Kotaku: Ed Boon

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Komes to Blu-ray This November

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:20:00 EDT

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The nine episode web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy will come to a Blu-ray near you this November, courtesy of Warner Bros. and director Kevin Tancharoen, delivering live action Jax, Sonya, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and more onto one high-def disc. More »

Mortal Kombat Adds Klassic Costumes, Klassic Fatalities and Skarlet With Its First DLK

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:00:00 EDT

Mortal Kombat Adds Klassic Costumes, Klassic Fatalities and Skarlet With Its First DLK" alt="Click here to read Mortal Kombat Adds Klassic Costumes, Klassic Fatalities and Skarlet With Its First DLK" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2011/05/small_mkdlc.jpg"/>

The first batch of downloadable... kontent for NetherRealm Studios' new Mortal Kombat keeps it "klassic" with fancy, old-school ninja duds, fondly remembered fatalities and (at least) one new character, red ninja girl Skarlet. More »

Why The Xbox 360 Doesn't Have An Exclusive Mortal Kombat Fighter

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:20:00 EDT

"Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive," Mortal Kombat boss Ed Boon told website Eurogamer. "I'm not allowed to talk too much about it, but I can tell you we certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360, but that's all I can say. It was not a decision we made where we said, oh, let's not do one for the 360." The PS3 version, however, has God of War character Kratos. More »

How Mortal Kombat's Director Went From Dancing Shoes To Severed Heads

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:00:00 EST

Before the dog days of summer set in, a clip leaked online for a take on the Mortal Kombat movie nobody had ever seen. Gritty, violent and brutal, it was a far cry from the 1990s Hollywood flick. More »

The New Mortal Kombat Brings Back The Jax

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:30:30 EDT

The latest addition to the Mortal Kombat line-up of "kombatants" is an old favorite. Jax, the cybernetically armed special forces operative who always has brain matter under his fingernails, will return. More »

A Closer Look At Mortal Kombat's Scorpion

Brian Crecente — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EDT

Get over here, I want to give you a quick primer on Mortal Kombat's spear-tossing Scorpion. More »

What's Next For Mortal Kombat, NetherRealm Studios

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EDT

At Gamescom, we sat down with Mortal Kombat co-creator and NetherRealm Studios lead Ed Boon to talk about the newest game in the franchise, life after Midway and what could be next for the fighting game developer. More »

Mortal Kombat's Post-Launch Balancing, Add-on Character & PC Plans

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:30:00 EDT

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon says that his studio's newest fighting game is being built with better online balancing in mind, letting the developer finesse aspects of the combat after it ship—without the need for software patches. More »

The Mortal Kombat Game That Never Was

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:30:00 EDT

There are a lot of Mortal Kombat games that should never have been made. This one at least had the foresight to be cancelled before it saw the light of day. More »

The New Mortal Kombat Cuts Deeper Than Ever Before

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EDT

Mortal Kombat is back, sans DC Universe heroes, loaded with much of the blood, gore and cruel violence the series is infamous for. But Mortal Kombat for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is also worth discussing for its deeper fighting engine. More »

The New Mortal Kombat Trailer Is Pure Brutality

Mike Fahey — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:35:56 EDT

The trailer for the new Mortal Kombat game shows a true return to form, with 2D battles, tag-team fighting, gory inside-look combos, and fatalities so cruel you'll be crossing your legs with sympathy pains. More »

That Mortal Kombat Trailer? Jeri Ryan Explains

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:00:00 EDT

Actress Jeri Ryan of Star Trek: Voyage fame appears as Sonya Blade in a Mortal Kombat trailer dubbed "Mortal Kombat: Rebirth" that popped up online. Is it a game trailer? A movie trailer? Tell us, Jeri, tell us! More »

The Mortal Kombat That Should Have Been

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:40:00 EST

Ex-Midway artist Vincent Proce went back to the drawing board for a pitched, but ultimately rejected visual reboot of the developer's venerable Mortal Kombat franchise, posting the results of that back-to-basics design plan on his personal blog. More »

The Mortal Kombat / NBA Jam Crossover We Never Saw

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:30:00 EDT

While Midway have been consigned to the dustbin of history, in the early 1990's, they were gods. Largely because of two games: NBA Jam & Mortal Kombat. Two games that, for all their success, never came together. More »

The Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe DLC That Could've Been

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:40:48 EDT

Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe's roster of "kombatants" was missing some key names on both sides. That was something series co-creator Ed Boon and the MK team had hoped to address with downloadable content, which never happened. More »

Ed Boon Says Mortal Kombat 9 Going For The M

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:40:02 EDT

Despite financial turmoil at Mortal Kombat publisher Midway, the Chicago-based MK team is soldiering on with the ninth fighting game in the series, currently known only as MK9. Series co-creator Ed Boon says it will definitely be M-rated. More »

Get Beaten By Mortal Kombat Creators On PS3 Tonight

Mike Fahey — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:20:00 EST

Want to pummel the creators of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe senseless? Franchise co-creator Ed Boon and members of the development team will be on the PlayStation Network tonight, taking on all comers. More »

The Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter Pie In The Sky

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:00:00 EST

Fighter Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is an interesting tie-in. On one hand, you've got MK and on the other DC Comics. Interesting! But MK creator Ed Boon has even bigger dreams. More »

MK vs. DC: The Joker's Fatality Gets T-Rated

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:40:50 EDT

First the good news. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is still great fun. We played it from the comfort of the Kotaku couch this week and had a blast. Now the bad news. That amazing Joker fatality, the one where... well, if you haven't seen it yet, we'd suggest you watch it now. It's awesome. Anyway, it's been changed up a bit, toned down to just slightly less than awesome to secure that highly coveted T-rating that Midway and Warner Bros. are so adamant about. In the latest build, Joker still whips out his prank gun, a "BANG!" flag unfurling. Unfortunately, you won't see the follow up of Joker shooting someone in the face; that actually happens off screen now, the headshot safely out of sight. More »

New Details On MK vs. DC's Unique Story Mode, Model Viewer, DLC Plans and More

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:30:00 EDT

Midway's Ed Boon and Paulo Garcia, game designers on Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, stopped by the Kotaku "offices" yesterday to give us a near-final look at the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 fighting game. Having already played the game at E3, Comic-Con and the Leipzig Games Convention, we were pretty familiar with how the game plays. More »

Twisted Metal Arcade Game Was Once Planned

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:40:37 EDT

Buried within the latest blog update from God of War and Twisted Metal producer David Jaffe is mention that at one point, someone, somewhere thought a Twisted Metal arcade game was a good idea and that there were hazy plans for Midway and Sony to collaborate on such a product. While that obviously never bore fruit — and more than likely never, ever will — to know that vehicular combat could have come to a Midway arcade cabinet is morbidly fascinating. More »

Mortal Kombat Team Didn't Think Reaction To DC Crossover Would Be That Bad

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:40:40 EDT

Sitting down with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon at Comic-Con last week, we chatted about the developer's latest creation Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This was after some extended play time with newly released characters Shang Tsung and Catwoman, both gobs of fun to play. More »

Green Lantern, Joker Join MK Vs. DC Universe Line Up

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Ed Boon from Midway and Jimmy Palmiotti of DC Comics announced four new additions to the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe roster at Comic-Con today, including Green Lantern and The Joker from the DC side, with Jax and Kitana returning on the MK side. Boon also announced that Mr. Palmiotti himself would be squirreled away in the game as an unlockable character. He'd be very well hidden, Boon said, with a Johnny Cage-like model shown on screen. More »

Mortal Kombat 9 Planned As A Mature Return To Form

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:53:26 EDT

We sat down with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon tonight to chat about his latest project, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe. Once again, we pestered Mr. Boon about the scrapped version of Mortal Kombat 8, once described by the long-term Midway dev as being heavily inspired by the look of Gears of War. More »

Ed Boon: We Scrapped Mortal Kombat 8

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:20:42 EDT

At last year's Midway Gamers Day, Mortal Kombat co-creator and series overlord Ed Boon talked up the then-unnamed eighth entry in the franchise. Boon described Mortal Kombat 8 at the time as "very dark, serious" and "gritty" take on the series, a back to basics reboot that was free of "vibrant, saturated colors." It was said to be heavily inspired by the look of Gears of War. More »

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe vs. Comic-Con

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:40:02 EDT

If you're going to next month's San Diego Comic-Con and think that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a fantastic idea, we have good news. Well, Midway has good news, as it has announced a Comic-Con panel dedicated to the fighting game series reboot. "Worlds Collide: The Making of Midway's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe" will go down Friday, July 25th and features MK creator Ed Boon and DC Comics collaborator Jimmy Palmiotti rappin' about the crossover, showing off "never-before-seen gameplay" and unveiling "key characters." More »

Flash To Engage In Mortal Kombat

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:00:33 EDT

If you're a PlayStation The Official Magazine subscriber, you already know that Flash will be joining the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe roster, along with an impressively chesty Sonya Blade. If not, well, there you go. The speedy champion of Central City is going to rep the DC side in Midway's upcoming brawler, bringing the confirmed list of DC heroes to three. How many others from the DC stable will appear? More »

Mortal Kombat Team "Modifying" Fatalities For DC Crossover

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:20:12 EDT

When Midway announced at their recent Gamers Day event in Las Vegas that the Mortal Kombat franchise was going to get a boost from the superheros and superheroines of the DC universe, it made us wonder, "Why?!?" It also made us wonder, "Hey, what about those signature fatalities? Surely, Kano can't rip out the heart of Blue Beetle and get away with that." Given that Ed Boon says the game is locked in at a T-rating, that particular fatality is probably out. And Superman may be a dick, but he's not a murderer. More »

Ed Boon On MK Vs. DC Making Sense

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EDT

Witness Mortal Kombat kreator Ed Boon trying to explain how the whole Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe things is supposed to make sense. Apparently it is all about magic! Every thing will make sense when you play the story mode! No. There is no way in hell you can make this pairing make sense. Maybe, just maybe if DC runs a mini-series before the game comes out they could make the concept slightly less than laughable. My hopes got up when Boon said the words shattering...I thought he was going to say jaws, but no. Shattering masks. Woot. I think he neatly sums things up at the end of the interview. It's all about the novelty. More »

Mortal Kombat Vs. Street Fighter Kind Of Almost Happened

Mark Wilson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Mortal Kombat Vs. The DC Universe, announced last week, doesn't sound so bad. But did you know that we almost had Mortal Kombat Vs. Street Fighter in its place? Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon recently revealed that:

I did a couple of write-ups and whatnot on it, and sometimes we'd get really close to it but issues like our representative for the other company left the company for some reason, and that reset the whole thing back to beginning.

[Ed note: contrary to Boon's statement, the game actually did go through. But upon hitting store shelves, Mortal Kombat Vs. Street Fighter Annihilation Vs. Dark Horse Comics Or Something set of a massive "Big Boom" explosion, eventually ceasing life as we know it before restarting the entire cycle again over billions and billions of years. Notably, the game only received a 75 on IGN, begging the question, "was it really worth it?"] More »

Midway Confirms Next-Gen Mortal Kombat, Blitz Due In '08

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:40:16 EDT

Amid the potentially bad news of Unreal Tournament III's slipped ship date was two bits of good news from Midway. The company has confirmed that both Mortal Kombat and the NFL-license free Blitz will get "next-gen" updates next year. While we don't know much about where the Blitz franchise is headed, we do know that Mortal Kombat mainstay Ed Boon is planning a more serious, Gears of War-inspired revamp of the violent 15 year old fighting series. As long as my Babalities are in ultra-high definition, we're cool. More »

Mortal Kombat 3 DS Goes Online

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:20:17 EDT

IGN sat down with the man responsible for just about everything Mortal Kombat related, Mr. Ed Boon, to get the scoop on Midway's re-release of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the Nintendo DS. How's it sound? Six ways of awesome! More »

Mortal Kombat Gets Serious

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:40:02 EDT

In a new interview with Midway's Ed Boon, the Mortal Kombat creator speaks again on the next version of the long-running fighting game. Although the series has undergone a host of massive changes—from 2D to 3D, from hand-to-hand to weapons-based—Boon says we can expect even bigger changes for the successor to last year's Mortal Kombat Armageddon. More »

Gears of Mortal Kombat?

Mike Fahey — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:20:44 EST

No matter how you may feel about Gears of War, you have to admit that it is a visually stunning game...even Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon seems to think so. So much so, in fact, that he wants the next chapter in the MK saga to look like it, as he told Game Informer in a recent interview. More »

Clips: Boon On Mortal Kombat Wii Controls

Mike Fahey — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:40:26 EST

Witness Ed Boon explaining some of the special controls of the upcoming Wii port of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. He makes it look ridiculously easy. Make me fear that last-gen's button mashers will soon be making way for this gen's wiimote wavers. The video stems from a GameSpot interview with Boon, who goes into details about the Wii port's controls, lack of multi-player support (boo!), and the super special exclusive game mode, Endurance, which acts like your standard survival mode, only...okay, it's pretty much your standard survivor mode. More »