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!

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!

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.

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.

Developing Mortal Kombat for PS Vita was an incredibly rewarding experience for the team here at NetherRealm Studios. The ability to utilize the numerous new features available on PS Vita was a very gratifying mission, and we are delivering the best possible on-the-go fighting experience for fans.

Our design team jumped at the opportunity to devise 150 new Challenge Tower missions that incorporate the DLC characters (like Freddy Krueger!), while also integrating the front touchscreen and accelerometer in ways that made sense and enhanced the complete Mortal Kombat experience.

The artists enjoyed creating some excellent new costumes (still to be revealed!), as well as re-creating an iconic MKII arena that integrates the rear camera that will give players the ability to literally Fight Anywhere.

Our programmers worked diligently to make sure the players’ experience of Mortal Kombat on PS Vita was pristine and up to NetherRealm standards: fine tuning controls (while adding new controls, such as touchcreen Fatalities and X-Rays!) and displaying gameplay at a smooth 60 frames per second.

With all of these features, two new exclusive modes (Test Your Balance and Test Your Slice) and both ad-hoc (local) and WiFi (intrastructure) Versus mode options, we had an amazing time this past weekend at PAX East 2012 showing Mortal Kombat for PS Vita to fans. We had quite a few fans come back and bring their friends to show them the new features—and to challenge them to some old-fashioned 1 vs 1 Kombat. It definitely made all of the work and love we put into this version of Mortal Kombat worth it.

This new trailer definitely captures the spirit of what we were trying to do with Mortal Kombat for PS Vita. Give it a watch and let us know what you think in the comments!

It’s official: Spring Fever has been elevated to a full-on pandemic and gamers everywhere are showing symptoms. Case in point: our week-one title Journey has become the fastest-selling PSN title ever released by SCEA! Due to the overwhelming response to Spring Fever, we are delivering a bonus week packed with more special offers, starting with the multiplayer car combat game Wheels of Destruction and a 20% discount for PlayStation Plus members!

Wheels of Destruction‘s vehicular mayhem gives you tons of awesome weapons to decimate your enemies in the multiplayer arena. You can learn more about Wheels of Destruction in a series of dev diaries and videos here.

If automotive ultraviolence isn’t your bag, we hope you got a chance to check out PSN’s fastest-selling game Journey, an immersive online adventure that has enchanted gamers and critics alike. Journey is one trip you won’t want to miss, providing a deeply personal experience in which your path crosses with other players in unusual ways. You’ll also want to explore the eerie puzzles of Closure, last week’s highly reviewed Spring Fever entry.

Also arriving with this final week of Spring Fever is a deep 30% discount for Mortal Kombat content, with PlayStation Plus subscribers getting a whopping 50% off! Choose from any of the DLC packs for WB Interactive’s 2011 fighter Mortal Kombat, or pick up Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection and Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe! They’re a bloody good time.

Read on for the full list of this week’s Spring Fever releases.

Wheels of Destruction

• PS3 Game (Reg. $9.99, PS Plus $7.99)

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection

• PS3 Game (Reg. $9.99, Sale $6.99, PS Plus $4.89)

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

• PS3 Game (Reg. $19.99, Sale $13.99, PS Plus $9.79)

Mortal Kombat

• DLC Warrior Bundle (Reg. $14.99, Sale $10.49, PS Plus $7.34)
• Warrior Freddy Krueger (Reg. $4.99, Sale $3.49, PS Plus $2.44)
• Warrior Kenshi (Reg. $4.99, Sale $3.49, PS Plus $2.44)
• Warrior Rain (Reg. $4.99, Sale $3.49, PS Plus $2.44)
• Warrior Skarlet (Reg. $4.99, Sale $3.49, PS Plus $2.44)
• Klassic Skins Pack 1 (Reg. $4.99, Sale $3.49, PS Plus $2.44)

When we set out to create PS Vita, we were determined to deliver the best handheld gaming experience the industry has ever seen, an experience that would rival current consoles and set the bar infinitely higher for those exploring the portable gaming space. In the year following its announcement, you’ve heard us throw around words like “revolutionary,” “innovative,” “game-changing” and more. In the past few weeks, fans like yourselves and members of the press have begun to share in our sentiments. Early reviews have hailed PS Vita as “the best handheld ever made” and “the most advanced portable gaming system ever made.” It’s clear that PS Vita is making a phenomenal impression on gamers across the world.

Once you have your PS Vita in hand, the choices are yours. With 25 titles available at launch, more than 70 others in development, and fan-favorite franchises such as Call of Duty, UNCHARTED, Assassin’s Creed, Resistance, Mortal Kombat and new IP like Unit 13 coming to your PS Vita, the hardest decision will be where to start. Our goal is to ensure that PS Vita owners are never without new entertainment choices. We’ve worked hard to create a lineup of great content unlike anything you’ve ever seen from a handheld gaming device and to add social features, services and functionality the will continuously enhance those great experiences anytime, anywhere.

We know that PlayStation has the best fans in the business and we want to thank you for your ongoing passion and dedication. For those of you who may just be joining the PlayStation Nation we say “welcome” and to every proud new owner of a PlayStation Vita…we hope you never stop playing.

Check out our upcoming events below and go to Vita-Hill.com to learn more about upcoming events in your city.

Mortal Kombat Take Over

When: February 24th, 6:00 to 9:00pm local time
Where: Vita Hill social clubs in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco (directions and info)
On February 24th from 6:00 to 9:00pm, get first hands-on with Mortal Kombat at Vita Hill Social Clubs nationwide and experience the world’s deadliest tournament in the palm of your hand! Mortal Kombat for PS Vita delivers new gameplay features and tons of new content developed exclusively for the revolutionary handheld system. Mortal Kombat features an all-new Challenge Tower II mode with 150 brand-new missions that push PS Vita’s capabilities to the max. No punches pulled! Mortal Kombat Vita brings all of the bone-breaking action from the 2011 console release for on-the-go gaming with all the warriors, including Kratos! Come and get your hands on the future of portable fighting in our special Vita Hill event.

Little Deviants Tournament

When: February 26th, 3:00 to 5:00pm local time
Where: Vita Hill social clubs in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco (directions and info)
On February 26th from 3:00 to 5:00pm, get deviant with PS Vita! Players will have five minutes to play specific games chosen by our Vita Hill staff. Every two players will have a dedicated staff member to look over your shoulder (no cheating!) to record your score. In five minutes, players have to get their best score on the mini game. Winners move onto the next round to play another mini game until there is only ONE left. So stop by during the week to practice your Little Deviants moves.

I’ve got good news, and I’ve got good news. First, the good news: Based on my recent hands-on play sessions, Mortal Kombat on PS Vita plays identically to its PS3 counterpart. That means fluid 60 frames-per-second fighting, lush presentation, and every bit of content from the console version. That includes the critically acclaimed Story mode, a full character roster, the Krypt, the works. It’s all here, baby.

I also tried out a series of local (non-internet) Wifi multiplayer matches, and I’m happy to report that the game felt smooth and responsive with no perceptible lag. If you’re skeptical, watch the video above to see local multiplayer — and my hairy, hairy paws — in action. One thing to note is that the PS Vita version supports up to two players in Wifi multiplayer, not four as in the PS3 version.

Now for the good news: The PS Vita version adds an ambitious array of extra content, starting with every piece of DLC ever released on PS3. That means you’ll be able to play as Freddy Krueger, Kenshi, Rain, and Skarlet from day one, and select MK1 and MK2 retro-styled costumes to drape over your male and female ninja characters. The Vita version sweetens the pot with 15 more exclusive costumes, including MK3-styled garb for the ninjas. Not a bad start, but it gets better.

If you read PlayStation.Blog’s exclusive interview with Ed Boon, you’ll know that Netherrealm Studios has prepared an all-new Challenge Tower II mode that’s exclusive to PS Vita. I went hands-on with four of the 150 total new challenges, more than half of which take advantage of PS Vita’s touchscreen and sixaxis motion sensors in novel (and challenging!) ways:

One challenge tasked me with juggling a character using ground-based missile launchers, which I activated by tapping the touchscreen. It felt a bit like hacky sack combined with the old Atari game Missile Command, and it’s a lot of fun.

In another challenge, Raiden’s head inflated every time my opponent landed a blow. To win the match, I had to conquer my attacker while deflating Raiden’s head via the touchscreen. If Raiden’s head grew too big, or I tapped it too much, it popped. Fail!

The tougher challenges will strain your multitasking abilities. In Bloody Mess, I had to frantically wipe blood off the screen to avoid being blinded…not easy when you’re fending off the blade-slinging mutant Baraka.

In another challenge, I had to detonate lethal homing missiles using the touchscreen while dueling the cybernetic assassin Sektor.

Some of the new challenges will focus on the four new characters — Freddy, Kenshi, Rain, and Skarlet — who didn’t factor into the PS3 game’s Challenge Tower due to their release as DLC.

The final game will also include two new bonus modes in the spirit of the Test Your Might minigames. In Test Your Balance, you’re challenged with balancing on a beam and using PS Vita’s sixaxis motion sensor to adjust your balance…while you’re being pelted with body parts. Fail, and you’ll plummet to a gory death (which I won’t spoil here). There will be a second Vita-exclusive minigame as well, but Netherrealms Studios is keeping this under wraps for the
time being.

And yes, there will be new Trophies. What questions do you have about Mortal Kombat for PS Vita? Fire away in the comments and I’ll do my best to serve up answers.