Is 'Ice Rage' the next Mortal Kombat game ... or a prank? [Updated]

You'd have to be what the French call "les incompetent" to buy anything at face value on April Fool's Day, but for the life of us, we can't figure out if this is supposed to be a joke. So, here's the skinny: There's this site, noob.com, and it definitely features a Mortal Kombat logo and was registered by Midway, so it seems official. It features a countdown to April 17, a picture of two eyes, a picture of some animals, and some numbers.

Reader Batzarro did a little decoding and decided that (if you allow that the animals each represent their first letter in their name) that it translates to "Ice Rage." We decrypted the yellow numbers below using a numerical alphabet code and got "FREE TOUCH KLOSE." OK, so you officially know as much as we do, what's the verdict? Gag? Or something else?

UPDATE: Hmm, where to start? OK, so 1. This page belongs to MK creator Ed Boon. 2. Hidden on this page is the message "It is with deep regret that after over 20 years with Midway, I will be leaving as of today to pursue my dream of becoming a chef. I will never forget the incredible experience I've had with such an amazing group of talented people." So it seems the actual 4-1 gag is Boon leaving for cheffing (cheffery?). Hope that clears it all up.

Reader Comments (29)

This has been out for a while and noob.com is Ed Boon's (one of Midway's Lead devs on MK) personal site. No April fools, just reported on this day.

Joystiq is just... is just so FRENCH today.

vraiment

Not quite Jeefster: Justin's just having a nice little Home Alone moment to himself. I'm guessing he must have watched it recently in an attempt to get a little 90's nostalgia fix. That's just how some folks roll.
As for me, well, I'd rather kiss a toilet seat...

Every post one April 1st has at least one phrase in French.

Mon Dieu, it seems you are correct sir. Such are the pitfalls of using the Joystiq RSS feed for all your gaming related web-shindiggery. I think I'll be going back to surfing the net the way my grandpappy did lest I fall prey to the egg/face syndrome yet again.

"Look what ya did ya little jerk!" McElroy you kill me.

noob.com wasn't taken already? Are they gonna waste prime internet real estate on some april fools joke?

Nevermind, it's the internet.

Aww, I remember back when Mortal Kombat was still relevant. I think I might still have been in high school...

I decided to take a little peek at the page source. and found this cryptic bit of text..

"It is with deep regret that after over 20 years with Midway, I will be leaving as of today

to pursue my dream of becoming a chef. I will never forget the incredible experience I've

had with such an amazing group of talented people

"

aye movie reference made my day

It's a fake.

The domain is registered to Ed Boon, and the address is actually the address to Midway Games in Chicago. However, the phone number is registered to:

Wms Garnings Inc
3401 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60618

The webpage design doesn't look like the usual Midway marketing fodder. I believe it's a fake.

Happy April Fools! :)

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/promotions/2008/spring/default.htm

Haha, cool!

I REALLY want the vintage XBOX, that is simply the best thing I have ever seen!

The graphics and countdown have been evolving for the past few weeks. Check out this thread on the TRMK forums about it.

The real joke is written in black text below that graphic, regarding Ed Boon leaving Midway to become a chef. Again, there's a story on TRMK about this now.

Sorry, tried to link it myself.

Forum post: http://forums.realmmedia.com/showthread.php?t=11368
Ed Boon, master chef:
http://www.trmk.org/news/11400/ed_boon_leaves_midway_becomes_chef.html

Isn't there a Midway event that day?

What does NOOB means..?

Select All to reveal more text in the footer.

"It is with deep regret that after over 20 years with Midway, I will be leaving as of today
to pursue my dream of becoming a chef. I will never forget the incredible experience I've
had with such an amazing group of talented people."

It's Boon backwards.

See also: Geo.

Wow...you guys (including Joystiq) have never heard of noob.com before? Ed Boon's been using this web address since MK2 days.

As for the Free Touch Klose... I'm going to just assume it has something to do with the next Mortal Kombat (which has already been confirmed to be in production a few months ago) having some new control scheme called "free touch."

If you've followed Mortal Kombat for the last decade or so, you'd know they always try to be cryptic and interesting...but generally fail to be that creative or good at it :P

And the "klose" bit could mean that the announcement or release of the new game is close, but with a K because it's Mortal Kombat and their alphabet doesn't kontain the letter C.

I wonder if he is leaving for realz I mean is still April fools.

Ed's retirement was also posted on the Midway forums by moderators and Scorpion's official MySpace posted a bulletin about it.

Even if this was a fake or not, if he died right now it wouldnt make any sort of a fuckin imprint in todays gaming. maybe back in 1993 or so but not now, he hasnt dont shit for the industry but rehash the same old shit with newer hardware so if he really did wanna go make food, maybe hed be better off then :D and no i dont hate the guy, i just think his creativity has gone stale and doesnt seem to be getting any better.

Actually, the whole site's been on for a while, so I doubt it'll be a April 1 site. A Chef, ha? What, he'll be cooking with Scorpion? But... Yay, E-Fame!

Also, the "Touch" part wasn't there yesterday.

Update next MK game is a crossover with DC but no fatalities.

Is 'Ice Rage' the next Mortal Kombat game ... or a prank? [Updated]

Reader Comments (29)

Posted: Apr 1st 2008 9:12AM RBecho said

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