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EA Sports dedicated to casual focus
EA's Facebreaker didn't fare so well on the Xbox 360 and PS3 when it released. The Wii version, Facebreaker K.O. Party, just released this week and, well, we're not too optimistic for that, either. How about Peter Moore and the folks at EA Sports? They're staying the course, apparently. "We're going to maintain our core relationships with our male consumer but our growth really is going to come from ... looking after the new consumer on the Nintendo Wii with innovative experiences that they wouldn't expect from EA sports, looking at new brands like Freestyle, looking at the Wii with our All Play collection," Moore said. "We're not blind to the fact that new consumers coming in are not necessarily hardcore sports fans that are looking for the experience we deliver with a Madden or a FIFA or with an NHL."That's all well and good, Peter. But, we're not sure Facebreaker is the kind of title that would captivate the casual. Just because it's casual doesn't mean that it has to be some quick, slapped-together minigame compilation or shallow gameplay experience. If you want to captivate the casual, you need to take a risk on something new and engaging. Not cartoonish figures boxing in a ridiculous, over-the-top manner or trying to copy Nintendo.
Bob and weave through some Facebreaker K.O. Party videos
In case you haven't been keeping up with the news, EA's Facebreaker was a bomb on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Their last hope the game could sell at all is the Wii release, Facebreaker K.O. Party, due out this week. Above you'll find a video of the Punch-O-Matic, which is a slot-machine based affair. After the break, you'll find another video showing some one-on-one action. Think the game will fall flat on Wii or are we the perfect audience for this game?
Smack Kim Kardashian's giant butt in Facebreaker
We're just gonna go ahead and not call the game Buttbreaker. We know you want to. We want to. But we're all simply better than that. It doesn't mean the latest news about the boxing title is any less hilarious, though.Facebreaker K.O. Party already looked a little crazy, but it's about to get crazier -- reality-show, leopard-print, sex-tape kind of crazy, that is. In at least one version of the game (and probably all), Kardashian will appear as a playable character. We'd ask why, but it's so funny that we don't care. Maybe someone should add in Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Nicole Richie for a full set. The battles would be epic.%Gallery-27624%[Via Game|Life]
FaceBreaker details make the game sound like a knock-out [update 2]
When EA changed the title of the Wii's FaceBreaker to FaceBreaker K.O. Party, we couldn't help but moan, groan, grumble, and sneer. Not every Wii game needs to have the word "party" in it, and we do enjoy things that aren't party games from time to time (shock, gasp!). While the video above does ease our fears a bit, it's clear that the focus of K.O. Party is on the multiplayer. Then again, it's a fighting game, so that's okay. Producer Trey Smith talks up the Wii version a bit, and hints at some of the features exclusive to K.O. Party. The part that caught our ears was the "one-to-one" responsiveness, which would be amazing if true. As much as we enjoy Wii Sports: Boxing, flailing around like idiots does not make a good fighter. Smith also boasts about the visual style, which does look nice (although obviously not as nice as its HD counterparts), as well as the multiplayer, of which there will be two different modes.As for the exclusive unlockable character, that's a neat bonus but won't make or break the game -- unless, of course, it happens to be Little Mac, which is unlikely but would make us die happy.[Update: For unknown reasons, GameTrailers no longer has the video up! We summarized most of what happened above, but if the video shows up again, we'll put it in.][Update 2: The video is back up! And well worth watching.]
