Mortal Kombat 8 inspired by Gears of War, using Unreal Engine 3

by James Ransom-Wiley { Feb 5th 2007 at 11:25PM }

Speaking with Game Informer, Ed Boon described an opportunity to start anew with the next version of Mortal Kombat, the eighth in the series. Boon revealed that MK8 will be built using Unreal Engine 3, inspired by Epic's recent engine showcase Gears of War. "To me, when I saw Gears of War, I was like, 'Holy shit! That's the look that we've been talking about.' Visually, that's what we want to do," explained Boon. Visually.

MK8 is still a fighter at heart, and Boon and the team hope that by starting from scratch, Mortal Kombat can inspire the genre as it did more than a decade ago. "We're not going to have three fighting styles, we're not going to have the same punches and kicks and the same kind of control scheme. Everything is getting trashed. We're reinventing everything from the ground up," promised Boon. Don't expect any solid details for some time; Boon admitted that MK8 is currently not in a playable state, supposing that its release won't come until the end of 2008.

While Boon hinted at the possibility of MK8 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii, it should be noted that Epic's Mark Rein recently told Wired that "it's not in [Epic's] plans to bring Unreal Engine 3 to the Wii. It's really designed for next-gen, high-definition." Oh snap!

Tags: 360, Ed Boon, EdBoon, Epic, Gears of War, GearsOfWar, Midway, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 8, MortalKombat, MortalKombat8, PS3, Unreal Engine 3, UnrealEngine3, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Capt. Castellanos @ Feb 5th 2007 11:54PM

hey, it aint cool to diss the wii!

but i understand.
i wouldn't want to play something like that on the wii.
in that kinda game, graphics are really important.
even if the game is really fun on the wii,
i'd rather have it with groovy graphics.

dremos @ Feb 5th 2007 11:54PM

LOL, Mark Rein's a party pooper. :)

Nathaniel N. @ Feb 6th 2007 12:00AM

While I know they'll be tons of poopers here to completely "own" the Wii, it's really a moot point. I didn't buy the Wii for the prospects of the Unreal Engine and everything that encompasses it. Spectacular graphics are great, honestly. If you want them, then you have several choices like the PC, 360, and even the PS3. Though that's not why I picked up my Wii, and most people can probably, at least the crowd that follows gaming blogs, understand that.

marvin sefton @ Feb 6th 2007 12:09AM

I agree. The point of the story is that these guys saw something cool and are willing tho run with it. Could you imagine ripping out a spine with unreal 3 graphics? This generation is going to be awsome and I cant wait for the coming years.

SynikaL @ Feb 6th 2007 12:15AM

Will people please, PLEASE, stop paying money for this tired, irrelevant and wholey uninspired, shit franchise?

PLEASE.

-Kimosabae

Nushio @ Feb 6th 2007 12:16AM

And people complained "Mario Party 8" was 8 Mario Parties too much...

Khuffie @ Feb 6th 2007 12:19AM

If they are 'reinventing everything from the ground up', why are they sticking with the Mortal Kombat name?

Oh yes. Because it'll be yet another MK game, but with snappy graphics. Woo.

kyle @ Feb 6th 2007 12:29AM

I second that. why stick with the mk name if its gonna be totally new. to me at least the mk label has deteriorated to the point that most gamers have pretty much written it off.

Optimus Prime @ Feb 6th 2007 12:30AM

MK hasnt been good since MKII.. GoW graphics wont help it.

Norm @ Feb 6th 2007 12:32AM

I hope they learn how to make a good fighting game this time around.

samfish @ Feb 6th 2007 12:44AM

""To me, when I saw Gears of War, I was like, 'Holy shit! That's the look that we've been talking about.' Visually, that's what we want to do," explained Boon. Visually."

This is exactly why Nintendo made the Wii and everything wrong with video games today.

I just hope they manage to make the plot even dumber than the one in MK: Armageddon. That would be quite a feat within itself.
A giant temple rises from the ground and a bunch of morons run over ot it like lemmings over a cliff to beat the shit out of each other on it!
Deep stuff.

dvnt @ Feb 6th 2007 12:46AM

"the mk label has deteriorated to the point that most gamers have pretty much written it off."

That must be why it consistently sells millions of copies with every new release. Even the adventure spin-off, Shaolin Monks, sold over a million.

And Gears didn't inspire the new look, Boon was simply using it as an example so the interviewer could understand the visual direction they were already heading.

Anyway, I too think the series has gone stale. A fresh start can potentially bring the franchise to a whole new generation and win back their old fans.

Abscissa @ Feb 6th 2007 12:47AM

I think it's a perfect fit: Epic's engines are all about nothing but flashy graphics, and the whole MK series is...well, nothing but flashy graphics (ok, ok, flashy graphics AND memorizing nonsensical button sequences).

norm @ Feb 6th 2007 12:48AM

YAWN!!!!

NO one cares about MK anymore. That franchise jumped the shark years ago.

Abscissa @ Feb 6th 2007 12:56AM

Someone mentioned storylines which reminded me of something: I would buy entirely out of principle, the first fighting game that actually accepts story to be irrelevant to the fighting genre and just plain omits it entirely. ("The top so-many fighters in the world are coming together for such-and-such a tournament for blah-blah-blah reason", like I care...)

mushiking @ Feb 6th 2007 1:26AM

a Mortal Kombat game with Gear of War graphics? who could possibly complain about this? it's makeover that's been needed for decades.

J @ Feb 6th 2007 1:27AM

I agreee with the above. Last good MK was part 2. I don't really dig the multiple weapons and the 3D look/feel. I remember MKII bringing in all the kids to the local arcade to fight it out. Now its all nonsense with fudgepackallities and canofporksodaities. Its just kind of redundant and the shock factor that dragged alot of kids into the series is gone. Maybe if they go for that ultra real ultra bloody look they might have a stand up product. I used to think the original MK and part 2 looked a little more like movie characters ripped out and stuffed into a fighter. It kind of had appeal. The 3D look lost that effect (if you know what I am getting at). Maybe this will be a good direction for them. Maybe they can get the ultra real looking fatality.

tejan @ Feb 6th 2007 1:30AM

MK needs to get back to it's roots. They did bring MKII back with Shaolin Monks, but through this adventure/team work aspect and not enough people experienced it. If they make this game less colorful again, there is a chance of survival, take out all the extra characters that they OD'd on. Also, They should rewrite the story starting from right after MKII before they went overboard with MK3. Anyone see the Mortal Kombat 3 movie?

Tejan Arora @ Feb 6th 2007 1:34AM

Three-dimensions killed Mortal Kombat.

Handlotion @ Feb 6th 2007 3:48AM

Boon by name Boon by nature!

zero2dash @ Feb 6th 2007 9:47AM

Unreal Engine 3 = 3d game
MK in 3d = shit

If they refuse to do a 2d MK game anymore, then please...off with its head.
Enough with the 3d MK games; MK4 was tolerable, the rest have sucked and turned into button masher dial-a-combo garbage.

timcat @ Feb 6th 2007 10:23AM

Im still suprised by how well this franchise sells because to me this seris has been awful for at least 8 years. I dont care if they bring it to wii or not and I also dont think this is the game thats going to make me play my 360 more.

ManekiNeko @ Feb 6th 2007 11:37AM

Mortal Kombat has been stumbling through life without a direction since the release of Deadly Alliance five years ago. That's when the developers retired the classic Mortal Kombat gameplay for stiff dial-a-combo fighting without its own distinct identity, or any significant ties to the first four games in the series.

Ed (Ba)Boon thought that heaping on the mini-games was the best way to address the faults of the later Mortal Kombat titles, but they only served to illustrate just how disposable the actual fighting really was. And while I do think he's got the right idea in starting from scratch with MK8, I doubt he'll bring back the lightning-fast, instantly accessible gameplay that made the first four games entertaining.

JR

Razorback @ Feb 6th 2007 1:21PM

If any MK guys are reading this, please just create a fighting game. I can care less about Konquest, MotorKart, Puzzle, or whatever else they are thinking about. If you want to create that stuff, you can make a seperate game. I just want a fighting game with kickass online support; simple.

Petey @ Feb 6th 2007 2:01PM

Ross, James, your anti-Nintendo fantboy costume is visible from the moon... you never miss to spit on anything Nintendo related, like the far-fetched conclusion that everybody hates MarioParty because PA won the comic of the week... I've seen kids in kindergarden having better judgement...

SuicideNInja @ Feb 6th 2007 3:37PM

"MK hasnt been good since MKII.. GoW graphics wont help it."

Normally I would agree, but Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks was an awesome game. It had limited vs mode, but it was far better than anything since MK2. I wish they would concentrate on SM style rather than a straight-up fighting game.

Fighting-games just became lackluster to me when they went 3D. They hit the nail on the head with returning aerial combat back into the fray in MKSM.

Bangbang... @ Feb 6th 2007 4:43PM

"And Gears didn't inspire the new look, Boon was simply using it as an example so the interviewer could understand the visual direction they were already heading."

Boon said, "To me, WHEN I SAW Gears of War, I was like, 'Holy shit! That's the look that we've been talking about.' Visually, that's what we want to do,"
That's not an example to better the understanding of the interviewer, that's him telling how he got his inspiration for the new look of Mortal Kombat.

In my opinion they should just do something new. You know, give the action adventure, rpg, or rts genre a try. the new game can't possibly suck as much as what they been doing with the MK series.

Mr Khan @ Feb 6th 2007 6:05PM

but isn't Metroid Prime 3 supposed to be running on the Unreal 3 Engine?

Or did i misread it, or misremember what i misread?

mo @ Feb 6th 2007 10:02PM

do people still play MK???

i think ive gotten one every christmas for a diffrent console and i know i didnt even open the PS2 or gamecube one

but now that they have the " look they have been looking for" all of a sudden it will stop being a crappy 2D fighter??

MK shows absolutly ZERO inovation in evey single sequl they pump out

BUTTON COMBOS ARE FUCKING BORING and GESTURE COMBOS would be even worse

DONT BUY THIS CRAPPY GAME

i vote more MK movies and ZERO MK games

and all designers for all MK games should be LINED UP AND SHOT

geves @ Feb 21st 2007 5:12AM

weird how everytime MK pops up it sells millions yet people on message boards always talk trash about it.

also i thought ed boon said he was doing the final mortal kombat, about 4 MK's ago.

reptilexcq @ Apr 16th 2007 2:07AM

MKI and II: That's where the franchise shine and that's where the success started. When Midway came out w/ Mortal Kombat I w/ the realistic martial art digitized looking characters w/ tight dope @ss outfits, it was like watching Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon except you get to control it. But when Midway go a different direction w/ its 3-D looking characters, it's OVER...i don't even want to touch it...the characters are not the same and they don't have that feeling of martial arts shyt anymore. So forget it! I mean even when they came out w/ Mortal Kombat II, it still look tight...in fact i think II it's the best version of the series. But when they go 3-D, it sucks big time....characters look pathetic...outfits pathetic...some of them are just so pathetic...even Liu Kang and Kung Lao who I think are Asian based on their name alone looking NOTHING like Asian...wtf is that all about?? They have an asian female character who's name is Mei li (or some shyt) and SHE TOO look nothing like asian....how pathetic is that??? I am asian and i know what asian people look like but don't give me shytty american looking characters and sports asian names...it cries for stupidity...it almost seem like the original creators have left the team because the 3-D game look so different from the original.

So with that said, i am craving for Midway to go back to 2-D and bring back the feeling that once make this franchise great. Bring back the real looking characters of Johnny Cage w/ black pant and red belt tie...bring back the monks stage. And i remember that back then they were not able to replicate the exact version of the arcade due to inferior power of the consoles....but now that WE HAVE the technology to do it...why move to a different direction w/ 3-D, why not create the same looking 2-D and add more NEW characters. MKI and II was looking tight, don't change to 3-D, fighting game is meant for 2-D anyway...that's why game like Street Fighters are still popular.