New Mortal Kombat and R: Racing?

Having uncovered a number of potential titles for the next Grand Theft Auto game, gamers have suddenly turned their attention to mining the US Patent and Trademark Office database for gaming news (E.g. plugging in popular franchise titles and publisher names and seeing what turns up), and already we're beginning to see the fruits of their Boolean labours.

First up, we have "Mortal Kombat: Deception", filed on January 7th (complete with logo - see here) by one Midway Amusement Games. If it is what it looks like, then Mortal Kombat: Deception could well be the name of the next game in Midway's overly violent beat-'em-up series. Trademarkality!

Meanwhile, those trawling the Japanese patent and trademark database (sorry, no URL for that one) have apparently turned up "R: Racing Rivals", registered by Namco on November 4th 2003. That obviously sounds like a possible follow-up to R: Racing Evolution (shortened to R: Racing for its forthcoming European debut), Namco's disappointing next-generation Ridge Racer title.

Judging by this reporter's inbox, we can expect plenty more trademark excitement over the coming year. It should be noted, however, that filing a trademark is no guarantee of a finished product.