Next year’s Mortal Kombat won’t be the first game that to include exclusive characters for specific consoles. In fact, Soul Calibur has been doing it for a while now.  Nor will the game be the first fighter to utilize downloadable content.  Street Fighter and BlazBlue have offered tons of new costumes and even a new fighter.  Mortal Kombat may, however, be the first fighting game to offer downloadable moves for characters.  More than that, it will offer different moves depending on where the game is pre-ordered.

Pre-ordering the game at GameStop will allow players to use Scorpion’s classic “Flame Breath” Fatality, while a Best Buy pre-order will open up Sub-Zero’s “Spine Rip” Fatality, and Amazon customers will receive access to Reptile’s “Head Snack” Fatality.  Gamers will also have the option to play with these respective characters in their classic MK1 duds.

While it hasn’t been confirmed by Warner Bros. or Netherrealm Studios, one can assume that these will be timed console exclusives, and that eventually, all players will be able to purchase the Fatalities and costumes as DLC at some point.  At this point, though, we don't know that for sure.

Warner Bros. has also announced that Mortal Kombat will be released in both a Kollector’s Edition and a Tournament Edition, for all those non-existent Mortal Kombat tournaments.  The Kollector’s Edition will include Sub-Zero and Scorpion mini-figures, an art book, and DLC for “Klassic costume skins” and Avatar clothes.  The limited edition (20,000) Tournament Edition will include the game, the DLC pack, and a “portable fight stick.”

With all this “Exclusive” content kontent, it’s hard to believe that Microsoft hasn’t purchased room for its own exclusive character on its version of the game.  I expect an announcement about Marcus Fenix, Master Chief, or another Microsoft-exclusive character soon.