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

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.

We also got a look at some new environments, including the Fortress of Solitude, and a look at Captain Marvel's in-game model.

Boon also announced that an MK vs. DC comic book would included in the limited edition of the game, illustrated by John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series. The game's final boss and a the remaining line-up of fighters was promised to be announced over the next few months.

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.

While that grittier, darker version of MK didn't make it far beyond the technology development stages — Boon told us there was little in the way of concept art for the grimier spin on the series — the next next Mortal Kombat may strive for more blood, more violence, more of everything that warrants an M-rating.

The artistic vision of a less saturated, less Superman filled fighter is still swimming around Boon's head, a title that may rest on the success of MK vs. DC. We spent more time with the crossover fighter tonight and talked with Boon about plenty of other MK-related topics. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of our conversation.

What's All This "PlayStation Wars" Business?

Microsoft might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days, Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway, here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai:

Is This God of War Brett Ratner Confirmation?

Those early rumblings just might be true. Back in May, rumors swirled that filmmaker Brett Ratner was directing the God of War movie. In a MGM press release for the new RoboCop movie, there's this bit of info:

David Self’s credits include 13 Days and Road To Perdition. He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct, and was a writer on Universal’s Wolfman currently in production.

That press release is obviously incorrect. It should read: "He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct and fuck up."

Brett Ratner Confirmed? [/Film] [Pic]

Listen To The Secret Tecmo Tape

Yesterday, we broke the news that the second round of oral arguments for Itagaki vs. Tecmo commenced in Tokyo. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These were "special incentive" wages that Itagaki claims were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors, but the current president is claiming these "special incentive" wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. As we posted earlier, last month Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

After the jump, we've posted an audio recording submitted into evidence by Tomonobu Itagaki. The recording is of Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda and Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto on January 22nd of this year. It was secretly recorded by Ninja Gaiden II producer Okamoto as he claims he was being harassed and called names by president Yasuda. In the recording, Yasuda says, "The board of directors approved it and signed the ringi (a type of Japanese corporate approval form)." This is in direct conflict with Yasuda's court claim that this "special incentives" proposal was made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. The recording helps support Itagaki's claim that his special incentive bonus was approved by Tecmo's former president and the board of directors, and that the current president knows this.

For those who are interested in following the Japanese transcript click here. Along with the audio recording, we've included an English translation of the entire conversation Kotakuite Chinpokomon so graciously did. Many thanks for that, Chinpokomon!

The Making Of Street Fighter IV: The Liveblog

Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter IV, is on stage right now at Comic-Con 08, talking about his latest creation and how it came to be. He's currently getting those new to Street Fighter IV up to speed, but hit the jump for our up to the minute liveblog coverage.

Manga Coming to Japanese Wii

The New York Times is reporting that four of Japan's biggest manga publishers have formed a joint venture with an unnamed software company to bring digital versions of their comics to the Wii.

Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan formed Librica earlier this month and plan to drop their comics on the Wii Ware channel. The newly formed company also plans to bring their comics to the DS. Hopefully, they'll allow you to transfer purchased comics from one to the other.

No timing or price were mentioned in the short Times piece. It also doesn't address whether the service will be coming to the U.S. as well.

Digital Comics Coming to the Wii in Japan [New York Times]

Liveblogging Will Wright Discussing His Inner Otaku At Comic-Con

Spore creator Will Wright is addressing the massive Comic-Con crowd at ballroom 6CDEF right now, talking about his own nerdy obsessions, a topic attendees are quite familiar with. Wright is talking about his otaku bent, the Stanley Kubrick directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film, which features aliens, evolution and space travel quite prominently, is clearly a perfect lead in to talk about the upcoming Spore.

Will's obsession with the movie sounds hardcore, as he talks about his hunt for a lenticular version of the 2001 movie poster. He finally came across one, a poster that he ultimately had Gary Lockwood aka Frank Poole from 2001, sign.

Will's now moving into other topics — his obsession with aliens, the acceptance of video games as an art form, and the evolution of the book, among other topics — moving at a mile a minute.

EA, DC Bring Mirror's Edge To Comic Books

Electronic Arts announced today it has partnered with Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics, to bring its Mirror's Edge intellectual property to life as an ongoing comic book series. A limited edition prequel issue will be available to Comic-Con attendees at Booth #5233. The first person adventure, currently in development at DICE, will join sister property Dead Space in the four color 2D medium later this year. The move is part of EA's IP³ initiative, a push to bring internally developed properties outside of the video game space and into areas like movies, animation and graphic novels.

EA announced yesterday that it had tapped United Talent Agency to represent the company as it moves its internally developed franchises into the realm of motion pictures and television series.

Hit the jump for the full press release on the Mirror's Edge comic book series and check back all week for further Comic-Con coverage from Kotaku.

Splinter Cell: Conviction Delayed

When Ubisoft didn't show Splinter Cell: Conviction at its last event, people worried a little about how the game might be doing. Fear not — the game's doing great. So great, they say, that Ubisoft just decided it'd be better off releasing it as part of its "2009-2010" lineup instead of in this year's fiscal fourth quarter. You know, to "bolster" next year, as the company said in its fiscal first quarter results statement.

Signs at Ubidays seemed to suggest that the game was undergoing a reworking, though Ubisoft's reps were specifically vague on details. We also heard that a "way too egotistical" Michael Ironside would no longer be returning as the voice of Sam Fisher.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot elaborated a bit during the company's call to investors:

Here's The Documented Evidence Itagaki Submitted Against Tecmo

As we broke earlier today, the second round of oral arguments in the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit commenced. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These "special incentive" wages were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors claims Itagaki, but the current president is claiming these "special incentive" wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. Early last month, Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

We've posted all the documentation Tomonobu Itagaki submitted into evidence during the second round of arguments. Itagaki claims he has even more evidence, going as far as stating: "I am prepared to reveal this evidence as the need arises for the sake of greater justice." The evidence submitted earlier today after the jump. Heads up as there's lots of big images ready to suck up your bandwidth — and they're all in Japanese.

Comic-Con: We've Arrived

Comic-Con may not officially start until tomorrow but the wheels of big Comic business are already rolling. This afternoon alone we met with folks from several publishers and developers to check out upcoming projects. Stay tuned later tonight for McWhertor's reports from the San Diego Convention Center.

He'll be covering all things video game related over the next five days, bringing you details from the show floor, live blogs from Comic-Con panels and all the news that breaks from Capcom, EA, Activision, Konami and much, much more.

For even more Comic-Con coverage that goes beyond the game-o-sphere, check out io9 for your extended sci-fi nerd fix. For those attending, let us know in the comments what Sailor Moon character you'll be dressed as.

Secret Tecmo Tapes Reveal Number of the Beast, Insulting Tecmo President

In the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki submitted evidence that included an affidavit from Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto, a contract from 2005 that seems to clearly state terms of the Dead or Alive 4 bonus and a voice recording of Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda. Itagaki is suing Tecmo over unpaid DoA4 wages.

Kotaku obtained copies of both the secret recording and the contract and translated both for this story.

The contract, dated March 4th 2005, covers "special incentives" for Dead or Alive 4. The "special incentives" program was proposed by the former president of Tecmo (the president before current president Yoshimi Yasuda) where all employees would receive a certain percentage of the profits from a big-selling game. The profit points would be distributed among members of the team with the highest share going to the senior employees. In the DoA4 contract Itagaki submitted, it clearly states that he is entitled to 6.66 percent of the earned profits from the project.

Every Final Fantasy fan has their favorite game from the series. Hell, some even break the franchise down into two eras, pre and post-PlayStation. For myself and good percentage of the FF fanbase, Final Fantasy IV (II in the U.S.) is that game. The story was deep, the characters memorable and well-developed, and the graphical leap from the NES to the SNES made it the prettiest version of the game to date. Now Square Enix has upgraded FFIV in the same fashion as they did FFIII precious, bringing the game to the Nintendo DS with new graphics, voice overs, and new mechanics to keep things fresh.

Remakes of classic games are often a dangerous proposition, risking alienating fans of the original games in order to attract new players. For this week's Frankenreview we've gathered opinions from RPG-centric sites along with the more mainstream gaming press to see how Final Fantasy IV measures up.

Namco-Bandai Rescuing Hellgate From Sinking Flagship?

Namco-Bandai may be stepping in to rescue Hellgate: London from embattled Flagship Studios, who recently suspended private testing for Mythos in the wake of widespread reports that the studio was shutting down.

We've approached Flagship for comment and they've yet to explain their status to us. Then, a posting appeared on Hellgate's official forums from Namco-Bandai's senior director of business development, Zack Karlsson, stating:

Hello Hellgaters,

I know everyone is looking for an announcement, and we'd love to make one — but right now, many things are in flux and we don't have all the information yet. As soon as we do, we'll post here on the forums, on the website, and anywhere else we can find you.

The posting continued:

Itagaki Didn't Leave Tecmo, He Was Fired

This morning about 10:00 a.m. Tokyo Time, the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo case commenced. As we broke early last month, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

Tecmo Withdrew Itagaki Gag-Order Weeks Ago

Remember that four point gag-order Tecmo tried to slap Itagaki with? The company had simply filed for a gag-order, and it wasn't yet granted and didn't actually go into effect. Today as the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo case commenced in which Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing over supposed unpaid wages, it was revealed that Tecmo had already rescinded the gag-order on July 7th. But, did Tecmo publicly announce that it was withdrawing the gag-order filing?