Buried within the latest blog update from God of War and Twisted Metal producer David Jaffe is mention that at one point, someone, somewhere thought a Twisted Metal arcade game was a good idea and that there were hazy plans for Midway and Sony to collaborate on such a product. While that obviously never bore fruit — and more than likely never, ever will — to know that vehicular combat could have come to a Midway arcade cabinet is morbidly fascinating.

Jaffe writes that he met with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon way back in the mid-nineties to discuss such a venture, but that "nothing - clearly - ever came of it".

Of course, this was when arcades were still viable and Twisted Metal was but a fledgling series. They were also the heady days of Cruis'n World and War Gods, two indicators that it was probably best for all involved that Twisted Metal Arcade never saw the light of day.

Still, we'd love to have a peek into the alternate universe where it did. If only for the laughs!

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2008 [DavidJaffe.biz]

Sitting down with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon at Comic-Con last week, we chatted about the developer's latest creation Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This was after some extended play time with newly released characters Shang Tsung and Catwoman, both gobs of fun to play.

Having already discussed the previous take on Mortal Kombat 8 at length — with Boon telling me that it had been scrapped in favour of MK vs. DCU and that the ninth proper entry in the series may take it back to its ultra-violent roots — I wondered how much sleep Boon and crew had lost over the decision to junk that, instead adding a bunch of out of place superheroes.

Given that MK vs. DCU has no plans to introduce any new Mortal Kombat characters to the mythos — Boon called the MK side a "greatest hits" line up — how did the team feel fans would react to the inclusion of DC's finest? (The other "Vs". option Boon told us about chilled us to the bone, by the way.)

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Ed Boon from Midway and Jimmy Palmiotti of DC Comics announced four new additions to the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe roster at Comic-Con today, including Green Lantern and The Joker from the DC side, with Jax and Kitana returning on the MK side. Boon also announced that Mr. Palmiotti himself would be squirreled away in the game as an unlockable character. He'd be very well hidden, Boon said, with a Johnny Cage-like model shown on screen.

We also got a look at some new environments, including the Fortress of Solitude, and a look at Captain Marvel's in-game model.

Boon also announced that an MK vs. DC comic book would included in the limited edition of the game, illustrated by John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series. The game's final boss and a the remaining line-up of fighters was promised to be announced over the next few months.

We sat down with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon tonight to chat about his latest project, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe. Once again, we pestered Mr. Boon about the scrapped version of Mortal Kombat 8, once described by the long-term Midway dev as being heavily inspired by the look of Gears of War.

While that grittier, darker version of MK didn't make it far beyond the technology development stages — Boon told us there was little in the way of concept art for the grimier spin on the series — the next next Mortal Kombat may strive for more blood, more violence, more of everything that warrants an M-rating.

The artistic vision of a less saturated, less Superman filled fighter is still swimming around Boon's head, a title that may rest on the success of MK vs. DC. We spent more time with the crossover fighter tonight and talked with Boon about plenty of other MK-related topics. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of our conversation.

At last year's Midway Gamers Day, Mortal Kombat co-creator and series overlord Ed Boon talked up the then-unnamed eighth entry in the franchise. Boon described Mortal Kombat 8 at the time as "very dark, serious" and "gritty" take on the series, a back to basics reboot that was free of "vibrant, saturated colours". It was said to be heavily inspired by the look of Gears of War.

Obviously, that didn't quite happen; Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe did. Boon said that the down and dirty MK8 was scrapped when the DC Comics deal solidified.

While MK Vs. DCU was met with mixed results, it wasn't an unexpected by the MK team. Frankly, we were pleasantly surprised by the game — despite our very much looking forward to the team's previous vision — and think that will show when we post our impressions of the Midway fighter later today.

If you're going to next month's San Diego Comic-Con and think that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a fantastic idea, we have good news. Well, Midway has good news, as it has announced a Comic-Con panel dedicated to the fighting game series reboot. "Worlds Collide: The Making of Midway's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe" will go down Friday, July 25th and features MK creator Ed Boon and DC Comics collaborator Jimmy Palmiotti rappin' about the crossover, showing off "never-before-seen gameplay" and unveiling "key characters".

They're also giving away posters! Hopefully, said posters feature Wonder Woman and Sonya Blade for extra poster-kissability. For those who aren't able to make the trek to Comic-Con, perhaps these day old MK vs. DC in-game screenshots will soothe the pain.

If you're a PlayStation The Official Magazine subscriber, you already know that Flash will be joining the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe roster, along with an impressively chesty Sonya Blade. If not, well, there you go. The speedy champion of Central City is going to rep the DC side in Midway's upcoming brawler, bringing the confirmed list of DC heroes to three. How many others from the DC stable will appear?

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When Midway announced at their recent Gamers Day event in Las Vegas that the Mortal Kombat franchise was going to get a boost from the superheros and superheroines of the DC universe, it made us wonder, "Why?!?" It also made us wonder, "Hey, what about those signature fatalities? Surely, Kano can't rip out the heart of Blue Beetle and get away with that." Given that Ed Boon says the game is locked in at a T-rating, that particular fatality is probably out. And Superman may be a dick, but he's not a murderer.

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Witness Mortal Kombat kreator Ed Boon trying to explain how the whole Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe things is supposed to make sense. Apparently it is all about magic! Every thing will make sense when you play the story mode! No. There is no way in hell you can make this pairing make sense. Maybe, just maybe if DC runs a mini-series before the game comes out they could make the concept slightly less than laughable. My hopes got up when Boon said the words shattering...I thought he was going to say jaws, but no. Shattering masks. Woot. I think he neatly sums things up at the end of the interview. It's all about the novelty.

Mortal Kombat Vs. The DC Universe, announced last week, doesn't sound so bad. But did you know that we almost had Mortal Kombat Vs. Street Fighter in its place? Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon recently revealed that:

I did a couple of write-ups and whatnot on it, and sometimes we'd get really close to it but issues like our representative for the other company left the company for some reason, and that reset the whole thing back to beginning.

[Ed note: contrary to Boon's statement, the game actually did go through. But upon hitting store shelves, Mortal Kombat Vs. Street Fighter Annihilation Vs. Dark Horse Comics Or Something set of a massive "Big Boom" explosion, eventually ceasing life as we know it before restarting the entire cycle again over billions and billions of years. Notably, the game only received a 75 on IGN, begging the question, "was it really worth it?"]

Ed Boon Interview [CVG via N4G]