As series creator Ed Boon teased yesterday, NetherRealm Studios is working on improvements for Mortal Kombat X's online play. Things will kick off with a beta, sign ups for which will begin next week.

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　　Mortal Kombat X - Enhanced Online Beta Trailer

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　　The beta will feature the "new and improved online play," according to community manager Tyler Lansdown. It's doing this by "mov[ing] away from the dynamic 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."

　　That sounds great, but exactly how is NetherRealm planning to accomplish that? As Boon's tease suggested, the studio is moving to a model that is "similar in function" to GGPO, the acclaimed predictive netcode system used by a number of other fighting games.

　　This "can be described as a 'roll back, simulate forward' model," Lansdown explained. "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."

　　Beginning on Tuesday, January 19, you'll be able to sign up to take part in the upcoming beta on the Mortal Kombat website. In order to qualify, you'll need to have spent at least an hour playing MKX online previously. Not everyone who signs up will get in immediately, but more players will be added over time.

　　The beta will be limited in scope; it'll only offer four characters: Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Johnny Cage, and Jackie Briggs. More will be introduced throughout the beta, the length of which wasn't described.

　　NetherRealm didn't specify which platforms the beta will be available on. We'll report back when we find out.