The next entry in the Mortal Kombat series has finally been announced and NetherRealm Studios is taking us back to the very beginning of the story. Mortal Kombat 1 — which launches on September 19 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC — is set to be a “new beginning for the franchise,” according to series co-creator Ed Boon.
We’ve still got a few months until the launch of what will essentially be a reboot, and the trailer didn’t give us a look at any gameplay, but the studio did confirm that there will be a beta of the game made available before its full release. Here’s what you need to know.
We don’t know the exact date of the MK1 beta just yet, but it’s likely that it will be up sometime in August ahead of the game’s September launch.
In order to access the beta, you’ll need to preorder the game. Preorders for MK1 are expected to go live on May 19 — we’ll have more information here on retailers when those go live. Unfortunately, the beta will only be accessible on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. In addition to getting beta access, anyone who preorders MK1 will also obtain Shang Tsung as an exclusive character.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?