Mortal Kombat kicks into gear; gamers pay tribute to a fallen friend

Celebrated Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu — best known for arranging the soundtracks to… Celebrated Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu — best known for arranging the soundtracks to most of the Final Fantasy series — is currently working on The Black Mages 2, a second album featuring rock interpretations of Final Fantasy songs. A release date has not yet been set, but Uematsu’s Japanese home page features two sample tracks, “The Skies Above” from “Final Fantasy X” and “The Man with the Machine Gun” from “Final Fantasy VIII.”

After a week at retail, Midway has announced that “Mortal Kombat: Deception” has shipped a million copies. This makes it Midway’s fastest-selling game, unseating 2002’s “Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.”

Sega has announced that American stores will see the “Sega Classic Collection” in January of next year. The PS2 anthology will include 10 Sega arcade and console classics: “Outrun,” “Golden Axe,” “Space Harrier,” “Columns,” “Fantasy Zone,” “Virtua Racer,” “Decathlete,” “Alien Syndrome,” “Monaco GP” and “Bonanza Bros. ‘ Tant R.”

Finally, in “Superhero-sized Goodbye” news, a coordinated action in the “City of Heroes” online RPG paid tribute to the passing of “Superman” himself, Christopher Reeve. Players gathered en masse, clad in their finest crime-fighting regalia, and saluted in unison to the Man of Steel, who died Sunday.