Mortal Kombat Reboot Gets April Release, Playable Kratos, Retailer Exclusives

Warner Bros. Interactive has announced the next game in the long-running Mortal Kombat series will hit stores in April 2011, with an appearance from God of War's Kratos on the PS3 version. "When we were approached with the opportunity, it was a no-brainer," said God of War III Director Stig Asmussen, in a statement. "Fans of both games have been asking for this to happen. Kratos belongs in Mortal Kombat, and I'm thrilled about the potential." Warner Bros. also revealed certain classic in-game fatalities and character skins will be exclusive to versions pre-ordered from specific retailers. Customers who pre-order the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game from Gamestop, Best Buy and Amazon will have access to a classic skin and fatality for Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile, respectively. Amid concerned questioning from some fans in response to the announcement, series creator Ed Boon clarified that the retailer exclusive fatalities would be in addition to the two per-character fatalities included in every version of the game. "Come on guys, do you really think we'd release the game with some characters having only 1 fatality and give the other to retail exclusive?" Boon said via a Tweet. "However, that doesn't mean we aren't going to disable the X button for everyone except 7-11 customers! Think about it...." In addition to the standard game, Mortal Kombat will also come in a "Kollector's" edition -- which includes character figurines and an art book -- and a "Tournament" edition -- which includes a portable fight stick. Both special editions will also include exclusive downloadable content, and the Tournament edition will be limited to 20,000 units in North America. In an August interview with Gamasutra, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon said he's striving to recapture the series' classic feel in the new title. "We just heard a lot of feedback asking, 'Is the next game going to be back to an M-rated presentation,' and, you know, 'traditional' MK? So we really felt that now is just a really great time to explore a reboot of sorts," he said in the interview.