Late Night Consoling

Midway has announced that its upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will be the last Mortal Kombat title to hit the current generation. It will include Create-A-Fighter and Create-A-Fatality modes and a new mode called Konquest. Earlier this week, Midway also announced a PSP entry in the Mortal Kombat series.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will ship this fall for PS2 and Xbox. - Press release. For more, see Shacknews' preview.

Speaking to GameSpot, Midway CEO David Zucker stated, "We will have a Revolution title this year," going a bit further than other developers or publishers which have confirmed Revolution support but not whether they would have titles out in 2006. It is unlikely the publisher will divulge just what the title is until Nintendo's unveiling of the console at E3. GameSpot hazarded a guess that it might be Midway Chicago's Stranglehold (X360, PS3, PC), but Midway responded that while the game may come to Revolution later, it is not the project Zucker was referencing.

First things first: XBLA is a hilarious acronym. Exblah. Midway also announced at a press event today that several of the publisher's titles will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 some time this year: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Cyberball, Defender, Root Beer Tapper, and, fittingly with tonight's intro, Paperboy. Previously, Midway released Robotron: 2084, SmashTV, Gauntlet, and Joust on Live Arcade. The company indicated that it hopes to do the same on Revolution and PS3 if Nintendo and Sony offer such services.

The release of the Xbox 360 has been one of the main reasons cited for the decline in game sales seen in recent months, as consumers shy away from current-gen products but face shortages with the only next-gen console yet released. The console hit hardest by that consumer hesitation is probably Microsoft's Xbox itself, since its next iteration is already out. To spur Xbox sales, Microsoft has released a new discount line, the Best of Platinum Hits, selling for an MSRP of $9.99. Eleven games inaugurate the Best of Platinum Hits, including five Tom Clancy's titles: Counter-Strike, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Fuzion Frenzy, MechAssault, Project Gotham Racing 2, Soul Calibur II, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Clancy's Ghost Recon Island Thunder, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.

Sony also announced that two more titles would be joining its standard Greatist Hits line: God of War and Gran Turismo 4. Both have an MSRP of $19.99.

We haven't heard all too much about Edge of Reality's Fear & Respect (PS3, X360) ever since it was announced back in 2004. It turns out that's because the game is no longer in development. Speaking to GameSpot, publisher Midway's CEO David Zucker confirmed the game's cancellation. The game was being developed in association with Snoop Dogg and director John Singleton (Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers), who are apparently still in talks with Midway to work on a separate game at some point in the future.

VU Games is holding a contest to choose an unsigned band whose music will appear in Radical Entertainment's upcoming game Scarface: The World is Yours (PS2, Xbox, PS3, X360, PC). The contest is being conducted through the website MySpace, and to be eligible a band need only have a MySpace account with music and information uploaded. To nominate a band, go to the contest website. The 200 artists with the most nominations as of March 7 will be judged by a panel of music and game industry professionals, and then internet users will vote for the best act from that panel's 20 selections. Finally, the winner and two runner ups will get the chance to open for a known group during a concert at this year's E3. A track by the winning artist will also be featured in the game. - Press release.

EA sent word today that the Xbox 360 version of DICE's Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (PS2, Xbox, X360) has had its release date changed from March 15 to April 11. An EA rep stated that the game "is complete and in the final phases of testing at this moment," and that the delay was "to place MF2MC in the best possible launch window" rather than because of development issues. A multiplayer demo will also be available via Xbox Live Marketplace later this month.

GameSpot centralized all of its Midway press event coverage on one handy page.

GameSpot has a Q&A about the Metal Gear Saga DVD obtained from preorder copies of Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2).

IGN Revolution put up a feature about Revolution games known to be in development. It is accurate as of yesterday (so it doesn't mention the Midway one). There's some stuff in there I didn't know about, such as an actual confirmation of a Revolution sequel to Atlus' Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS). It is also missing a couple, such as Kojima's title in development.

IGN has a developer interview on Metroid Prime Hunters (DS).