[23:05:05] <@DArqueBishop> Good evening, and welcome to Mortal Kombat Online's FIGHT NIGHT chat with the Mortal Kombat: Armageddon development team!
[23:05:08] <+John-Podlasek>Yo
[23:05:09] <@DArqueBishop> A transcript of tonight's event will be made available immediately following the chat at http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/
[23:05:12] <@DArqueBishop> .::Mortal Kombat Online - The Ultimate Mortal Kombat Experience::.
[23:05:14] <@DArqueBishop> We're here at Midway Games at Chicago, IL. We'd like to extend our deepest thanks to Tim DaRosa and the MKA team for giving us this privilege tonight!
[23:05:17] <@DArqueBishop> Now we will begin our interview with the team based on pre-submissions sent in...
[23:05:37] <@DArqueBishop> 1) TonyTheTiger asks, "Many fighting games with huge casts often end up having severe balance issues. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and various King of Fighters games come to mind. Given the circumstances regarding the number of characters in MKA, what steps did you take to ensure the cast would not only be well rounded but well balanced to prevent situations that out of 50+ characters 40 would be completely ineffective against a select 1>>
[23:05:50] <@DArqueBishop> Er, select 10?
[23:07:41] <+Ed-Boon> We basically had the game tested 24/7 by a our QA dept here at Midway as well as a number of other testers. It went through literally thousands of hours of test and as problems were discovered we fixed them.
[23:08:19] <+Steve-Beran> double clicked on your name
[23:08:26] <@DArqueBishop> ediaz asks, "Dear Ed Boon, Can you give some insight as to how the game will be controlled on the Nintendo Wii. Hopefully it will use the "classic controller" and not the new Wii remote. Thanks!"
[23:08:49] <+Steve-Beran> EMERGENCE DAY YA MOFO!!!
[23:09:43] <+John-Podlasek> CliffyB!
[23:10:21] <+Ed-Boon> We are experimenting with a number of control schemes for the Wii. We are playing with various "gestures" and other methods of entering in commands for super-moves. We are also adding to the basic fighting mechanic exclusively on the Wii.
[23:10:44] <@DArqueBishop> Nicholas Childe asks, "Will Armageddon on the "Nintendo Wii" have any extra features for example, when Deception came out in the gamecube it had two additional characters, will the Wii game have anything special on it?"
[23:11:27] <@DArqueBishop> Be afraid. Aaron
[23:11:31] <+Ed-Boon> Yes....I refered to that in my last response. The basic fighting machanic is going to be expanded on the Wii version.
[23:11:33] <@DArqueBishop> s taking shirtless pics of Podlasek.
[23:11:43] <@DArqueBishop> Crownjo asks, "I have MKA for Xbox. Alot of people who has a HDTV that has 720p includeing me has problems playing the game in 720p. the picture becomes all garbled. Please Ed can you answer this?"
[23:11:51] <+Steve-Beran> We're all very excited about the Wii
[23:13:12] <+John-Podlasek> Hi. We're trying to nail down what the issue is, but it appears to tie into a batch of Xbox 360s. We should have more info later, but as a backup you can run fine at 480 and it only effects a small amount of Xboxes we've been told.
[23:13:31] <+John-Podlasek> D'oh, I meant batch of normal Xboxes.
[23:13:50] <+John-Podlasek> Xbox 360 stuff is a different issue ;)
[23:13:55] <@DArqueBishop> AllenRobinson asks, "When will MKA be playabl for the 360?"
[23:14:10] <+John-Podlasek> I'll take this
[23:15:01] <+John-Podlasek> We're actively lobbying Microsoft about this (oh yeah, thanks everyone for the petition). It's ready to go on our side, we just need to convince Microsoft.
[23:15:15] <+John-Podlasek> Any help from the MK fans would be appreciated ;)
[23:15:17] <@]{0MBAT> On that note....a lot of people are wondering about the possibility of a DS version as well. Comments?
[23:16:04] <+John-Podlasek> Huh?
[23:16:25] <+John-Podlasek> We're focusing on finishing PSP and Wii right now....
[23:17:05] <+John-Podlasek> BTW, PSP Unchained is out next Monday
[23:17:17] <@DArqueBishop> This next one is another long one... my apologies for it getting cut off.
[23:17:23] <@DArqueBishop> ShingoEX asks, "Will UMK3 be patched for Xbox Live Arcade? There are many issues, including the inability to use random select, and the fact the hidden characters do not stay saved. Since the start button issue may be too problematic to implement, may I suggest at least enabling the hidden characters for everyone? Many of us don't have 2 controllers to enable them anyway, and 360 controllers aren't exactly cheap."
[23:17:27] <+Steve-Beran> PSP Unchained turned out GREAT
[23:17:50] <+John-Podlasek> Unchained did turn out great
[23:18:13] <+Paulo-Garcia> You can Random Select in UMK3 for xbox360 by hitting up and (A) on Kitana for player1 and Scorpion for player2
[23:18:20] <+Ed-Boon> We are going to look into these issues, cant promise anything at the moment but we are aware of the things that we would like to improve on..
[23:18:41] <+Ed-Boon> Paulo would know.
[23:18:53] <+Paulo-Garcia> I play it alittle bit
[23:19:13] <+John-Podlasek> I've heard it's getting a ton of downloads
[23:19:15] <+Ed-Boon> By a little he means about 10,000 games
[23:19:26] <@DArqueBishop> badbil asks, "When asked in an interview if he thought the fatalities would be too generic for all the characters, Boon stated there would be at least one charcter specific fatality sequence, if not more depending on disc space. What happened?"
[23:21:12] <+Ed-Boon> Good question...yes we were going to be making character specific fatality animations but then we realized that those animations could ONLY be performed by THAT character. We wanted to have as many total fatality animations available to as many characters as possible so we decided to make them available to everyone.
[23:21:35] <@DArqueBishop> hjs-Q asks, "Hello, In MKA the bosses (Onaga, Blaze, Moloch, Goro, Kintaro) cannot be thrown, juggled, and hit by projectiles. Why havn't you balanced those characters with, for example, not giving them breakers and / or parrys? "
[23:23:38] <+Ed-Boon> We wanted the Bosses to feel different from the main characters but didnt want to take away ALL of their abilities to do the basic fighting funcionality. It seemed out of character to be juggling MASSIVE characters like Onaga and Blaze. So we made them "heavier".
[23:23:53] <@DArqueBishop> Another long one...
[23:23:55] <@DArqueBishop> CAofTTT asks, "Dear Mortal Kombat Design Team, To begin, I am a member of the Krypt Code Crackers from the official Midway Boards. We (meaning the Code Crackers) have seen the 30 kodes that unlock items you can either buy or unlock by completing Konquest with all 60 Relics. We lost many members due to this and now we are but a few members who are holding out for hope that there is more to the "?" in the Krypt and have entered cl>>
[23:24:09] <@DArqueBishop> close to a million different combinations. What other content can be unlocked using the "?" in the Krypt?"
[23:25:58] <+Ed-Boon> I dont know of any additional codes. The problem is that someone actually went through our disc and FOUND the codes for the krypt. We never released those codes. Im not sure exactly how many of them are out, but I suspect they are all out by now.
[23:26:09] <@DArqueBishop> Nathan asks, "Dear Mr.Boon, It has been known that certain people have managed to use programs to see what is in the game. Notable things such as the ability to use Dual Weapons has been noticed. Are these extra KAK items available, or are they just leftovers from the early stages of the game?"
[23:25:57] <+John-Podlasek> There are no other KAK items I know of
[23:26:56] <+Ed-Boon> Some of them might be remaining from items we decided to remove from the game. Sometimes the programmers dont actually REMOVE the feature, instead they just comment out the reference to it and people find a way to access the data that was not removed from the disc.
[23:27:06] <@DArqueBishop> queve asks, "Dear Ed Boon, why has SONYAS LEG GRAB and Johnny Cages NUT PUNCH trademark moves been missing since MKDA and will they ever return?" Other people have asked about Sindel's hair and Cyrax's net.
[23:28:46] <+Ed-Boon> There have been a number of moves that have been "removed" from the game. Sonya's leg grab was one of them. I'm sure you will see it again in the future. Her bicycle kick was another move that was removed at one point because it wasn't that usefull in MKDA. I wish Cage still had his splits punch....dont remember why we removed it.
[23:28:57] <@DArqueBishop> Mondamin asks, "Does anyone on the developement team play Armageddon online?"
[23:29:21] <+John-Podlasek> I haven't, but I know some of the designers do.
[23:29:51] <+Ed-Boon> I've played a few times, have to practice for Friday's match...I'm very rusty now.
[23:30:29] <@]{0MBAT> Guys, the match he's talking about is for the "Scream it" contest.
[23:30:33] <@]{0MBAT> From GameSpot.
[23:30:50] <@DArqueBishop> Speaking of which, he next question comes from GameSpot's Scream It contest winner, and this is a big one EVERYONE wants to know...
[23:30:58] <@DArqueBishop> Daniel W. Clark asks, "Hi Ed, it's me: the MK Kontest winner. Looking forward to facing you one on one in San Francisco in a couple of weeks! Anyway, here's my question: How did the Mortal Kombat: Deception storyline resolve itself? (i.e. did Shujinko stop Onaga? Did Onaga find someway to ressurect every kombatant using the amulet and kamidogus? etc.) Thanks and prepare yourself!"
[23:31:25] <+Ed-Boon> Story stuff is John Vogel's territory.
[23:32:12] <+Steve-Beran> Congrats on winning the Kontest Daniel. Good job!
[23:32:14] <+John-Vogel> Onaga was defeated primarily by shujinko. There are hints in a couple of the endings as to how it played out.
[23:33:31] <@]{0MBAT> Did the Kamidogus get smashed? Did Dark Raiden ever get in a fight with Shujinko?
[23:34:01] <+John-Vogel> the kamidogus used in deception were destroyed (like in the gameplay) to weaken onaga
[23:34:28] <+John-Vogel> they were the source of Onaga's power during that period
[23:34:50] <+John-Vogel> onaga didn't ressurect everyone
[23:35:09] <+John-Vogel> sontimes people are only THOUGHT to be dead
[23:35:27] <+John-Vogel> some are ressurected by other means
[23:35:53] <@]{0MBAT> How are Reptile and Onaga separated?
[23:37:01] <+John-Vogel> there is a clue in Sindel's ending from Deception that shows that Onaga's soul can be taken from Reptile... which allows reptile to revert back to himself..
[23:37:12] <@M4C> On a related note, shinken asks, "Are the MKA bios going to be released online?"
[23:37:24] <+John-Vogel> Sindel's ending is not real.. i'm just showin ya stuff...
[23:37:35] <+John-Vogel> nightwolf's ending plays a part as well
[23:38:03] <+Ed-Boon> Yes. We are going to be releasing the bio's on www.mkarmageddon.com
[23:38:57] <+John-Podlasek> Yeah, in the forums section....
[23:39:12] <+Ed-Boon> You will get the answers to all the questions you've had concerning the Armageddon storyline and perhaps even hints as to where it goes next
[23:39:20] <@DArqueBishop> Jeff Meadows asks, "Given the "M" Mature rating of Armageddon, requiring the buyer to be 17 years of age or older, why did you feel it necissary to include a profanity filter on the game? I understand the universaly vulgar words being filtered (even if hypocritical being as Scorpion says both bitch and drops the F-bomb in Shaolin Monks) but why other terms that are not vulgar such as "murder"? It's a bit annoying to be an adult >>
[23:39:43] <@DArqueBishop> playing a game with tons of blood, hearts being pulled out of chests and spine rips but being told I'm not allowed to have "murder" as a fight stance."
[23:39:44] <+John-Podlasek> Its based on standards from the hardware folks
[23:40:18] <+John-Podlasek> For one system we're given an Excel list of words that CAN'T be used.
[23:40:57] <@DArqueBishop> All right, we're done with the presubmitted questions. From now ]{0MBAT will be asking the questions you have been sending to MKBot.
[23:41:15] <@M4C> We'll start with a question from V2WS. He asks, "Why didn't you give KAK an option to use any weapon instead of swords, axes and hammers?"
[23:43:01] <@]{0MBAT> Like whips, pulse plades, etc....
[23:44:02] <+Ed-Boon> Some of the weapons would not "fit" on ALL the sizes of characters that you can create. Remember the sizes can range quite a bit. As far as pulse-blades are concerned, I dont know why that one didnt get on the list. Alexander would be the best to answer that question, he was the lead on KAK.
[23:45:18] <+Ed-Boon> As far as a "pistol" or "crossbow" those didnt exist in Armageddon as standard weapons. They would also involve a lot more programming and balancing if one of the weapons involved a projectile of sorts.
[23:45:48] <@]{0MBAT> A lot of people are asking about (the female) Khameleon and her not appearing in the game. Why was she ommitted?
[23:48:04] <+Ed-Boon> Actually we originally were not going to be including ANY of the Chameleon characters, or Motaro. But we had SO MANY people ask for them that we decided to add them. Steve Beran created the model in a super short amount of time and Pav (Kovakik) created Motaro super fast as well. In retrospect, I wish we had the time to make Khameleon as well. But we hope 62 characters was enough for you.
[23:48:22] <@]{0MBAT> Any plans of including her on the Wii?
[23:48:39] <+Ed-Boon> I wouldn't put $$ on it.
[23:48:44] <+John-Podlasek> Wii'll see
[23:48:52] <+John-Vogel> 8\
[23:48:59] * @DArqueBishop awards John the gold star for the obligatory Wii joke.
[23:49:03] <@]{0MBAT> John (Vogel)... how about the female Saurian in Reptile's ending?
[23:49:04] <+John-Podlasek> And to think I'm totally sober....
[23:49:07] <+Ed-Boon> I do admit it would be Wii-lee cool
[23:49:17] <@]{0MBAT> Was the Khameleon? Or the matriarch of Reptile's race? (Or both...?)
[23:49:36] <+Ed-Boon> That sounds like a question for Brian Lebaron....(just kidding)
[23:50:07] <+Brian-Lebaron> heh
[23:50:43] <+Ed-Boon> awesome99.com
[23:51:09] <+John-Vogel> The female that appears is most likely a new matriarch. Reptile has been bummin for a long time about his race being wiped out.. we though it would be cool to allow him to finally get things started again.. and another race of ninjas is always a good thing...
[23:51:27] <+Ed-Boon> bummin?
[23:51:33] <@]{0MBAT> Question about something that happens in Konquest.
[23:51:45] <@DArqueBishop> A lot of things happen in Konquest. Be specific.
[23:51:47] <@]{0MBAT> Fujin stops Taven for some reason that's never fully explained
[23:51:52] <@]{0MBAT> Can you elaborate on that?
[23:52:05] <+John-Vogel> even if they are just palette swaps... 8P
[23:53:55] <@DArqueBishop> Someone shoot me. M4C's asking about Music Kombat.
[23:54:01] <@]{0MBAT> Freakazoid00 asks, "What secret about MKA has not been found yet?"
[23:54:42] <+Ed-Boon> Oh no !!!!!! The secrets out. Wii are in BIG trouble now !!
[23:54:47] <+John-Vogel> Fujin is the "official" protector of earthrealm. Its his job to keep the peace, so he doesn't want Taven stirring up trouble. He knows Taven from years ago, but probably doesn't know that Daegon is part of the red dragon. He sesnses something is up, tho.
[23:55:00] <+John-Podlasek> Music Kombat ??
[23:55:35] <@]{0MBAT> Okay...so Daegon's starting the Red Dragon kinda maybe slipped past Raiden/Fujin. Thanks. :D
[23:55:43] <+John-Vogel> the part of the story where he tries to stop taven from entering the red dragon stronghold is a minor one.
[23:56:27] <+John-Vogel> its like in KOTOR where the jedis wanted to take on the bad guys and defeat them but yoda says "wait a minute.. lets think about this first"
[23:56:40] <+Ed-Boon> I dont know what secret has NOT been found yet. I haven't had a chance to read what secrets were OFFICIALLY discovered.
[23:56:42] <+John-Vogel> Fujin is acting like yoda
[23:57:05] <@]{0MBAT> Another story question for ya...
[23:57:35] <@]{0MBAT> From Quan Chi's ending, he appears to have Shinnok's Amulet.
[23:57:48] <@]{0MBAT> However, Onaga picked it up from in MKD's intro...so...what happened in between?
[23:58:08] <+John-Podlasek> eBay
[23:58:35] <+John-Vogel> Quan CHi had it in MK4... then in "Deception" onaga took it... it was the last part he needed.
[23:58:36] <+John-Podlasek> Man's gotta eat....
[23:58:57] <@]{0MBAT> Yes, but in Quan Chi's ending, it states he has it again. How'd he get it?
[23:59:54] <+John-Vogel> in the MK:A ending for quan chi... its implied that quan chi BECAME the amulet itself
[00:00:31] <+John-Vogel> and i think the amulet was sent back in time
[00:00:46] <@]{0MBAT> Back in time to when he still had it. Interesting.
[00:00:56] <@]{0MBAT> Okay, this is more of a technical question.
[00:00:59] <+John-Vogel> i could be mistaken ... but i think thats the way it went
[00:01:26] <+John-Vogel> so he was in possession of himself... haha
[00:01:29] <@]{0MBAT> In MKA, Motaro appears with only 2 legs. In the future, would it be feasible for Motaro to appear in full centaur form, four legs and all?
[00:02:45] <+John-Vogel> motaro is actually 2 people in a horse suit... we fired the guy playing the back half.... meh!
[00:03:36] <+Ed-Boon> Yes, its definitely possible for us to have him in that form. The challenge is related to gameplay, NOT just being ABLE to display him like that. Knocking him down, jumping with him, side stepping, dodging....there are TONS of complications that would have made him play a LOT LESS fun if he had 4 legs than if he had 2
[00:03:50] <@M4C> One last question before we wrap up Fight Night. Scott-Howell asks, "What can you tell us about Mortal Kombat 8?"
[00:04:22] <+John-Vogel> it's official name is... "Mortal Kombat: Ocho"
[00:04:36] <+John-Vogel> jk
[00:04:44] <+Ed-Boon> MK8 is going to start from scratch on a number of levels. It will also go in a direction that NOBODY is going to expect.
[00:05:41] <+Ed-Boon> When you first hear about what the game is going to be doing you will say "WHAT?...did I hear you right?"
[00:05:51] <@DArqueBishop> All right, that will wrap it up for this year's edition of FIGHT NIGHT! We'd like to thank the MK Armageddon development team for coming out tonight, and Tabatha and the administration of Webchat for helping us tonight!
[00:05:58] <@]{0MBAT> Laterz
[00:06:11] <+Ed-Boon> Yepperz
[00:06:14] <@DArqueBishop> A transcript will be available soon on the website.
[00:06:15] <+John-Vogel> nite!
[00:06:26] <+John-Podlasek> Thanks guys.
[00:06:27] <@DArqueBishop> From all of us at Mortal Kombat Online... thank you, and good night!