May 2026, on the other hand, has little in the way of competition for Mortal Kombat 2, since the primary competition for New Line and Warner Bros. in the month will be Final Destination: Bloodlines. Other companies’ productions with a similar release window include Is God Is by Amazon MGM Studios, and an untitled movie by Neon.

This decision also comes down to the fact that the upcoming sequel is hotly anticipated, with over 107 million views globally for its red-band trailer. Despite these views, however, the October release window would have been troublesome for the film owing to movies like Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere and Regretting You.

Mortal Kombat 2 is set to pick up where its predecessor left off, and will feature Karl Urban in the role of Johnny Storm. The movie will also star Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.

The first movie in the revival series came out back in 2021, and despite middling critical reception, it ended up being incredibly popular. The movie made its theatrical debut with $23.3 million in its opening weekend alone.

While a new Mortal Kombat movie is on the way, NetherRealm Studios is also looking towards the history of the fighting game series thanks to the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari. The collection will include a host of classic Mortal Kombat games, with a trailer from last month also confirming that Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces will also be included.

Digital Eclipse has previously confirmed some of the other titles that will be available in the collection. The list includes a host of classics and their spin-offs, including Mortal Kombat (1992), Mortal Kombat 2 (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Mortal Kombat 4 (1997), Mortal Kombat Advance (2001), Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), and Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition (2003).

The trailer confirming the return of Mythologies also gave us a glimpse at some of the more historical content that will be available in the collection, including full 3D models of the arcade machines that many of the classic titles were originally made for. There will also be high-quality scans of concept art and design documents, as well as interviews with various members of the games’ development teams over the years.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2. The title doesn’t yet have a release date, however. Rumours have indicated that it might come out by the end of September.

Money has worked in several different gaming companies in the past, with his most recent stint having been with Ubisoft Singapore where he worked on a host of titles, including Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, its The Siege of Paris DLC, and Assassin’s Creed Origins. In the past, Money has also worked on a host of different titles, including classics like the PS2 port of Deus Ex, as well as the PC and Xbox versions of Deus Ex: Invisible War.

A job listing spotted back in March indicated that Rocksteady’s next Batman game will be a cross-generation release, coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as well as whatever the next-gen consoles might end up being. This would also indicate that the title is still three to four years away, since that would fall in the alleged time frame of new consoles.

Rocksteady’s work on this new title comes after the studio released Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, considered by publisher WB Games as a commercial failure. Since then, however, DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran had noted that they had spoken with Rocksteady, along with Mortal Kombat and Injustice developer NetherRealm Studios about their respective next projects.

“We work incredibly closely with JB Perrette, who runs that division,” said Safran back in February. “It’s really the first time it’s ever been this way at Warner Bros. James and I sit with the guys that run the studios under JB, whether it’s NetherRealm or Rocksteady. We sit with them and we talk about characters and stories that we’re interested in and that they’re interested in.”

Gunn spoke about having conversations with the studios about where they currently are with their projects, and what their next projects might be. It is worth noting that these conversations would likely involve games that are still early in their development processes.

“We see designs for the projects in their very earliest stages,” said Gunn. “We talk about those, we talk about what the story might be, and we’ll say ‘Well, you may want to go this way because we’re planning on maybe doing something with this character.’”

The failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had reportedly led to a host of lay-offs at Rocksteady. There were also reports at the time that the studio was looking to go back to working on single-player games rather than live-service multiplayer titles, since the studio is most well-known for its work on the Batman: Arkham games.

Batman and Robin was released on the big screen in 1997, and Warner Bros. also released a tie-in game by the same name which we will be discussing today. Batman and Robin was a game that had some really intriguing concepts, but they got lost in a buffet of game design problems and shoddy execution – resulting in a game that was unanimously panned by fans and critics; so much so that it’s considered to be one of the worst renditions of Batman in video game format. To that end, we ask the question – what the hell actually happened to Batman and Robin?

Batman and Robin is actually a sequel to Batman Forever, which was also a tie-in video game that was released alongside the movie by the same name in 1995. Unsurprisingly, Batman Forever also didn’t enjoy any positive reception as the game’s controls and animations felt stiff and awkward – which was a big issue since the game was a beat-em-up. But for the sequel, developer Probe Entertainment switched gears, as it envisioned Batman and Robin to be a full-fledged 3D action-adventure game rather than a simple beat ’em up like the original.

Batman and Robin had an ambitious elevator pitch – a game that would allow you to play as one of the three characters – Batman, Robin, and Batgirl as they tried to stop Mr. Freeze from taking over the city. Each of these characters would have slightly different abilities, and their modes of traversal would also differ from one another. Batman would obviously ride in his Batmobile, and Robin would use his motorcycle, and so on. Players would also be able to explore Gotham at their own will.

The game would also have a fun twist on how missions would play out. Instead of missions being linear and automatically triggered when you reach a quest marker, Batman and his buddies would actually need to explore the streets of Gotham City in search of clues and information about Mr. Freeze’s next move. Once you have those pieces in your hand, it’s up to you to put an end to those plans.

The most interesting aspect of this whole mechanic is that these robberies are time-bound, and you need to collect these clues before these events actually happen in the game time. Should you be late to the party, you would miss out on more vital information and encounters. On the other hand, if you accumulated the clues before the planned time of a robbery – you need to wait until that time to strike.

This was pretty ambitious for the time, and Batman and Robin sought to incorporate many different types of gameplay into a singular cohesive experience. You could explore Gotham’s streets and alleys on your vehicles, glide through ledges using your cape, collect clues, and pummel down your enemies both in close quarters and ranged combat using Batarangs and what have you. But the developer wasn’t able to fulfill all of its ambitions in the relatively short period of development, which resulted in an inconsistent experience at best and a frustrating one at worst.

For starters, while the Batmobile did have an interesting visual and audio design – the actual driving implementation wasn’t the most polished. The car would stumble around at every turn, making the act of going around from one place to the other an exercise in pain. To further add fuel to the fire, civilian vehicles would also appear out of nowhere and crash into your Batmobile – laying waste to your well-laid plans.

Over on the actual gameplay front, Batman had an incredibly slow movement speed and janky animations which made controlling the character more frustrating than enjoyable. Similarly, the combat felt clunky and primitive alongside the platforming and awkward jumping animations. Enemies would often swarm at your location and beat you down as you helplessly try to get in a few punches and kicks – which happens at a snail’s pace. This was also a time when 3D games on consoles were still figuring out basic things, and controlling Batman in a 3D space with no analog sticks obviously came with a plethora of camera issues which became even more frustrating because of choppy framerates and slow-paced gameplay.

That’s not to suggest that there weren’t any impressive aspects to Batman and Robin. While the graphics may look primitive by modern standards, they were pretty impressive for the time – more so when you consider the sizable Gotham map and its many interiors which house the game’s levels. Similarly, the soundtrack was also fitting for the experience as it tried to create an ominous vibe for this dark adventure.

So while Batman and Robin had the chance to be a game that could have been well ahead of its time in its many gameplay concepts, it ended up being a frustrating experience that failed to deliver anything spectacular. There’s a clear lack of focus within the experience, and it seems that the developers tried to incorporate many interesting ideas but lacked the design knowledge and sensibilities to craft a cohesive experience; one where the many ideas worked well in tandem with each other.

Cracking the puzzle as to what the hell actually happened with Batman and Robin seems rather obvious. It’s the classic case of a licensed tie-in. A publisher enters into a contract with the licensed property holder (Acclaim Entertainment and Warner Bros. in this case) and promises to deliver the game alongside an upcoming movie. The developer – Probe Entertainment in this case – has crazy ambitions for the game, but struggles to bring it together in the very strict time frame that’s been allotted to development. In the absence of any wiggle room for release dates, both parties end up releasing the game in an unfinished state.

And sure enough, if the much-anticipated movie ends up becoming a hit, the tie-in game is able to rake in a lot of money through that property’s popularity despite its many shortcomings. But sadly in the case of Batman and Robin, the movie itself flopped critically and commercially – so the tie-in video game also didn’t garner much interest from fans (though one could argue that’s for the best considering the game’s many shortcomings).

Unfortunately, Batman and Robin didn’t mark the end of the struggle for a decent Batman game for fans of the superhero. The PS2 and Xbox generation did fare relatively better with titles like Batman Begins, but it wasn’t until Rocksteady hit the scene a handful of years later with Batman: Arkham Asylum that fans got what they truly deserved; a game that would make you “feel” like Batman.

The petition states that the studio previously reached out to Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon who was supportive of the project, although Warner Bros. turned down the pitch as it believed that the game wouldn’t sell enough copies (100,000 as per what’s mentioned in the petition) to recoup marketing costs for the project.

The original Mortal Kombat Trilogy release packed all of the characters from Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 into a single package. Eyeballistic aims to soup up the game for modern platforms using Unreal Engine 5 and upscale the original’s sprites and environments to 4K. The developer will also make improvements to the music as well, as well as online functionality.

Eyeballistic is aiming to reach a 100,000 signatures before reaching out to Warner Bros. again with a pitch to use crowdfunding to procure development costs for the game.

“We’re planning to painstakingly recreate every detail of every stage and character in glorious 3D,” Eyeballistic writes in the petition. “Of course every fatality, brutality, friendship and animality will be there too. The characters and stages will get a face lift to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second gameplay action through the power of Unreal Engine 5. We’ll even remake all of the music by giving it a modern cinematic sound that incorporates real instruments.

“Target platforms for release would be Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series, PS5 and PC. We anticipate the game would cost $39.99 and it would include everything the original MK Trilogy had plus the standard online match making and world wide leaderboards. If you want this remake to happen, please show your support by signing the petition. When we reach 100,000 supporters we’ll approach WB with a plan to use crowdfunding to further demonstrate that the game will sell like crazy!”

The studio also provided screenshot samples of the project to DSO Gaming, which, while not the most palatable, are certainly an improvement over the original. You can check them out below.

Warner Bros. Games released a new trailer for Back 4 Blood today, the latest game from Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock, that highlights the game’s card system. According to a press release from Warner Bros, the card system is “a new rogue-lite feature that enhances your experience with each playthrough, ensuring every gameplay session is dynamic, intense and feels unique.”

Players can customize their decks or choose from pre-built ones. “Back 4 Blood takes advantage of an adaptive A.I. known as the Game Director, which works behind-the-scenes monitoring the actions, health, and choices of players,” Warner Bros. said. “It responds accordingly by changing environmental conditions, adding obstacles, and unleashing special Ridden mutations through Card System modifiers known as Corruption Cards.”

Once the Game Director has played its cards, players can choose theirs. Cards have varying effects, “from amplifying equipment to reloading weapons, as they take on hordes of enemies in their path.” Players can also unlock new cards as they play.

It sounds pretty simple, but looks like it offers quite a bit of depth based on the trailer, which you can watch below. Back 4 Blood releases for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 12th, 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NT7zrkQjmM

There’s good news for fans of movie theaters and Mortal Kombat this weekend. According to Deadline, the newest adaptation of Midway’s arcade klassic grossed $23.3 million during its opening weekend, which marked the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated film since the beginning of the pandemic last March.

When combined with Funimation’s Demon Slayer, which also made its theatrical debut in the US, last weekend was the biggest weekend for cinemas since the the start of the pandemic. Mortal Kombat‘s box office haul reportedly beat the expectations of Warner Bros., who were anticipating a first-weekend take in the $15 million area.

“New Line once again far exceeded expectations and brought a movie that wowed fans general audiences,” said Warner Bros. Domestic Distribution Boss Jeff Goldstein this morning.

If Mortal Kombat doing well is surprising, maybe it shouldn’t be. While critical reaction to the film was expectedly mixed, the film holds an audience rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Mortal Kombat is the the third best-selling fighting game series in the world, with 54 million copies sold worldwide. It is behind only Super Smash Bros. and the Dragon Ball fighting games series.

Ask anyone what the best video game movie is, and odds are they’ll tell you it’s the original Mortal Kombat movie, which was released in 1995. It’s not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an enjoyable one, and its managed to enter popular culture culture like no video game adaptation before or since.

The new Mortal Kombat movie has a lot to live up to then. The new film releases in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23rd, 2021, and is the feature length debut of director Simon McQuoid. The cast features film, television, and martial arts talent and includes Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson  as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson Briggs, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion.

I won’t spoil the clip, but suffice it to say that there’s plenty of both story and action here, and fans of the series will recognize some of the plot beats. The clip is well-shot and choreographed, so it should be sure to make Mortal Kombat fans happy. I know its made me more excited to see the film.

Check it out below, courtesy of IGN.

Microsoft has announced the newest batch of Xbox 360 games that will be made playable on the Xbox One via their backward compatibility initiative. While there’s no major headliner here, like the Valve games for Xbox One X enhancements last week, there’s still some good stuff here that I think a lot of Xbox fans could stand to look into.

One of the games is Tropico 4, which is the fourth entry in the stylized city builder and sim game about building up your own city in a vaguely dictatorship-style country. The other is LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy, which represents one of the most beloved LEGO games yet, probably because it came out when the formula was still novel and new, and hadn’t been applied to literally every pop culture property under the sun, like it has now.

But yeah—both are good games, and I think deserve a look for a dash of something different than the typical console game. If you have a disc, you just insert it and play the game; if not, you can always buy these from the Xbox Store, per always.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1054764534441758720?s=21

Here we go, with another LEGO game on our hands. This one, as the name gives away, focuses on the supervillains from the DC Universe. As is always the case, the gameplay is basic platforming, collectathon, and action, which makes it easier for younger audiences to jump into the game, but there are some fantastic long time references to DC comics hidden away in the game as well.

There is also content that can be hard to find, and sometimes your can just find yourself stuck in the game without knowing where to go next. If you’re one of those people, or you just want to see how the story in the game plays out, we’ve got some good news for you: we’re here with a walkthrough, which you can see for yourself below. It should help you get past whatever is causing you to be stuck right now.

As always, do remember that this walkthrough has spoilers, so don’t jump too far ahead of where in the game you are supposed to be.

LEGO DC Super-Villains has, as is usually the case with these LEGO games, a whole lot of collectibles for you to track down and, well, collect. The chief of these are the Red Bricks, which have long been the bane (pun unintended) of those who play these games. In this guide, we help you track down all of them—then, we also share some cheats for you to be able to unlock some cool stuff in the game.

So let’s get started.

RED BRICKS LOCATIONS

There are 20 Red Bricks in the game, one in each of the levels, and then one in each of the Bonus levels. You can take the elevator to go up STAR Labs in Metropolids to keep track of which ones you have. As always, the ones you collect can also be used to unlock abilities for yourself. Below, you can see where the Red Bricks in each of the levels are:

1. The Red Brick can be found on the Clock Tower, in the hands of a gold statue
2. This one is just swimming about in a fish-tank. Said fish-tank will be on the second level of the building.
3. Rapidly hit all five targets in the lab
4. Go to the roof above the party, and destroy the statue there
5. When battling Hugo Strange, you will see a Golden Grate. Destroy that to go down into a secret area, where you can find the Brick for this level
6. Grow the plants that bounce light, and use them to light up the center dome
7. Go through the waste barges to find this one, but be careful! They’re called “hazardous” for a reason…
8. There’s a Red Brick on display. You gotta mirror jump to it. Good luck!
9. Make a sea beast happy by singing a happy song
10. Enter the three digit code into the safe to get the Brick here (use Detective Vision to know what the code is)
11. Use mind control on the Party Parademon
12. You see all those Amazonian Bells? You know what you have to do
13. Find the GRAFFITI wall in the Hall of Justice, then tag it so it gets destroyed. Assemble the Treadmill, run on it as Flash to collect the 10 pieces in the Speed Force, and then assemble those to make a container that is holding a Red Brick. Whew.
14. Fly down from the Wayne Manor Offices to find two portals. Activate both to find the cabinet holding the Brick
15. Hidden at the top of Darksied’s throne

Bonus Levels:

1. There’s a bat switch under the giant gear and chain. Activate it.
2. When battling Stompa, er, grow a flower. Look, do you want that Brick or?
3. Graffiti the wall near the starting area of the level
4. It’s in Kanto’s Trophy Room. Good luck!
5. In the Granny section

CHEAT CODES

These codes unlock characters that you may ordinarily unlock simply by playing the game. So, the best way to get them is by actually earning them in the game. If you don’t want to wait to do that, you can use these codes, but do keep in mind that even using these codes doesn’t complete the requisite missions or objectives these characters were locked behind—you’re still going to have to do that.

• Clayface: YUCOP3
• General Zod: D8577
• Black Canary: ND6AL
• Harley Quinn: PLG1z
• Detective Chimp: BQWSG
• Green Lantern John Stewart: KNJ2P
• Firestorm: HFMHM
• Adam Strange: QF7NT
• Clock King: Z6AU7
• Blue Beetle: 8VV5Q
• Doctor Fate: KPTCC
• Red Tornado: CKDRF
• Monseiur Mallah: GM9MX
• Atrocitus: 9RHJJ
• Dexstarr: KFLQM
• Hawk Girl: LNSB9
• Martian Manhunter: Y7MFR
• Terra: F79GU
• Star Sapphire: QD2GY
• Dr Light: 6NWX5
• Lady Shiva: XQP2L
• Jessica Cruz: S5DB6
• Doctor Poison: GWWBS
• Toyman: VB5AS
• Plasticman: E6HUY
• Mr Mxyzptlk: NURPU
• Red Robin: JNLPY
• The Trickster: YRZMS
• Ravager: UVWHS