Video game fans are probably one of the hardest groups to please. Last year, when the Mortal Kombat Rebirth trailer came out, fans where out of their skin and wanting more from director/creator Kevin Tancharoen and his crazy adaptation of the classic gaming universe.

Now that Warner Bros and Machinima have brought that world to the internet in a weekly webseries titled Mortal Kombat: Legacy, that initial group of fans has been split. One side loves everything Tancharoen is doing with the universe, in rebooting each of the characters and their origins. The other, however, is more than outraged at how Tancharoen is “bastardizing their childhoods” with his changes.

In the latest episode, we get a preface explaining the world. Let’s see if this makes a difference to the haters. Here’s the synopsis.

The following episode represents director Kevin Tancharoen’s “different take on the Mortal Kombat universe,” combining the perfect amount of gritty realism mixed with a hint of mysticism… When Lord Raiden, God of Thunder and protector of Earth, finds himself in an earthly mental institution in the year 2011, his ‘delusions’ are treated with some rather primitive forms of therapy (involving an ECT machine and an ice pick).

Nonetheless, Blue, his beautiful, fragile yet insane fellow inmate, is Raiden’s only hope of escaping the mental hospital and making his way to the Mortal Kombat tournament to defend Earthrealm from Shao Khan.

Things definitely get dark in this episode. Check it out after the jump.

We’ve been following developments on the new, upcoming digital series Mortal Kombat: Legacy for some time now. First, when it was just a really cool short film and later when it was given the green light and turned into a full blow series.

Now, we’re glad to bring you the official word that the new series has a premiere date and where you’ll be able to watch it. According to a press release, the show will premiere on April 12th and be exclusively on the website Machinima.com, one of YouTube’s largest entertainment networks.

The series is directed by Kevin Tancharoen and stars Jeri Ryan as “Sonya Blade,” Michael Jai White as “Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs” and Darren Shahlavi as “Kano,” and will “take gamers deep into the history of the warriors they know and love.”

“With over 500 million monthly video views and 50 million monthly viewers, Machinima has the world’s most highly-engaged gaming audience, which makes this agreement with Warner Bros. such a great fit,” said Allen DeBevoise, Chairman and CEO of Machinima, Inc. “Mortal Kombat is an epic franchise with a rich story and characters, we’re truly excited to bring ‘Mortal Kombat: Legacy’ to our community.

With our global scale and reach, we can now drive greater engagement and viewership than anyone for entertainment properties that fit our young, male-centric demo. Kevin’s new incarnation of the Mortal Kombat franchise is precisely the type of world-class, high-octane action content that our audience will love.”

Sounds cool. We’ll be there on April 12th. In the meantime, check out a preview scene for the series after the break.

A few weeks back, we announced that Warner Bros. independent production company, Warner Premiere, was taking Kevin Tancharoen’s Mortal Kombat: Rebirth fan short and extending it into a full web series.

Now, as production continues, 3 players from the original short have been cast in the new series. So fans of Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade, Michael Jai White as Jax, and now Darren Shahlavi as Kano now have plenty to get excited about. Here’s the official press release.

Warner Premiere today announced initial casting for their upcoming live-action digital new media series “Mortal Kombat” which is based on the iconic gaming franchise. Jeri Ryan, (“Star Trek: Voyager”) will reprise her role as the headstrong “Lieutenant Sonya Blade” from the unofficial fan short. She is joined by Michael Jai White (“The Dark Knight”) as “Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs” and Darren Shahlavi (“300”) as the sly and cunning “Kano.”

Kevin Tancharoen who directed and produced the popular, unofficial “Mortal Kombat: Rebirth” fan short that garnered over 10 million views worldwide, is bringing the same immersive directing style to this live-action digital new media series. Fans will be able to delve deep into the history of the warriors they know and love including “Sub-Zero” and “Scorpion.” Shooting for “Mortal Kombat” is currently underway in Vancouver.

The web series is expected to premiere later this Spring.

Back in June, we brought you the very interesting web video that was circulating to just about everyone in the video game and film world. The film was titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, and had no legal ties to the Acclaim game, but re-envisioned the classic characters in a modern, crime-ridden world.

The short came from video game diehard Kevin Tancharoen, the director behind 2009’s remake of the classic musical Fame (talk about a leap, eh?). The internets were all abuzz after the video was released, with the most outrageous being that this was actually a trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat film, and they had secretly been shooting the thing for months.

Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Yes, Warner Bros. is working on a film reboot of the franchise with Oren Uziel writing a script, but this isn’t it. It looks like the studio is passing on Tancharoen’s vision of the film, and instead he’s taking his idea to the web in the form of a 10-episode web series.

Not much is known about production or distribution, but the webseries is set to begin filming next month in Vancouver. So fear not, MK fans, you’ll still get your gritty, crime-drama world (and possibly Michael Jai White), just not on the big screen.

For those who missed the short film back in June when it hit, you can check it out after the jump.