By Alex Lombardo and Chad Gates
It’s an old game with a new twist. Mortal Kombat, now on the PlayStation Vita, is making a strong run in the world of hand-held gaming.
Mortal Kombat is a series of video games allowing combat-based interactions between players. A player may choose a character or create their own, and battle another player to the death.
Although many Penn Manor students are loyal Mortal Kombat fans, the $249.96 price tag for the device keeps them from purchasing the Vita.
“Its way too overpriced and people aren’t willing to spend that money. But if it had more features I would be willing to buy it,” said Penn Manor student Ben Murphy.
The 960 x 544 resolution on the OLED screen with about 16 million colors combined, make some extremely crisp graphics on Sony’s latest hand-held gaming device: the PlayStation Vita.
The Vita, released Feb. 22, has been all the rage in today’s portable gaming community. The Vita showcases features such as a 5-inch multi-touch screen, a feature that allows for multiple fingers to touch the screen at once, frontal and rear cameras, and the ability to connect and play with a PlayStation 3 console.
“PS Vitas have been selling better here than in Japan,” said Michael MacEntee, an employee at the game retailer Just Press Play.
Besides the hype of the device itself, the worldwide gaming favorite, Mortal Kombat, has just been released May 1, and copies of the game have been rolling out of stores since.
“Sales have been pretty steady (since the release of the game),” said MacEntee.
The Vita version of Mortal Kombat was ported from the latest Xbox and PlayStation version but with a few special additions just for the Vita. You can now create your own fighter and even take a picture of your own face to use for your customized fighter.
This new version of Mortal Kombat now has an added feature called X-ray mode. A super meter is filled by performing combo moves against your opponent. When the meter is filled to the third level, a player can then enter X-ray mode. While in X-ray mode you are able to see through your opponents skin to view bones breaking and organs rupturing.
Maybe what fans are most excited about is the portability of the game on the new hand-held device.
“I can play Mortal Kombat wherever I want,” said Trent Schaeffer a student at Penn Manor.
IGN.com (International Gaming News) rated the game an 8.5 out of 10.
The M rated game can be purchased online or in stores today for $39.96.