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Fight Night franchise on hold as EA Canada focuses on UFC
With EA Canada focused on EA's upcoming UFC game, the Fight Night franchise has been put on hold at EA Sports. "Right now, a great portion of the core of the Fight Night team are actually the team that are building UFC," EA Sports executive vice president Andrew Wilson told IGN. "Do I see a future for Fight Night? You know, sure. But right now, UFC is where our fighting focus is." 2011's Fight Night Champion was the latest game in EA's boxing franchise, introducing a new "Full-Spectrum" punch control system and a Hollywood-inspired campaign following fictitious convict boxer's struggle to overcome adversity and many, many punches to the face. The series was born from the ashes of EA's previous boxing series, Knockout Kings, in 2004.
Fight Night team developing EA Sports UFC
The Fight Night team at EA Canada will develop EA Sports UFC, EA announced today. Since its surprise license acquisition reveal at E3 2012, EA has kept quiet on the UFC-based game's development.Brian Hayes, who led gameplay design for Fight Night Round 4 and Fight Night Champion, will act as Creative Director for the Ultimate Fighting title. Team and Action Sports GM Dean Richards joins Hayes at the front of the development team, bringing in additional experience from Fight Night, along with the NHL and SSX series.
EA Sports abandons paper manuals, goes digital
As of the release of Fight Night Champion, EA Sports will no longer be including paper manuals with its games. Kotaku reports that the decision comes as part of an effort for the company to be more environmentally friendly. Instead of full paper manuals, future EA titles will include an in-game digital manual instead. Ubisoft recently made a similar decision -- just check your Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood box. Given recent trends to 'go green,' and the fact that digital manuals eliminate printing costs, we wouldn't be surprised to see more publishers follow suit.
Dragon Age 2 champions UK sales chart
Dragon Age 2, as it was foretold by the Chantry prophecies, took the top spot on Chart-Track's all formats UK sales chart for the week of March 6. Hawke's ascension meant that s/he pushed back the Pokémon of the White and Black breeds to second and fourth place, respectively. Fight Night Champion beat up most of the competition to retain third place, while Just Dance 2's seductive moves helped it slide up two spots to fifth. The big move last week was THQ's uDraw Studio (with Game Tablet), which shot up into tenth place from #83 in its second week at retail. Check out the complete UK top ten after the break.
Hit the gyms with Fight Night Champion's new online features
The latest dev diary for Fight Night Champion details the title's biggest, newest feature: Online Gyms. Create a fighter and join the ranks of a player-made gym, brawling up tournament ladders and taking on other teams. Just make sure your gym has a clever name, first. (For instance: "Boxers.")
Fight Night Champion dev diaries teach offense and defense basics
We never understood boxing's moniker as "the sweet science" until this very moment. See, before watching the Fight Night Champion offense and defense dev diaries below, we just thought the sport was as simple as "punch without being punched." Apparently, there's a bit more to it than that.
Fight Night Champion knocks out new trailer, demo available tomorrow
Fight Night Champion may not enter the retail ring until March 1, 2011, but you can get your meat paws on the XBL and PSN demo tomorrow, February 1. XBL should be up first thing; PSN will come later in day with the weekly update.
Fight Night Champion producer details stamina, endurance upgrades
Regional anaerobic fatigue -- that's a real thing in Fight Night Champion. Four different quadrants of the body have their own localized stamina, penalizing players for overusing one single muscle group and encouraging more dynamic play, producer Brian Hayes tells us in this new video.
Fight Night Champion lands punches in prison
Apparently, Fight Night Champion's road to boxing glory runs through a prison circuit. Boxing sure has gotten rough: In our day, you just had to beat up a laughing soda junkie for a shot at the best.
Fight Night Champion's latest trailer is filled with drama
EA's dialing up the drama with Fight Night Champion's career mode, which follows fictitious Philadelphia fighter Andre Bishop as he ascends to equally fictional prominence. Throughout his journey, Bishop will fight plenty of people -- including the guy pictured, who we've dubbed "Ed Hardy Drago."
Fight Night Champion promos highlight the supporting cast
EA Sports is really hyping its fictitious boxing legend, Andre Bishop. In Fight Night Champion's "Legacy" mode, players will attempt to punch Bishop into boxing glory -- but, as evidenced in these new trailers, you can't get him there on your own. You'll need plenty of help along the way.
EA producer talks Fight Night Legacy Mode, full roster revealed
How could not want to hear all about Fight Night Champion from a man named "Jazz?" Okay, okay -- he's also an assistant producer on the title and he goes into detail about the game's much improved Legacy Mode. That might be more important ... we guess. In other Fight Night Champion news, the game's entire roster has been revealed by EA. And yes, before you start asking, Marvelous Marvin Hagler is totally in there. We've dropped the entire list after the break, aka "the only place you'll find Joe Frazier hanging out next to George Foreman."
Fight Night: Champion has a story to tell
Sure, once the bell rings, Fight Night: Champion comes down to punching dudes and punching dudes alone. But don't underestimate the power of promotion, er, "human drama" woven through the punches. Enter the new single-player Champion mode: Spin the tale of aspiring pugilist Andre Bishop.
Fight Night Champion screens are a knockout
EA Sports has released a handful of new images from its latest boxing game, Fight Night Champion, and while they look absolutely great, they unfortunately don't show anything from the small snippet of the game we saw in action last week.
A first look at Fight Night Champion's M-rated 'brutality'
Ian Cummings, creative director of Madden NFL 11, recently had a chance to play Fight Night Champion, calling it "f'ing amazing." His enthusiasm for another EA Sports game is unsurprising, but the other detail certainly is: "Fight Night Champion is M-rated ... it's definitely going to wow folks." As spotted by Kotaku, the official website for Fight Night Champion was updated with a description of EA Sports' new direction for the franchise. "As the first-ever 'M' rated EA SPORTS title, Fight Night Champion showcases the truest graphical representation of the sport, lifestyle, and culture of boxing with authentic and dynamic blood, realistic body damage and deformation, and mature content throughout. Experience the violence and brutality that is true to the trade." Our interest is definitely piqued by EA's bold attempt at redefining the long-running franchise. Will it pay off? Or will it result in another NBA Elite type disaster? IGN grabbed the first trailer of the game, and you can decide for yourself.
Fight Night Champion to pummel PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011
EA has just revealed the next round in its Fight Night boxing series: Fight Night Champion. IGN has the first details on the game, which offers a new focus on single-player content and claims to be more accessible to new players. EA Sports stresses that the game isn't an expansion to the fourth round Fight Night game from last year, with gameplay producer Brian Hayes suggesting that Champion will be "The full meal deal with desert and a toy. The whole enchilada. All that and a bag..." Somewhere between 60 and 65 pugilists (we had to fit that word in here somewhere) will grace Champion's rings, though only Manny Pacquaio can be parsed from the two shots revealed thus far. We'll jab EA for more details well before the title debuts in 2011.
