In a recent interview with Game Informer, Ed Boon drops some interesting details on their next title. Absolutely blown away by the look of Gears of War, the team has decided to adopt the Unreal 3 engine to power their next title, presumably the 8th iteration of Mortal Kombat. Going into more detail, Boon describes an online arcade concept he’d been kicking around for a while:
We have some really crazy ideas that are really kind of extreme, and I’d be hesitant to mention them because people would assume that they’re in the next game. But we’re definitely looking into different interfaces to the player for a lobby. For a way to get players hooked up and playing online, an ongoing thing like a ranking system or whatnot. I’ve always wanted to have sort of a virtual arcade. It’s weird, because I can picture it in my head and I can see walking through the arcade and putting your quarter up, but I wonder how many people have experienced that part. It’s been so long—the early ‘90s—before some people were born, and they say, “What the hell is an arcade?” We’re trying a bunch of stuff right now.
Boon also openly talks about more details, referencing a grittier, more serious direction, inspired by the dirtier look of Gears of War. Everything you’ve known from the previous games will be thrown out the window — the three-fighting-style system, the tone, and controls. Apparently, it’s “going to be nothing like you’ve ever seen before
.” But doesn’t everyone say that? I guess we’ll get the answer to that as we inch closer to the predicted November 2008 release date.
