Recently, Sony confirmed plans for a post-launch lineup of AAA games it’s banking on to sustain the PlayStation Vita after its all-important launch window. Mortal Kombat was one of the games Sony name dropped, along with Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and others.
Today Warner Bros. makes things official, announcing that a PS Vita version of last year’s excellent Mortal Kombat series refresh is on target for a Spring 2012 release. The game’s core original content will return–retooled for portable play of course–and will sport “brand new gameplay features and content developed exclusively for the new handheld device.”
“The NetherRealm team is committed to making sure that we follow up the success of 2011’s Mortal Kombat with an equally compelling experience on the PlayStation Vita,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “The original game content and new features we developed for the PlayStation Vita will provide gamers with the best fighting game experience available on the new mobile platform.”
What could these new features and content additions be? WB isn’t saying yet but promises to reveal more details soon. Touch panel finishing moves could be kinda neat and cross-platform play with the PS3 version would be a great touch, tossing out a few baseless ideas that just popped into my head. I suppose another guest fighter is always a possibility, but according to the box art Kratos and the four DLC fighters (Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain and Freddy Krueger) will be included.
[Updated - January 19, 2012] Since the initial announcement, the PlayStation blog got a chance to interview Ed Boon about some of the new features coming to Mortal Kombat on PS Vita. One of the features I guessed at is real, the other ain’t happening. Touch screen controls (on the front screen, not the rear touch panel) will be supported for performing fatalities and X-ray attacks (sweet!), but there will be no interconnectivity between Vita and PS3 (boo!). The Vita version will also feature a brand new Challenge Tower (plus the original tower) with 150 brand new missions to complete, and some of these challenges are designed around the touch screen and accelerometer. Check out the full Ed Boon interview for more details.
Matt Litten is a 28 year old from-the-womb gamer turned video game reviewer/blogger and current editor/owner/operator of VGBlogger.com. Matt got his first taste of gaming as a youngster on the NES and Atari, and the rest is history from there.
In 2004, three years removed from high school and still looking for a career direction in life, Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com, and after a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez Matt turned his attention to VGBlogger, and to this day is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary. 