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Mortal Kombat for PS Vita has come out of the gate strong after shipping on May 1st. In just two weeks, players have clashed in hundreds of thousands of online matches across the world. With the PS Vita system players can access a complete Mortal Kombat experience on the go, whether you’re on the bus, in the library, or hanging out with friends.

There are quite a few unique features with this Vita version of Mortal Kombat. While preserving the core gameplay elements, we’ve implemented a ton of new functionalities, such as touchscreen Fatalities and X-Rays, as well as an all-new Challenge Tower II that takes advantage of the diversity of features that the PS Vita system provides.

One question that we continue to see on our official @MK_MortalKombat Twitter is: “Netherrealm, I can’t beat Mission XXX in the new Challenge Tower! Can you help?” Why, yes we can! To answer, we decided to put together some Tips and Tricks videos to outline strategies for some of the more difficult missions within the Challenge Tower II (it’s not called Easy Tower!).

Check out our video here to see our design team spill some secrets on how to master new, exclusive characters and use the new PS Vita system features to their maximum potential. Once you’re done, please share your tips in the comments section below!

#watchthis In the latest installment of CurtainsAreOnFire's Mortal Kombat Secret Character Tryouts video series, the Angry Birds get angrier, Paperboy delivers carnage, and Dr. Robotnik finally creates an obstacle course capable of murder. More »

The Vita version of Mortal Kombat is the same fantastic and content-loaded fighting game that appeared on consoles about a year ago. But this portable version of the game actually has even more to do. The four characters released as downloadable add-ons for the original game are already present, and there are even more costumes to choose from. It's gone through a year of patches and balance changes, ensuring that the version of the game you're getting on day one for the Vita has been fight-tested and tournament approved. In short, if you're a Vita owner that's open to the idea of a fighting game, Mortal Kombat is an amazing value.

I'm not going to just rehash everything I said a year ago, but 95 percent of that old review still applies here. The single-player story mode is still astoundingly deep and the challenge tower is an exciting and maddening climb. Let's talk about the differences. The Vita version gets a new challenge tower that's largely built around the Vita's touch and shake features. It's a little silly, giving you an MK-themed take on Fruit Ninja, minigames where you tap rockets with your finger before they can reach your fighter, and so on. But it's a solid change of pace that, for the most part, handles the Vita's additional control options pretty well. In fights, you can use the touch screen to perform fatalities, if you like, and you can also unleash X-ray attacks by tapping your super meter when it's full.

If you start directly comparing the Vita version of Mortal Kombat to its console counterparts, you'll notice some cutbacks. While the frame rate is perfectly smooth during the fighting, that seems to come at the expense of some of the original game's character detail. When the game zooms in close for fatalities, win poses, or pre-fight talking (which happens all the time in the game's story mode), you'll notice that the character models look a little grungy and decidedly flatter than they did on consoles. That's obviously not the end of the world, and it's surely insane to expect a handheld to perfectly match a console, but hey, consider yourself aware of the difference. Some backgrounds look a little static, as well, but overall, it's a really nice-looking Vita game. Also, the game's online mode is limited to fights with one other player, so all the chat lobby and avatar-based spectator stuff from the other versions has been cut in favor of basic splits between ranked/unranked and one-on-one/tag battle. It appears to work just fine, though I had a few games drop out after character selection had been completed and it occasionally takes a little while to match up with a player and get a game going. Once you're connected, though, fighting and voice chat (which is on at all times once you're connected) work great.

Even if you're not near a Wi-Fi connection often enough to take advantage of the multiplayer side of Mortal Kombat, there's more than enough stuff for you to do by yourself to make it worth its $40 price tag. If you're at all warm to the idea of a portable fighting game, you should absolutely pick it up.

While listening to PlayStation Blogcast in the weeks following GDC, I made a sudden realization: There are a lot of Canadian indie developers working on PlayStation titles right now.

With that realization, the PlayStation.Blog staff began planning a trip to Toronto to meet with Drinkbox Games (Tales From Space: About a Blob), Queasy Games (Sound Shapes), ][ Games (Dyad) and other indies working on PS3 and PS Vita games. Our friends at Sony Computer Entertainment Canada suggested that we invite the media and, well, we thought it only fair to include our Canadian fans in on the fun. That means you!

So here’s the formal invitation: Please join us next Tuesday for our “PlayStation <3 Canada” meetup in Toronto. You’ll get first crack at playing Canadian-born PlayStation titles such as the stereophonic side-scroller Sound Shapes (PS Vita), glorious 8-bit homage Retro City Rampage (PS3 + PS Vita), the brain-meltingly beautiful Dyad (PS3), and more that will be revealed at the event. We’ll have refreshing beverages on hand and maybe, just maybe, a musical act. Best of all, you can leave the Loonies, Toonies, hockey dollars and maple money in your wallet - this event is completely free.

Here are the details:

Facebook invite
When: Tuesday, May 8th from 530-8pm
Where: Camp Oochigeas Downtown [464 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 2S6]
What: hands-on gameplay with unreleased games
Admission: $0.00 (that’s $0.00 Canadian)

Our last Canadian meet-up was a rousing success, so we’re looking forward to meeting you again, for the first time.

Oh, and one final suggestion: Bring your PS Vita and a copy of Mortal Kombat. Sid will be in attendance and he’s got a taste for sweet, sweet Canadian blood. Will you be the one to stop him?

Developing new and inventive missions for the Bonus Challenge Tower was something our talented Design team at Netherrealm Studios jumped at. It allowed us to not only come up with unique and innovative scenarios that took advantage of the numerous PS Vita features (such as the touchscreen and the accelerometer), but also a long-awaited opportunity to create challenges based around the DLC characters that released after the launch of the PS3 version. Yes, that means Freddy Krueger missions!

With Mortal Kombat finally emerging today on PS Vita game card and via PSN, our designers at NetherRealm Studios wanted to share some of their favorite missions from the all-new Challenge Tower. We hope you guys have just as much fun playing through these missions as we had making them.

Brian Lebaron — Designer, Mortal Kombat for PS Vita
1. Missions 39 and 96: “Figure It Out”
These missions are really fun! We give the player very little info on how to pass the mission hence the “Figure It Out” title. We just drop the player into an event and the player must use the different PS Vita functionality to figure out how to get past the events or to a goal.

2. Missions 8, 36, 52, 80, and 138: “Juggle”
In these missions, you have a few missile launchers on the bottom of the screen and the player must keep the falling character from hitting the ground. It was a lot of fun tweaking the gravity and finding the sweet spot to make these really enjoyable. In one of the juggle missions you have to juggle a fat Baraka; gravity was a bit heavier for him, unlike juggling a mini Sektor.

3. Mission 50: “My Baby”
This one was an inside joke on the team for years and I decided to create a mission around it. It’s really fun: Sheeva leaves her baby and you must shoot missiles at a horde of zombies trying to get to her baby.

4. Mission 108: “Don’t Call me Yellow”
The goal is simple – you must use Reptile’s invisibility to survive for six seconds without being hit by a very angry Sektor.

5. Mission 34: “Isn’t it Marvelous”
You’ll have to wait to see why I love this mission.

Derek Kirtzic – Designer, Mortal Kombat for PS Vita
1. Mission 96: “Figure it Out II”
I really like this mission because it’s nothing like any of the other Tower missions. It has a platformer feel to it and it will take people a while to figure out.

2. Mission 84: “Arrow Pong”
Arrow pong is one of my favorite missions because the arrow progressively gets faster and faster and if you make one mistake, you have to start over. It also teaches the player the timing you need to reflect a projectile.

3. Mission 114: “Kentoichi”
This mission reminds me of the old West: 3, 2, 1 draw! Be careful to not draw too early or you’re dead.

4. Mission 51: “My Children”
This mission is unique because you start off as Freddy Krueger and you have to resurrect zombies to fight for you. I like this mission because you have to avoid Sonya’s attacks while trying to resurrect a zombie– or multiple zombies, based on how good you are.

5. Mission 117: “Kintaro Time”
In Kintaro time you play as Kintaro against four Earthrealm warriors. I have personally played this mission a dozen times just because it’s fun to play as the ultra-powerful Kintaro and use his moves against the game’s AI. There is a little learning curve to playing as Kintaro, too – it’s basically learning a whole new character.

If you’ve picked up the game already, what’s your favorite new Challenge Tower mission? Let us know in the comments!

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Today marks the beginning of something new and exciting for the Fighting Games division at Major League Gaming and PlayStation: the MLG Spring Fighter Arena. The top eight players of Warner Bros’ Mortal Kombat and Namco Bandai’s SoulCalibur V from the MLG Winter Championships will compete in what should be one of the most godlike matchups since the release of these two fighting games. With thousands of dollars on the line, these competitors will be duking it out on PS3 in hours of competitive matches.

The amount of history behind these matches is unprecedented: CDjr the reigning Mortal Kombat champion will be navigating a gauntlet of players that all have his name on a checklist of people to beat, including some of his own brothers. Over on Soul Calibur 5, the Champion Keev, from France, will look to do the same after a successful event at the MLG Winter Championships. The action starts today at 2:00pm EST until 10pm EST packed with live streams, giveaways, and a group of the most entertaining casters in fighting games. This isn’t something any fan is going to want to miss. For a full detailed explanation of players brackets and matchup times go here.

How is this happening? You can take advantage of the free main stream available for everyone’s viewing pleasure (HD junkies can get an MLG viewing pass for 4.99). In addition to the main stream, you can find tips, exhibition matches, and supporting content on the free Dr. Pepper Ultimate Access Stream. There will be grudge matches, prizes and there will most certainly be some great entertainment.

Check out the stream above and let us know what you think.

With April coming to a close, this edition of Pulse highlights several must-have titles that are newly available (The Walking Dead) and coming soon (Mortal Kombat for PS Vita). PS Vita owners should check out StarDrone Extreme, which combines dazzling pinball-like physics in a interstellar environment for some nicely addictive game play. Also, preview Mortal Kombat for PS Vita before it arrives next week featuring the Challenge Tower II mode with 50+ PS Vita-exclusive missions and new touchscreen fatalities.

Up for some zombie bashing? With the second season of The Walking Dead television series now complete, it’s a long wait until season three kicks off. But starting today, Telltale Games begins to release the first of five episodes of the new The Walking Dead game. Get a glimpse of the first episode in our video preview.

For PlayStation Plus subscribers, we’ve got a look at the two multiplayer modes of the exclusive private beta of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. And check out a preview of the upcoming game Awesomenauts featuring space frogs and giant robots that will be free to Plus Subscribers on May 1.

The Top 10 features the most popular Add-ons so far this year and new video releases include a leather-clad Kate Beckinsale mowing down Lycans in Underworld: Awakening, and a look at Syfy’s fifth and final season of Eureka.

Watch right here on the PlayStation.Blog or download HD, SD, and PS Vita versions from the PlayStation Store after today’s afternoon update. We hope you enjoy this quick look at what’s happening on PlayStation.