For a game that's always been darker and grittier than its rival Street Fighter, the new Mortal Kombat has a surprising amount of...beauty to it.

The game's art style sets the same tone the rest of it does: a return to not just the roots of the series but the business of fighting, and nothing says Mortal Kombat like moody, moonlit nights and people dressed like they're in a comic book from the 1990s.

Working with Mortal Kombat developers NetherRealm, British concept art house Atomhawk was responsible for the character and environment design seen in the game. In this gallery you can see some examples of the work they did, including some examples of stage art as well as the changes and updates made to the look of several of Mortal Kombat's most iconic characters.

Be sure to click on "expand" to see them in all their glory!

[Atomhawk]

Since the first game's debut in 1996, the Pokémon family has grown to number in the hundreds. Want to see what they all look like in one place? Look no further.

Here are all 646 Pokémon, the complete roster up to and including those featured in the latest games, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White.

It's the work of Japanese artist and Pokémon super-fan Jippe. You can check out the artist's homepage, with plenty more Pokémon art, at the link below.

[0.5kcal]

Cheese is great. It really is. So are PixelJunk's games, like PixelJunk Shooter 2 for the PS3.

Check out this wonderfully depressing PixelJunk ad as well as this totally bizarre one.

This is quite silly, but somebody asked me, "Wouldn't Wii 2 be 'Weenie' in Japanese?" Well, not quite.

"Two" in Japanese can read as "ni" (ニ) so theoretically "Wii 2" could be "Wii ni", aka "weenie", aka "schlong", "dick", "woody", "trouser snake" - you name it!

That's theoretical, however, because nobody in Japan would actually read "Wii 2" as "weenie". "Wii" looks to be a foreign word, so the "2" would be read as "two" (ツー), just like with the PlayStation 2 or Street Fighter II or even game developer CyberConnect2. Nobody says "ni".

Even if they did read it as "weenie", the word "weenie" is written as ウィニー, while Wii is written as ウィー with the dash meaning a longer sound. "Ni" (ニ) as a number doesn't have a long sound, so there is a slight difference in how it would be read even if someone cocked up, er, messed up reading "2".

Even less of a concern is that Nintendo probably won't be calling the console "Wii 2".

Fun fact: In Japan, Nippon Ham makes a sausage product called "Winny" (weenie).

[Pic]

Last month, a display at San Jose State University let visitors play Minecraft outside the confines of a computer, using little paper cubes and little paper tools.

It was called "Real World Minecraft", and was basically just a giant creative free-for-all: people could walk up and just built whatever they wanted from the tools at hand.

Interestingly, the organisers claim that upon observation people played Real World Minecraft the same way they played Minecraft. Experienced heads would dive straight underground to find rare ore, while others would try and build fancy things out of dirt. Others still would just watch bemused as it all went down.

While the installation at SJSU is now over, the exhibit survives, so if you'd like to host it at a gallery or other space near you, you can contact the team at the link below.

[Real World Minecraft, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

I'm ready to talk Wii 2. You're ready. But Shigeru Miyamoto? So not ready.

"Don't ask!" the Mario creator told Edge. "Even when the Wii launched we were developing new hardware, work on 3DS had already started. It's a matter of when we announce it."

In the past Nintendo has said that it is always working on new hardware - which, of course, makes sense. It's just a matter of what is actually released and what is not (hello Wii Vitality Sensor).

So when pressed on whether the new console will be shown at the E3 gaming expo in June, Miyamoto replied, "Please wait. Be patient until we decide."

The console is apparently code named "Project Cafe", and it will be a pricy, high-tech game machine. Kotaku has heard that the new machine will be more powerful than current generation machines like the PS3 and Xbox 360.

According to our sources, the console's controller will have a touchscreen, two analog sticks and a camera.

While Miyamoto is asking players to wait, Nintendo can't wait too long and kick back to, say, 2014. That's when insiders tell Kotaku that Microsoft and Sony are targeting for their new game consoles.

Miyamoto Admits Wii Successor Is Coming [Edge]

Why plan Monopoly over a little board and pieces of plastic when you can grab your phone, get off your ass and take over the real world?

Turf Geography Club is an iPhone game currently in development that combines geography-based app FourSquare with Monopoly's "take over the city" mechanic. The more you get around, the more gold coins you amass. The more coins you have, the more properties you can buy, or the more you can upgrade the ones you already own (and get coins when other people visit).

The game's creator, Michael Tseng, reckons he needs $15,000 to turn this concept into a commercial product, so he's started a Kickstarter page to get things moving.

[via GameSetWatch]

Action game Shadows of the Damned, which is being designed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and No More Heroes developer Goichi Suda, is being pushed from its June 7 release date to June 21. [via GameSpot]

Dancer Hokuto "Hok" Konishi isn't usually on crutches, but he tore part of his achilles and paroneal tendon while practicing. Bummed, he tried to figure out how he could dance with what working resources he still had - his arms, hands and fingers. And nothing quite says "upbeat" like Mario music.

Hey Europe, this weekend, the class system that normally divides Xbox Live between paying and non-paying subscribers is being torn down.

That means for April 23-24, anyone with an Xbox Live account can indulge in online multiplayer. The purpose? Microsoft is shooting for a bullshit (read: sponsored) world record, and wants as many people playing Kinect Sports online as it can muster.

The good news is, if you're European, the offer extends to all games. The bad news? If you're anywhere else, you get free access for the weekend too, but only for Kinect Sports.

[Microsoft][picture credit]