'Mortal Kombat' web series to premiere April 12

(All rights reserved - Warner Bros. / Kevin Tancharoen)

The first in a ten episode Mortal Kombat web series will be broadcast online via Machinima's YouTube channel on April 12, a week prior to the North American release of the new Mortal Kombat game on April 19.

The stream is to start with four hours worth of live gameplay footage featuring Machinima's presenters as well as cast and crew from the Mortal Kombat show, according to a news story on Hadoken.net and linked to by the series' director.

Though Warner had previously made noises implying a paid-for digital download might be in the works, this latest nugget reveals that at least the first episode will be free, buffered as it is by four hours of video game content.

A eight minute clip from director Kevin Tancharoen ( Fame) surfaced in June 2010, intended for use in a pitch to Warner Bros. executives.

Unintentionally leaked, it spread amid confusion over the clip's true purpose. Now it's become both a promotional crossover and a web series in its own right.

The video game launches on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the wake of Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition on the Nintendo 3DS and WWE All Stars' take on entertainment wrestling for 360 and PS3.

The Mortal Kombat web series' first episode is to stream from http://www.youtube.com/user/machinima, with Mortal Kombat gameplay starting at 12pm PST (8pm BST) and Episode 1 at 4pm PST (midnight BST).