With more and more developers choosing to develop cross platform rather than exclusives for a specific console, the trend seems to be for the console makers to gain some form of exclusive content for those titles. Activision’s Call of Duty has an exclusive deal with the Xbox, allowing the 360 to release expansions a full month before the PS3 and PC, while PS3 just received exclusive missions for Assassins Creed: Brotherhood. Now it appears that developer NetherRealm Studios has negotiated a deal with the PS3 to bring the character of Kratos from the God of War series into the Mortal Kombat world as a playable character.
Fans of SoulCaliber will recognize the tactic, as previous games in that series have shipped with characters that are exclusive to each system. When SoulCalibur II was released, the Gamecube received the playable character of Link from the Legend of Zelda series, the PS3 got Tekken’s Heihachi, and the Xbox saw the comic charater of Spawn, so the idea of exclusive characters being used in a fighting game is nothing new.
This won’t be Kratos’ first foray into the arena either. The character appeared as a playable fighter in the PSP exclusive title SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny.
No word yet on who, or if the Xbox 360 might see unlocked, as Kratos is exclusive to the Mortal Kombat that will be released on PS3. You almost have to feel sorry for the other Mortal Kombat characters…
Mortal Kombat is due out on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the first half of 2011.
[Warning: Trailer may not be appropriate for all ages]