Unit 13: Assignment 3 (Finished)

Mortal Kombat X is a game which involves two characters which essentially fight to the death. You use a combination of moves to take out the other opponent. However, towards the end of the fight, you can perform a fatality or a brutality move. There is a story mode for this however, it is not as long as Mortal Kombat 9 and it is the only way to unlock a certain character. There are 12 chapters in this story and quick-time events. These quick time events are events which involve the player pushing a button which appears on screen. If this player misses the once chance to press the button then it may have an impact on the story. There are also tower modes in this game in which can be played in co-op mode. Mortal Kombat X is best known for its graphical brutalities and fatalities. This game is available on the PS4, Xbox One, PC, IOS and Android devices. There are quite a few newspaper reports on whether this game may be the most violent video game ever or just too violent with the brutalities/fatalities. At this moment in time, the current media hype for this game has a mixed reaction. A new DLC is soon to be released for the consoles which is called Mortal Kombat XL which contains new content, characters and much more. They must have licensed the new characters for the game DLC such as "Jason Voorhees" from Friday the 13th, "Leatherface" from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and "Alien" from the Alien film series as these characters have already been previously used in films. If they have not, well there will be a copyright issue for them in store (clearly they have but this is just a circumstance if they have not). This has created a positive buzz for the console owners, however, for the PC gamers, negativity has risen. Warner Brothers has announced that the new DLC content and future support has stopped for the PC port of the game. Below is a link and images in which shows evidence of how people have responded to Warner Brothers choice on releasing the DLC for console only. I believe that this was a rough move made by Warner Brothers and the game company NetherRealm studios as this will pull down the sales on the major gaming platform, PC. Furthermore, with the decision firmly made for the DLC not to be released on PC, this has put many players off from buying any further games produced by the game company and published by Warner Brothers.  The price of the game for the PC is lower than the price for the consoles.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-21-warner-accused-of-abandoning-mortal-kombat-x-pc-players

Mortal Kombat X is the tenth instalment of the Mortal Kombat series and it is accordingly the best selling fighting game in the history of the gaming industry. The Mortal Kombat series overall has now sold over 35 million units since its debut in the 90's. Furthermore, Mortal Kombat X is in the top ten of the best selling games in 2015, just as fortune.com says "violence sells".
The graphic violence in this game however has concerned the public. News articles say that Mortal Kombat X may be too violent for gamers and ever returning fans. As technology has advanced, graphics for photo-realistic games have got better. This game has took the advantages of the better graphics and have made brutalities and fatalities, gory and graphic. This article contains a video which displays the review of some of the fans watching the brutalities/fatalities which the characters perform.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/mortal-kombat-x-s-graphic-fatalities-may-be-too-violent-for-some-fans-1.3027034

As the above link shows an article questioning whether the fatalities in game may be too violent, the link below contains a video in which shows some of the new fatalities and brutalities played by the character "Leatherface" which is going to be released in the new DLC Mortal Kombat XL/ Kombat pack 2. As a gamer I believe that this fatalities and brutalities are very fitting for the game, however they are very gruesome and can make people feel uncomfortable.

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2016/02/29/mortal-kombat-x-every-leatherface-fatality-x-ray-and-brutality-in-1080p-60fps

The cultural impact of the game overall is huge in the gaming industry and social culture. In 2012, John Tobias said: "If you look at any other pop culture phenomenon—like if you look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for instance—it became popular at the time right around when Mortal Kombat became popular, and it had its highs and lows, and here they are once again talking about a major motion picture. That’s because of its place in pop culture. It’s always there for someone to pick up, polish off, blow the dust off of it, and re-release it. And Mortal Kombat will always be that way. It’ll be around 50 years from now."
http://gameological.com/2012/10/interview-mortal-kombat-cocreator-john-tobias/

In the 1990's "waves of imitators began to flood the market, filling arcades with a sea of blood". It has been said that the Mortal Kombat series had unearthed an era of exploitation games, fighting games, games in which contain blood and gore, however, due to the blood and gore in the Mortal Kombat series, it has appeared in many court cases . For 18 years, people in Australia have been trying to get Mortal Kombat banned. Australian censors refused classification for the game in which banned the series overall.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/it-took-18-years-but-mortal-kombat-is-finally-banned/story-e6frfrt9-1226014699735

In 1998 there was a bill to regulate video game violence which was sponsored by Barry Silver as it "has affected the moral fiber of our youth". Below is some evidence on the game having effect on the younger generation. There was a case of the game being responsible for a death of a 7 year old called Zoe Garcia. The 7 year old girl was being babysat by Heather Trujillo and her boyfriend Lamar Roberts. Both of them were charged with child abuse. It was said in a report that they were both using Mortal Kombat moves on Zoe Garcia in December 2007.
http://kotaku.com/5021628/one-mortal-kombat-killer-avoids-prison-term


Back in may 29th 1995, there was a newspaper article about women being put in Mortal Kombat. People believed that this was a bad move for them to put females in a violent game. Quoted by "kinder" Mortal Kombat 2 shows some "of the most violent possibilities are against women", meaning that the moves performed on the female characters are the most violent ones in game.  It is said that the fatalities in which the female characters performed were "highly eroticized". Following on from the characters moves being highly eroticized, the artists were sent back to reinvent the clothes for the female characters as they were apparently "not as clothed as they should have been". In defense of this publication, Michaelene Christini Risley, group director in charge of licensing and character development of Sega of America stated that the game is "not the real world" and that "videos games are about entertainment".
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1683&dat=19950529&id=BKMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7CwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2542,4532180&hl=en



The violence within the game isn't the only problem in this equation. Another problem with the game which has been publicly spoken about is the release of this game for the older generation consoles, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was announced that the game was going to be released on all platforms, including the two older generation consoles, however, when it came to pre-ordering the game, fans was looking forward to the game being released on June 30th 2015. It was then later announced that the game was going to be released in the fall of 2015 so fans were unsure of when the game was going to be released. The release date was pushed forward to the 31st of December 2015 as even game shops were unsure on the release. Further on in the year, it was then announced that the game was cancelled for the older generation consoles.





The Mortal Kombat series is known for the reason behind why age ratings was introduced in the gaming industry. The ELSPA rated Mortal Kombat as Mature, in which meaning it was for 17+. Then the PEGI ratings were introduced in 2003, the PEGI rating is most commonly used on games instead of the ELSPA. Below are two screenshots which display the age rating for Mortal Kombat X on PS4 and Xbox One.

   

  Mortal Kombat X 
    Warner Brothers Entertainment UK Ltd

 The content of this game is suitable for persons aged 18 years and over only.
It contains: Extreme violence - Violence towards defenceless people - Strong language
This game allows the player to interact with other players ONLINE

System: PlayStation 4
Genre: Action
Releasedate: 2015-04-14

   

 Mortal Kombat X 
 Warner Brothers Entertainment UK Ltd

The content of this game is suitable for persons aged 18 years and over only.
  It contains: Extreme violence - Violence towards defenceless people - Strong      language
  This game allows the player to interact with other players ONLINE

System: Xbox One
Genre: Action
Releasedate: 2015-04-14

Mortal Kombat X didn't only receive negative feedback from fans and the media. The game won the title of "Best fighting game" from The Game Awards 2015 and it was in the top 10 of best selling games in 2015. Mortal Kombat X is the fast selling game of the series and when it was released, it was one of the UK's second fastest selling release games in 2015.  The fact they have the game available on so many different platforms adds to their sales in which made the game the fast selling game of it series. [1] Furthermore, a lot of fans have been very excited for the long anticipated DLC which has been released. What makes the game good is that is was one of first to put on the newer generation consoles and the fact it has taken advantage of the graphics excellently. This game also has a ESL Pro League tournament in which fans can battle it out with one another in game to win a cash prize.  This creates a lot of hype for the game as returning fans will want to participate and watch the battles carry out. This also gives fans an opportunity to cosplay as characters within the game. [2]

Early rating on the game (just after release) are:

80/100 from Gamertime
"The superior display of NetherRealm Studio proves that the "king" is back and he is here to stay"

9/10 from Thisgengaming
"I thought it would be hard to top Mortal Kombat 9" but Netherrealm Studio's proved me wrong with this excellent game"

4/5 from PC gaming forum
"The presentation is great with nice slick UI and a good movie-like campaign"


Personally, I think this game is great. I have played this game on the PC and on Xbox One and i have found this game very enjoyable yet rage-worthy. I play this game with my friends as i find it is most fun to play that way. The "test your might" tower mode in this, I played against my friend and i found it very competitively fun. The difficulty level of the tower makes me want to go back and keep trying until I defeat the tower. When it comes to the fight in general, the graphics are excellent and performing fatalities (for me) is an added bonus onto my boasting rights for winning the match.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/14/2015-npd-the-10-best-selling-games-of-the-year/ [1]

http://en.pro.eslgaming.com/mkx/proleague/ [2]

http://www.lazygamer.net/gaming-news/xbox/xbox-one/early-mortal-kombat-x-reviews-positive/ [3]