Mortal Kombat X Enhanced Online Beta coming soon

NetherRealm Studios promised us big news, and yesterday the developer revealed the future of Mortal Kombat X online play.

Starting next week, NetherRealm will begin sign ups for the "new and improved" online play. As explained by community manager Tyler Lansdown, the team is "mov[ing] away from the dyanmic input latency model towards a model that preserves the feel of an offline game more accurately while playing online and maintains a consistent input response."

The studio is moving to a model that is "similar in function" to GGPO, which can be described as a "roll back simulate forward model."

"This means that our engine will no longer have to wait for both players to agree on input before drawing its results to the screen. This creates a smoother gameplay experience and diminishing the feel of lag in online play," explained Lansdown.

Signups for the Mortal Kombat X Enhanced Online Beta will begin on Tuesday, January 19th. Anyone who has spent at least one hour playing Mortal Kombat X online previously is eligible to sign up; however, not everyone will be invited immediately. More players will be added to the beta over time.

Only four characters will be playable at the beginning of the beta: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Jackie Briggs, and Johnny Cage. More characters will be introduced as the beta progresses.

Earlier this week, NetherRealm also revealed gameplay of the four characters — Triborg, Bo' Rai Cho, Leatherface, and the Xenomorph from Alien — coming to Mortal Kombat X in the Kombat Pack 2.