🚀 go-pugleaf

> The Good News:
>
> --The Run button is *history*, and has left the building according
> to the programmers.

Now if they'd just get rid of the Block button...

> --The tone of the game is supposed to be darker and more serious, like
> the first two games...so no Babalities, Friendships, or silly stuff.

No repeat fatalities, either. All the fatals will be original and new.
No more rehashes.

> The Bad News:
>
> --The initial character count is at 24 characters, which means that a
> *lot* of both character cloning (one ninja for evey color of the rainbow,
> for instance) and/or style cloning is likely.

Nope. The textures for the Ninjas outfits vary enough in detail that
swapping is actually unlikely.

> --So far it seems that there are no new bosses.  The Deadly Alliance in
> the game is between Shang Tsung and Quan Chi.

There's a boss. One of the characters has a demon form that so far
is being called the "Oni-Tormentor" or some shit like that...

> --Some of the character models still look dorky (Jax?  Shang Tsung?).

Jax looks like a rube. Shang Tsung looks really good and those robes
flowing in the wind will look pretty damn cool.

> --Ed Boon and company are promising us full-3-D again.  I don't know
> whether I should root for them in terms of having them deliver on that
> promise or not....

It's got full 3D movement just like Soul Calibur.

> --And the Biggest Bad News of all:  No indication that MK:DA is going to
> hit the arcades, where people can play the thing with a *REAL* controller.

Arcades are dead. Midway's arcade division is history and we should
be glad that MK DA isn't going to the arcades because the cost of the
hardware and software would be through the roof and many arcades
wouldn't be able to afford it. There's no money to be made in arcades
anymore since the home systems are more sophisticated powerful than the
arcade hardware.

> --No projectiles in the early screens.  It would be our luck that Boon
> and company would try *so hard* this time to get the hand-to-hand done
> right, only to have the tossed-in-at-the-last-freakin'-minute projectiles
> *ruin* the game.

Very little projectiles and classic special moves will be in the game.
Scorpion has his spear, but I doubt Raiden will have his torpedo push.

> --Did I already mention that MK:DA isn't headed to the arcades, and that
> it's coming out on the one system with a total piece of shit controller...
> ooops, I already did, sorry.

It's coming for Gamecube, PS2, XBox, and GameBoy Advance.
I'd like to see them do a PC version, too.

-BH-