New MK: Shaolin Monks Interview at
Game Informer
Posted On: Feb 23 2005, 09:37 PM
Game Informer has updated there site with a new Mortal Kombat:
Shaolin Monks interview with Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick
from Midway. In the Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick
talks about how there is no online mode and that Liu Kang and
Kung Lao may NOT be the only characters playable. They also
talk about Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks the current progress,
Mortal Kombat: Deception and Unreal Championship 2.
Game Informer: First off, will I be able to
fire up Shaolin Monks and go online and play cooperatively with someone
else?
Ed Boon: No, so far there isn't a plan for this game to go online yet,
but for future games it may be a consideration.
Shaun Himmerick: We looked at online and the things that we would have
to cut back on, and what we found were some things that we didn't really
want to do gameplay wise. And, it would have been too expensive. We
really want to maximize gameplay and that's the decision that we ended
up making: no online.
GI: How many playable characters have you settled on so far?
SH: More than two! There isn't a final number yet. We could fit in a ton
of playable characters if we were willing to sacrifice differentiation.
If one character fights the exact same way as all the others, heck, we
could have everyone be playable. But, we don't want to do that. We
really want to make each character feel and play differently. Right now
Liu Kang and Kung Lao feel and play completely different from each
other. So there may be as few as three and the most there would probably
be is six.
Midway Gamer's Day
Posted On: Feb 21 2005, 08:59 AM
The most interesting from Midway
Gamer's Day:
Mortal Kombat Online is one of the sites that has the most complete
coverage of this event, including a lot of information and media of
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Mortal Kombat: Deception
(GameCube).
From their news article:
For now, let us start with MK: Shaolin Monks.
The intro is just amazing. Every single character from the first Mortal
Kombat game can be seen battling each other in just utter chaos. They
also cut to a shot of the Tarkatan hordes charging into the throne room
of Shang Tsung, only to have one dispatched fairly quickly by Kung Lao's
razor-sharp hat. Shang Tsung's guards from MK1 are also seen, and they
are given a beating by Shang himself after being knocked into him by Liu
Kang! Kung Lao's presence seems to indicate a major retcon to MK
continuity, as the Mortal Kombat II comic by John Tobias establishes
that Kung Lao was not present at the Mortal Kombat tournament.
As always, old school fans will have every incentive to play this game,
as you can now see what's around stages that will be very familiar, such
as The Pit, The Tower, Goro's Lair, The Portal, and The Living Forest.
MKSM will also continue the MK tradition of turning rumors into reality
- you can now knock your enemies into the mouths of the trees in the
Living Forest. In fact, Shaun Himmerick assured that not only would
every stage from MKII be included in MKSM, he also assured that each of
these stages would have at least one secret unlockable within them.
The gameplay starts out very simply - in a one player game, you can
choose to play as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao. You can also choose a
2-player cooperative mode. You begin with your classic moves from the MK
fighting game. As you progress in the game, you can get your moves
"upgraded" - eg, Kung Lao's Hat can strike multiple opponents, or whizz
around the entire room. He never loses the ability to do the plain old
Hat Throw, however; it's just that more options become available to the
player as the game moves on.
The graphics seem much improved since the early screenshots we saw when
the game was first announced. This could be a combination of the fact
that the in-game models have been worked on some more, and that since we
are now seeing the game in motion we can appreciate its fluidity.
Fling the joystick, press the power button
off, and pull the dust-cover back over the mega drive, you can soon get
your "Mortal Kombat" fix at theatres. Again.
After many a mixed-bag of rumours, Moviehole can confirm that filming on
the third film, title "Mortal Kombat : Devastation", will begin in May.
Essentially skipping over the events of the second film, "Devastation"
reunites the cast of the original - Christopher Lambert as Rayden,
Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Robin Shou as Liu Kang, Chris Casamassa as
Scorpion with Talisa Soto and Sandra Hess in talks to reprise their
roles as Kitana and Sonya Blade, respectively - with the remaining parts
being cast as we speak.
The film is being developed by Mink ["Into the Sun"] and Threshold
Entertainment. The Asst.Producer is Neil James.
GCM Interviews MK:SM Producer
Posted On: Feb 13 2005, 12:30 AM
Game Chronicles Magazine has updated their site with a new interview
with Shaun Himmerick, the producer of
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. In the interview he talks about its
development, timeline, multiplayer and much more. He also mentions that
there is an upcoming game featuring a popular MK character.
My name is Shaun Himmerick and I am the
producer of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. I have been with Midway for 5
years and with the Mortal Kombat team for almost 2 years now, working on
the MK:Shaolin Monks project. The game is being developed out of the
Midway LA office, formerly Paradox Development. Even though this game
was originally being done as a 3rd party project, the MK team in Chicago
has maintained very close contact and worked closely with the team in
LA. The art directors on MKSM are Tony Goskie and Steve Beran from the
MK Deception team and have been apart of the MK team for many games. As
well, Ed Boon is the Creative Director of the game.
"The guys at Epic are huge Mortal Kombat
fans," said Steve Allison, the chief marketing officer who's also
currently serving as executive producer for L.A. Rush. "So when we did
the publishing deal for Unreal Championship 2 with them it started as a
'wouldn't it be cool if we could put some MK characters in the Unreal
universe?' more as a joke, and then the Epic guys said, 'Let's do it!.'
Raiden was chosen because he was the one guy the Epic guys all wanted
unanimously. He also fits the Unreal universe well, given his
orientation around lightning based projectiles."
Click
here to read the complete article. To view the new videos click
here.
Mortal Kombat: Deception will hit the
GameCube ahead of schedule; fatalities begin February 28.
Midway today pushed up the release date for the GameCube version of
Mortal Kombat: Deception. Deception will now hack its way onto
Nintendo's console February 28, one week earlier than its previous
release date of March 7.
...
Mortal Kombat: Deception is rated M for Mature and will retail for
$49.99. For more information on the game, check out GameSpot's previous
coverage.
Place of origin: Outworld Alignment: Evil Foes: Kitana, Raiden, Liu Kang
My defeat at the hands of the Earthrealm warriors had left me weakened,
and my dominance in Outworld was waning. Kitana's forces were closing
in. It was only a matter of time before they would overrun my
stronghold. Using a powerful magical item retrieved long ago by my
minions, I created a clone of myself to draw my enemies' attention while
I escaped into the wild. When I have regained my strength, I will
destroy all who have opposed my rule.
Goro
Place of origin: Outworld Alignment: Evil Allies: Shao Kahn Foes: Baraka, Kitana
Kitana's army allied with my Shokan warriors in an attempt to destroy my
old master, Shao Kahn. It was rumored that he has weakening and that our
victory was inevitable. During the last battle against Kano's milita,
however, I was attacked from behind by a shadow warrior, Noob Saibot. I
do not know for how long I lay dying on the battlefield, but when I
regained consciousness, I was greeted by the last person I expected to
see...
The interactive entertainment industry’s elite
creative talent and business executives gathered together on Tuesday
evening, February 1, to honor the top video games of 2004, at the 8th
Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, held during the annual D.I.C.E.
Summit in Las Vegas.
Voted and judged upon by game industry peer panels from the Academy of
Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), the professional organization
dedicated to the advancement and recognition of interactive arts, the
awards celebrate outstanding technical and artistic achievement in the
world of interactive entertainment.
“The Interactive Achievement Awards provide an important arena for the
interactive entertainment industry to showcase the year’s most
outstanding video and computer games,” said Joseph Olin., president of
the AIAS.
“This year’s winners not only represent some of 2004’s most popular
games, but they also embody the spirit and innovation that has driven
this industry since its inception.”
Winners of the 8th annual interactive achievement award categories are
listed below, along with the corresponding publishers and developers,
respectively.
...
4. Genre Awards
A. Console
· Platform Action/Adventure Game Of The Year - Prince of Persia: Warrior
Within (Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal)
· Action/Adventure Game Of The Year - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
(Rockstar Games/Rockstar North)
· Action Sports Game Of The Year - Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
(Activision/Neversoft)
· First Person Action Game Of The Year - Halo 2 (Microsoft/Bungie)
· Children’s Title Of The Year - Sly Cooper 2 (Sony Computer
Entertainment America/Sucker Punch)
· Family Game of the Year – Donkey Konga (Nintendo/Namco) · Fighting Game Of The Year - Mortal Kombat: Deception (Midway/Midway
Chicago)
· Racing Game Of The Year - Burnout 3 (Electronic Arts/Criterion)
· Role Playing Game Of The Year - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
(Nintendo/Intelligent Systems)
· Sports Simulation Game Of The Year - ESPN NFL 2K5 (Sega/Visual
Concepts)
New Videos At GameSpot
Posted On: Feb 3 2005, 03:27 PM
GameSpot has once again updated its Mortal Kombat: Deception
media section. This time three new movies has been added. Two of them
are updated versions of Shao Kahn's and Goro's "Trading
Kard bios". The last one is a trailer to the GameCube version of
the game, that shows Shao Kahn and Goro in action.
Click
here to get those videos for free. Only a GameSpot Basic membership
is required.
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