Mortal Kombat (2011 video game)

Mortal Kombat (2011 video game) is the working title for an upcoming new fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, currently in development by the newly named NetherRealm Studios (formerly WB Games Chicago).

The game was first hinted at by developer Ed Boon on January 2009, shortly after the release of the previous game in the franchise, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

On June 18 2009, Boon confirmed in his Twitter page that they were performing motion capture for the game. He also revealed that the game will not have superheroes in it this time around, thus ruling out a sequel to Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and that they were again aiming for a "Mature" rating, contrarily to the "Teen" rating attained by the previous game.

Confirmed Characters
The game will feature 26 plus DLC characters and the following confirmed characters are:
 * Johnny Cage
 * Kung Lao
 * Mileena
 * Nightwolf
 * Reptile
 * Scorpion
 * Sektor
 * Sub-Zero
 * Kitana
 * Sonya

Cameo Appearances:
 * Kira and Li Mei are shown chained in Shao Kahn's Arena.
 * Raiden appears in the beginning of the trailer, but have not been shown in gameplay.
 * Daegon is shown fighting Kenshi at a random time and Reiko at a different time in the background of the Pit 2 stage.
 * Shang Tsung on his throne (he may actually be a playable character).

Confirmed Arenas

 * The Bridge
 * Dead Pool
 * Living Forest
 * Pit II
 * Rooftop
 * Throne Room
 * Kahn's Arena

=Recent News=

Midway, along with the Mortal Kombat franchise, has now since become part of Warner Bros. Many former Midway employees are now employees of Warner Bros. It was confirmed on Ed Boon's Twitter that Chameleon and Hsu Hao will not be returning for Mortal Kombat 9 or any future games. There will be many other unpopular or "clone" characters not returning along with them. Sonya's most recent voice actress, Dana Lyn Baron confirmed that in September of 2009 she had once again lent her voice for the veteran Mortal Kombat character. Brenda Barrie, the actress who did the motion capture for Catwoman and Wonder Woman in MK vs DC Universe, is taking the role as Kitana for MK9, confirming her as a character. Sorin Brouwers, who did the motion capture of Green Lantern, Kano, and Scorpion in MK vs DC, is expecting to come back but it is unknown which character he will portray.

In June 10, 2010, the first official information, along with a trailer, was released. Amongst the new gameplay features was a Tag Team mode, shown in the trailer. At E3, Gamespot interviewed with Ed Boon. The gameplay is said to be a mixture of everything well-received concerning Mortal Kombat. The simplified gameplay engine with the addition of the Tag Team features will allow for a plethora of custom combos. Regarding the game's position within the canon, Boon confirmed that the game takes place shortly after Armageddon, the story involving a time-travel element that takes the characters back to events between Mortal Kombat II and 3 with added twists.

Release
Mortal Kombat 9 is expected to be released in March 2011.

Trivia

 * This is the first game in the franchise to include battle intros for the characters, something that has been a mainstay in many other fighting games.