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This And That: Wednesday News Roundup

(Updated throughout the day.) Midway plans Mortal Kombat: Deception special editions, strips original MK out of Arcade Treasures 2, Sonic Mega Collection Plus line-up revealed.

Midway is planning to release a pair of Mortal Kombat: Deception limited edition packs, featuring a copy of the game, a metal collector's card, and a DVD consisting of a history of the game and some character videos. The PS2 and Xbox will each have their own version, too - the PS2 Premium Pack will be adorned with a picture of the lovely Sub Zero, while the Xbox "Kollector's Edition" (sharp) will be available in four different covers featuring Baraka, Mileena, Raiden and Scorpion respectively. The limited edition packs will obviously cost slightly more, and have only been confirmed for the US at this point. Oh, and on a related note, you can find the newly launched MK: Deception website at... the location we just linked.

Speaking of Midway, and indeed Mortal Kombat, it turns out that the original beat-'em-up from messrs Boon and Tobias will no longer be part of Midway Arcade Treasures 2, although both Mortal Kombat II and III remain part of the package. Another couple of games to go are Steel Talons and STUN Runner, but we've got Kozmik Kroozr and Wacko now to compensate, according to reports. You can see the rest of the so-far-unchanged Midway Arcade Treasures 2 line-up in our previous piece, and indeed check out some screenshots, including three of the original MK which are no longer valid. We're useful like that. Midway Arcade Treasures 2 should be out on PS2, Xbox and Cube later this year.

The line-up for Sonic Mega Collection Plus, the PS2 version of Sega's GameCube Sonic compendium, has apparently sneaked onto the Internet according to reports, and there are some definite changes. On the Mega Drive, Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Spinball, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine will be represented, while the Game Gear version of the latter will also be on there along with Game Gear titles Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Chaos, Sonic Drift, Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic Blast. Finally, for some reason Sega is reportedly throwing in Mega Drive titles Comix Zone, Flicky, The Ooze and Ristar, although we can't quite see the connection in each case. Any ideas? Ten points for the Flicky explanation, which we managed to haul out of the sludge of our brains earlier.