Fight Night Champion Blog #1 - Community Day

[Phobia]

Fight Night Champion Blog #1 - Community Day

First, a huge thank you goes out to the EA team. Alain, Brizzo, Mike, Jazz, Freddy, and the rest of the EA dev team. They treated us wonderfully and really showcased what a great group of guys they have at EA Vancouver.

Now on to the community event. To be expected I can't go into specifics on the game. But what I will share with you is the plan on how things will work over the next couple weeks/months and what the event itself was like.

I will be releasing several blogs along the way pertaining to the game, the changes, and the new additions. I am very excited about what we saw and got to put our hands on. I think many people will be really surprised. I went into community day with a print out list of dozens and dozens of issues the community wanted to see fixed or included. It was real nice to see that the EA dev team had already had that same list covered. I am not saying they fixed or included everything you guys asked for. But I will say they have read just about every complaint and "want". Whether it got included or not was based off many different aspects. Time, resources, balance, need, and if it was even possible from a tech stand point.

ARRIVAL
After getting off the flight I made my way to the Sky train to head to down town Vancouver. Right before getting on the train I ran into Rob "Wepeeler" and Q "reignmaka". After the three of us arrived at the hotel we walked down to a bar for some drinks. At this point all the guys started showing up and we discussed our wants and what we hope to see out the game. We were all pretty much on the same page with what we wanted to see and the changes to be made.

We had a group of 6 guys. It pretty much covered the spectrum and showed why this group was a great group to have testing the game.

Sports Gamer/Huge Sim fans
Derek "Phobia" & Rob "Wepeeler(Rob's a huge boxing fan)"

Top Tournament players
Terminald & C45h

Boxing Guru's
Anthony & Q "reignmaka"

TEST DAYS
Over the course of two days we went in with both the developers and the game itself. Basically they wanted us to break the game down and look over the changes to see if it meets the standards of what the community is after. So me & wepeeler went in looking for the sim aspects to be met, while Anthony & Q went in looking to make sure boxing was represented correctly, then we had Terminald & Cash trying to "break" the game and make sure all exploits were found. We spent literally 14 to 15 hours a day testing. Working till close to midnight each night. It was early mornings, long days, and long nights. Waking up at 5am, getting to the studio by 7am, Not leaving the studio till 11pm each night, and then spending time partying afterwords. Then doing it all again the next morning.

We had a great group to basically cover all aspects of the game and I think the community will be happy with the end result. I know every single one of us walked away impressed and sad to not be able to play it again for a long time.

DEPARTING
On our last day in Vancouver after we left the studio. We all went and did some last night partying. It was the day before Halloween so the women were out in full force and the costumes were everywhere. The whole crew had a blast, drinking, cutting up, and kicking it with each other one last time before we all headed back home.

I was the unlucky one to have my flight leaving at 7am the next morning. So I needed to be to the airport by 4am to get through customs and all that. Like in true cajun coonass fashion. I went for the redbull & vodka's and spent the last night staying up all night partying with the guys, walking the streets, and just having a blast. You only live once right? Why not make the most of it and have the time of your life. Then I went caught a taxi at 3:30am straight from the streets and head off to the airport for my long journey home. I arrived home Saturday at 9pm, running on 40 hours of no sleep. Needless to say I spent yesterday recovering from lack of sleep. But I am fresh this morning and itching to get my hands back on Fight Night Champion.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Fight Night Champion really impressed me and left me wanting more. Not being able to play the game for many months will be tough. I think Brizzo & Mike have great direction in the path they want to take the series and I think many fans of the series will come away impressed with what the team has planned.

I will be impatiently waiting to tell all you guys about the new features and improvements they have in store for us. As soon as EA releases the "cuffs" off me in the coming months. I will be releasing blogs covering each area that I can speak on at those times. So get ready guys, "disclosure" will be here before you know it.

Here is a few pictures from the event. Nothing real special but just wanted to share them with everyone.

EA Entrance


Model of Complex


Real Complex


Walking in EA Vancouver


EA Soccer field (AKA football)


Skyline from Roof



Skate showcase


Q(aka Reignmaka) with a Storm Trooper day before Halloween

[Money99]

Great stuff Phobia! I can't wait to hear some details.

I'm really, REALLY hoping that they listened to the offline fans.
I hope the Legacy Mode is more than just Fight-Train-Distribute Points-Repeat.
I want a lot more depth to the offline career mode ala My Player, Road to the Show or Be A Player.
It's embarrassing and sad that the 18-year-old Evander Holyfield boxing still has the deepest career mode of any North American boxing game to date.

Why can't anyone spend 20 minutes with VB2 and not pick something out of that incredibly deep career mode?

Anyway, I'm really hoping that you'll give me some good news in that regard.

Cheers!

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

Great stuff Phobia! I can't wait to hear some details. I'm really, REALLY hoping that they listened to the offline fans. I hope the Legacy Mode is more than just Fight-Train-Distribute Points-Repeat. I want a lot more depth to the offline career mode ala My Player, Road to the Show or Be A Player. It's embarrassing and sad that the 18-year-old Evander Holyfield boxing still has the deepest career mode of any North American boxing game to date. Why can't anyone spend 20 minutes with VB2 and not pick something out of that incredibly deep career mode? Anyway, I'm really hoping that you'll give me some good news in that regard. Cheers!

Pleading the 5th till a later date. I think you will be impressed from a couple angles . I know I left very VERY intrigued and wanted to see more.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phobia

Pleading the 5th till a later date. I think you will be impressed from a couple angles . I know I left very VERY intrigued and wanted to see more.

Good to hear! Thanks!

[Jukeman]

Great stuff Phobia

[SteelerSpartan]

Hmm, another EA community day ehh....please excuse my lack of excitement....its probably just because Ive been so jaded by how Madden has handled these where it really is like they don't listen to anyones feedback.....


I know thats not fair to Brizzo and Mike because I do sense a deeper connection between them and the sport they're working with then the Madden/NCAA guys have with theirs

Im pretty much in the "Put up or shut up" after FNR4......and Im not questioning they're talent so much as Im questioning their goal with the game..........

Is it more about catering to everybody and focusing on the "Rocky Moments".ie Exaggerations of the sport with instant gratification??.........

or is it more about making people do the tough, usually unflashy, work it takes to be a consistent winner in the sport of boxing???

It all falls from that choice by them

[RumbleCard]

Nice write up but with all do respect I don't understand what we get out of this. There is literally zero information here. Maybe I completely misunderstood the point of this extravaganza but I expected to open this thread to at least some kind of bare bones gameplay basis or skeleton tidbits of information.

Again not an attack...just confused.

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by RumbleCard

Nice write up but with all do respect I don't understand what we get out of this. There is literally zero information here. Maybe I completely misunderstood the point of this extravaganza but I expected to open this thread to at least some kind of bare bones gameplay basis or skeleton tidbits of information. Again not an attack...just confused.

Well if you are unaware with how the community day events work let me explain.

We the community day guys are tied to a embargo. Meaning we can't talk about parts of the game until we are "allowed" to. If we talk about or share information before hand then we can be sued by EA. Marketing the game before there in house marketing guys do it is not fair to the company.

The goal here is that community day is basically the kick off to information on the product. So while you might not jumped into this thread and instantly know everything about the game that is because we are not the marketing team at EA. We are simply guys that got picked to check out the game. So we are limited to what we can share to the public until they allow us.

Now with that said, we will be one of the first to share the information once allowed to do so. Meaning that big box reviewers such as IGN will have a very limited knowledge of the game compared to the guys like us who spent literally 14-to-16 hours a day on it going through literally every part of the game.

Basically this is the kick off. I did not in any way shape or form have to post this. I did because I wanted to share it with a community I have been apart of for close to 10 years now. We are a big group of friends here and just as much fun i had there I want to share it with the guys I know here.

So to get better information that pertains to the game. Keep checking back over the coming weeks/months and you will see a steady flow of information coming out.