOLO PARA ADULTOS: Y PIENSO QUE TODO ESO SE PUEDE YA TENEMOS PODER DE CONSOLA QUE ES LO MAS IMPORTANTE LAS CONSOLAS DE NUEVA GENERACION PUEDEN HACER MUCHO MAS DE ESO!!

1 September 2009 13:34
bigMKfan!!!

hey ed boon don’t listen to the people who say rude things about your briliant games. you know that nobody is able to make as good games as you do and nobody will ever. people who dont like mk are noobs because they dont know how to use specials. so keep up the good work ed.