Presumably the concern is particularly the fact that MK's penetration into Asian markets is much less prominent, which could be perceived as a commentary on that franchise's as much as a handicap. If bias within national markets (ie; MK's smaller representations in Asia) is a concern, surely a "FAIR" measure would be European sales, where there's much less of a cultural homeground advantage and all the franchises are traditionally available.

Not that I'm questioning America's staying power as a world super-power, or being contentious just because it's been the course of the day.

I saw it here. It was definitely released in Slovakia and Hungary. If it was released here than it should be around most of Europe.

It usually does, doesn't it? The only thing "foreign" markets didn't get was the special edition, isn't that right? I don't think Namco or Capcom translate their titles into French or Spanish, do they?

Even when you go by the worldwide totals instead of the American ones, Tekken 6 has 2.36 million and MK vs DCU has 2.25

SF4 jumps ahead of BOTH of them with a 3.12 worldwide, mind you.

So what exactly do these numbers prove?

We've learned that MK is slaughtering Tekken in the states, and competing with it almost neck and neck if you go worldwide.

We've learned that Street Fighter is more popular than both.

We've also learned that this is all how well MK is doing without being sold in Japan at all. It's quite an accomplishment IMO that MK can afford to ignore an entire market and stay competitive.

(Wow! That is surprising and fascinating!)

What the hell has Midway been doing with it's profit I ask?

Well MK was the ONLY popular franchise Midway had. All that profit was going to funding OTHER games no one was buying and desperately trying to pay off old debts.
And that is the story of how they went bankrupt in a nutshell.

Midway needed to become strictly a developer if they wanted to survive. They couldn't produce games and hope to stay afloat forever with one series carrying them.

Well, if they had produced better games. They produced Unreal Tournament III, which wasn't bad (and 'm actually rather grateful they produced Shadow Hearts 2 outside of Japan).

But MK has painfully and obviously been a rather underfunded game series in the past. You can tell where corners were cut, resources were reused, polish was lacking, and elements were rushed. We can only hope that with WB's backing, and a healthy dose of development time, those persistent problems can be stamped out.

So it seems I'll be playing 2 very similar fighting games next year: MK and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, both of which are 2.5D fighters with tag team features. That sucks, in a way. It's like the 90's are coming back with a vengeance. Lol.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 won't have Raiden and his unintelligible screams, and Mortal Kombat '11 won't let you beat Chris Redfield to death with the Hulk

there's plenty of room for both games

I'm fine with that. I'm still stuck in the 90s anyway. Time to start busting out the flannels!

So it looks like these two games are gonna be what finally breaks me into buying a PS3 or an Xbox. While everyone else is struggling with which game to play, I have to finally come to the decision of which freakin system to get.

There are 2 Fatalitys for each kombatant! Check www.mkuniverse.lu

If this is a reboot of the past MKs, will we possibly see babalities and friendships return???

I am one of the few proponents of these "finishers". I would love for them to return.

That just proves there'll be at LEAST two Fatalities per character. They could make it to three this time or bring back Friendships or something... I really don't think we need Babalities or Animalities though.

i don't think it's a reboot.
Because if you look in the backgrounds you can see Kira is chained like Sonya and Kano in MK2 in the Shao Khan stage. Also you can see Daegon fighting Taven/Reiko in the background of the pit stage.
They probably continuing the story, but leave the sucky new characters in the background or they just don't have any story and have characters in the backgrounds for effect.

We were already over that. Remember the Prison stage in Deception? Random characters who weren't playable were behind the bars. It's just a visual gag, them really being there isn't canon. Therefore, the game can still easily be set in the past.

That's what was throwing me off, but then you have things like Shang Tsung appearing as an old man in an MK1 background, so it really is hard to say. Personally, I think the new characters were just thrown in for placeholders.

This is an MK game that I can really get excited about! I think we finaly have our old game back!

I was surprised however to see that this is a throw back style game. I was under the impression that MK 9 would take only a handful of characters and go in a new direction.

Unless.....this isn't actualy MK 9.

I'm not sure if this has been touched on yet (as this thread goes on for nearly 15 pages now) but to me this is something more like MK Trilogy 2.

According to Dtoid, the West Hall entrance for E3 2010 has banners for the new Mortal Kombat game. If the banner is anything to go by, then this game WILL be gory.

Source:
http://www.destructoid.com/e3-10-new-mortal-kombat-will-indeed-be-gory-176208.phtml

Giving credit where credit is due.

Also, thank goodness. The banner(s) made me happy.

It's a re-imagining, whatever that is. I don't understand why they can't make a game that doesn't have to be a remake to introduce this game to newbies. They could pick up where Deception left off and start from there. For those new to MK, they could feature emulated versions of the MK series from MK to UMK 3, etc. as extras in the game. I prefer the old MK stories to be untouched and left as it is. This remake trend has gone too far. First it was the movies from Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Nightmare on Elm Street now its video games. Remakes are totally redundant for the mere fact that the first game did not rely on a remake for it to be a hit. Just release the game and let those who want it find it, there is no other way. Unfortunately, modern trends in marketing seem to be taking another route. Cater to the least common denominator. In this case, another fucking remake, regurgitation of old ideas. Anyways in this financially fucked up times, what with the global economic meltdown and all, we can't blame Warner and Boon to be on the safe side of things. They're probably relying on the old MK fans who get misty eyed just thinking of the early 2d days of MK and also pleasing the noobs.

The banner's look really fucking gorey, love it. I like that Mortal Kombat is being hyped up a lot and that people already get a sence on what this MK is going to be about. Gore. Great find bro.

The Prison stage (and others) feature inconsequential cameos, but they're inconsequential cameos that don't undermind the meta-context of the timeline of the game. Ergo; yes, MK9 could be a retelling of any number of cross-sections of the past, but, it's just as likely that it isn't. Obviously it would be much more jarring to include such era specific a character as Taven and I'd question whether even the MK team would do it if they were actually operating within a specific time.

It's been described as an especially in depth storyline mode, however, so there's obviously just as much chance that each character's entire story is recapped in individual run throughs. It's also just as likely that it's a direct sequel to Armageddon and this was a first-look trailer that, as has often been the case in the past, offered up some very familiar elements.

I mean, really...

You keep using the phrase "just as likely" for things that have less evidence than the remake does.

I do not think that phrase means what you think it means.

Kenshi isn't there for any reason. IT'S JUST AS LIKELY it's strictly a retelling of MK1-MK3 and all it's minutia and it's going to be incredibly well written.

It's just as likely you have no hand-eye coordination, too. OH NO! RIDDLE ME WHAT THAT MEANS!