Midway has announced a new game in the "MK"-series, which was formerly widely known especially for the bloody finishing moves that you were able to perform with each character, to bring your enemy down. Tearing hearts out, ripping heads off; that was daily routine in the world of "MK".

I am speaking in the past tense, because those times seem to be gone. There will still be blood in the game, as Jeff Gerstmann pointed out after having seen a first presentation of the game, but apparently the creators want to re-think their franchise and find some other ways of serious ass-kicking apart from fatality moves. Some of those new fighting mechanics are for example called "Klose Kombat" (where the camera draws in on the characters and gives the aggressor the chance to pull of some aggressive moves which the enemy then has to counter) and "Freefall Kombat" (which allows you to go on fighting mid-air when characters are falling from parts of the multi-tiered stages that the game will include).

But the major news is: The characters from the "MK"-universe will fight against characters from the "DC"-universe. Only four characters were announced yet: Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Batman and Superman. But there is definitely more to come; how would you for example like to watch Wonder Woman fight Sonya Blade? Or what about Raiden against Green Lantern? The possibilities are nearly endless. So after hearing the first news about the new "MK"-game, one thing is easy to spot: The times, they are a-changin'. The very first teaser trailer however (watch it here), which features Batman in a fight with Sub-Zero, still looks like some serious fighting action, that could be entertaining although the usual bloodshed might be reduced.

The rebirth of the franchise is set to be released for PS3 and XBox 360 this fall.