Australia's War on Kombat

If you haven't heard by now then... well, it's probably coz i think i was too slack to report it, but Mortal Kombat is officially banned in Australia. This isn't too surprising, but what was a little surprising was a story that hit the internet saying people caught importing the game would be facing up to $110,000 fines. This seems a bit harsh, so i recently looked into the story (it's 1:30am and i'm bored, don't judge me). The first problem was that every version of the story i could find was directly quoted from Gamespot, and with all due respect to gamespot, i'd trust wikipedia before i'd trust their research. Delving deep into Customs documentation (at least as far as i could go while still making heads or tails of it) i found that it IS indeed illegal to import any game rated as RC by the classification board. It's right in the document Gamespot quoted (Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 - Section 4A-1A-F) however the quoted document doesn't actually make any mention of penalties. A quick search (or following this link) reveals a notice from Customs that shows a familiar figure... People can in fact be fined $110,000 for importing prohibited items, in quantities of 25 or more... oops. The fine can be given to people caught importing large quantities of prohibited items or if they have intent of selling, distributing or exhibiting said items. So what WILL happen if you're caught importing a copy of Mortal Kombat for your own personal use... In short, I don't know. I failed to turn up any relevant documentation on the penalties, but people in the past have had their games destroyed and warned not to try again, with rare cases of people being fined, but nothing as extreme as $110k. So for those considering importing it the consequences are not nearly as bad as stated by gamespot's source (who likely misunderstood the question, or just wanted to spook people from trying), however it IS still illegal and if caught Customs is in their right to hand out penalties. IMPORT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Kombatants Revealed

A spoilerific screenshot has been leaked which appears to reveal the entire line-up from the upcoming Mortal Kombat game. The list has yet to be confirmed or denied by Netherrealm Studios or Warner Bros, but it looks pretty legit. To avoid spoiling anyones day, i'll put the list and screenshot after the jump, so click through to find out if your favourite fighter has returned. Remember though, at this point in time Mortal Kombat is still banned from sale here in Australia, so unless you're visiting from another country or plan on importing, this list won't help you much.

More Kombatants

More details continue to leak from Game Informer's February issue, however this time the game in question is Mortal Kombat. While the confirmed roster is still fairly small, Kratos was added to the PS3 version during the VMA's and now we have two more to add. Both Goro and Jade will be making their way into MK2011 with Goro taking o his familiar appearance and lair from the original, plus having the ability to throw projectiles, meanwhile Jade's appearance will mix her looks from Ultimate Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Deception. Also, there WILL be an Xbox exclusive character but it's not that they're trying to keep it under wraps... The problem is that the extra fighter hasn't actually been decided on yet. There's also mention of post launch DLC, which could be anything, but popular rumour seems to be that it will come in the form of more fighters.

P.S. i was going to make a title that was some weird amalgamation of "Go On" and "Goro" but the only thing that came to mind was Goron, which seems like more of a Zelda reference

Vegas Stakes

Quite a while ago, Midway Studios announced a game that would allow you to take to the streets of Las Vegas and do pretty much anything you wanted, GTA-style. This Is Vegas seemed to be going pretty well but it hasn't been seen or heard from since Warner Bros bought out Midway. That's changed... Word now is that This Is Vegas has been cancelled. There had already been extensive work done on it (including cover art and screenshots) and it's been said that Midway had already dumped over $40 million into making the game, and it would only require another 8 months production, costing about $250,000 a month. If this does prove to be true, it means Warner Bros will be taking a hit of about $50 million dollars... Perhaps now would be a good time to take up that Mortal Kombat movie proposal?

New Khallengers Appear

Two new characters have been added to the line-up for the new Mortal Kombat title. The line-up previously announced were Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Reptile, Mileena, Night Wolf and Sektor. The two new characters to join the fray are yellow bodied cyborg-ninja Cyrax, and the princess of Outworld, Kitana. Mortal Kombat's return to basics seems to be shaping up nicely, but with the release date currently just set for 2011, there's still plenty of time for things to change.