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JBHuskers
05-16-2010, 12:20 PM
Hey guys, just got back from the EA Sports MMA community day in St. Louis. We got to play the game during the day on both Friday and Saturday, and also attended the weigh-in and the Strikeforce fight at the Scottrade Center.

I can't really say too much about the game yet. There may be some more info to come out at E3, but I was very pleased with how the game played, especially for being pre-alpha right now. Once I can release more information, I'll be able to post on here.

JBHuskers
05-17-2010, 11:08 AM
I will say this. EA Sports MMA in pre-alpha was more enjoyable to play than UFC.

texacotea
05-17-2010, 11:45 AM
Any other info on this? its the first I have heard of it all together. I tend to find UFC a little difficult because of the controls and all. I cant seem to get up after a take down and cant take anyone down. Maybe its because im new

JBHuskers
05-17-2010, 12:29 PM
Any other info on this? its the first I have heard of it all together. I tend to find UFC a little difficult because of the controls and all. I cant seem to get up after a take down and cant take anyone down. Maybe its because im new

Here is the official website.

http://mma.easports.com/home.action

Right now the game is in pre-alpha, so the only things that have been released so far are some videos and the fighters who have been announced. Expect more of a push to begin around E3.

Word is slowly starting to get out as EA Sports MMA is one of the big sponsors for the Strikeforce fights. Official wording of the promotions is that the game will be out late 2010. The full list of fighters is below:

EA SPORTS MMA welcomes Joachim Hansen, Vladimir Matyushenko and Josh Barnett!

Other confirmed fighters in EA SPORTS MMA are:

Fedor Emelianenko, the world's top ranked MMA heavyweight
Randy Couture, one of the most popular fighters in MMA history
Bobby Lashley
Tyron Woodley
Joe Riggs
Nick Diaz
Marius Zaromskis
Joe Riggs
Melvin Manhoef
Tim Kennedy
Frank Shamrock
Jay Hieron
Gegard Mousasi
Renato Sobral
Nick Thompson
Brett Rogers
Hidehiko Yoshida
Shinya Aoki
Jake Shields
Muhammed Lawal
Jason Miller
Cung Lee
Gilbert Melendez
Robbie Lawler
Ronaldo Souza
Matt Lindland
Scott Smith
Josh Thomson
Nick Thompson
Andre Arlovski
Vitor Ribeiro
Roger Gracie
Murilo Rua
Lyle Beerbohm
Kevin Randleman
Alistar Overeem
Josh Barnett
Luke Rockhold
Vladimir Matyushenko
Joachim Hansen
Dan Henderson

cdj
05-17-2010, 10:13 PM
I've gone from thinking this game would be a huge flop to really looking forward to it.

It's looked pretty solid in all of the pics and most of the videos, will have Photo GameFace (confirmed in the last dev chat), and has a solid license. Undisputed helped me get interested in UFC and this game has me now following StrikeForce as well.

JBHuskers
05-17-2010, 10:53 PM
I've gone from thinking this game would be a huge flop to really looking forward to it.

It's looked pretty solid in all of the pics and most of the videos, will have Photo GameFace (confirmed in the last dev chat), and has a solid license. Undisputed helped me get interested in UFC and this game has me now following StrikeForce as well.

Played the UFC 2010 demo today, and the game play is night and day. I think EA MMA is going to have a solid user base of MMA fans, EA Sports fans, and specific Strikeforce fans, and it will grow by word of mouth.

JBHuskers
05-17-2010, 10:58 PM
Overall the EA MMA gameplay is more intuitive, I'll check and see if I can expand on that or not. UFC 2010 made an error by leaving out a tutorial from their demo. You can pause for things, but that only helps so much.

JBHuskers
05-18-2010, 09:49 AM
Just got the word that the embargo on gameplay is lifted on the 21st.

Shopmaster
05-18-2010, 01:20 PM
Can't wait to hear what you can tell us. Really looking forward to the MMA game from EA.

texacotea
05-18-2010, 01:46 PM
Just got the word that the embargo on gameplay is lifted on the 21st.

looking forward to this, going to hold off on UFC so I hope you blow me away

JBHuskers
05-20-2010, 11:14 PM
Interview with Tyron Woodley who's fighting tomorrow night on Strikeforce Challengers on Showtime....you'll get to see some of the game footage (and yours truly in the red Husker shirt) in the background.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOOJFE1lPXA

JBHuskers
05-21-2010, 11:43 AM
KidShowtime, who was also at the EA MMA event did a HELL of a job with his impressions....he posted them on the EA MMA Forums today as the embargo on gameplay is lifted.....

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/556353.page

-----------------------------------------------

Gameplay Impressions

I had a job to make sure the community got all the details in regards to the game. I’m finally able to discuss the game play, so be prepared for a LONG read.


I’m going to make a bold statement right off the bat:

This game is going to kill THQ. Trust me.

There are aspects of this game that we still can’t talk about, however what you guys are going to discover over the next couple of months will blow your mind. THQ will NOT know what hit them.

I’ll also knock off a few of the more popular questions right off the bat:

Are Soccer kicks in?
YES.

Are Head Stomps in?
YES.

I go into more detail on these two subjects later on in this write up. So read on…


Is it better than UFC Undisputed?
I couldn’t play the UFC demo when I got home. I still can’t. The game makes you feel very limited in what you can do after playing EA MMA.

When you play as Fedor, does he feel like Fedor?
YES. That’s a big, all caps, YES.

That being said, let’s discuss (in great detail) how the game actually plays.

First of all, let’s break down the controls, using an Xbox Controller as reference:

For standing we have:
LT – Kick Mod
LB - Fake
RT - Block
RB – High/Low Mod
Y - Clinch
B - Sprawl
A – Takedown

In the Clinch or on the Ground we’ve got:
LT – Kick Mod (knees in the clinch)
LB - Fake
RT - Block
RB – High/Low Mod
Y – Transition to standing
B - Deny
A – Advance your position
X - Submission


I’m going to address the stand up game first.

All of your standard gestures on the right thumb stick for punching are right from Fight Night. If you’ve played Fight Night.. you’re already halfway there. How about a kick Modifier? That’s Left Trigger. Holding Left trigger will convert that right stick into kicking gestures. Also add into the equation the right bumper for the High/Low Modifier.

For example:

Holding LT and doing a ‘hook’ gesture will throw a high kick.
LT + ‘straight’ = Body Kick.
LT + RB + Hook or Straight = Leg kicks.
Hook + RB = Body shot

It’s a very good concept and works well. It’s easy to grasp, easy to remember and easy to execute. Here’s an example of the gestures:




I have to say that the standing game is very well put together. It’s fluid and responsive, and in the build we played it was very satisfying hitting your opponent. I know a lot of you were worried about how well this was going to be portrayed in the game, but set your mind at ease. This game makes you feel satisfied after getting a good solid punch landed.

Our first fights all consisted of heavyweights pretty much. This is where my first concern was brought into the light. I was concerned that the fighters punched a little slow, and moved a little too fluid and slow. This concern was put to sleep once we discovered the difference in weight classes when you fight. It really gives you an appreciation for smaller dudes and bigger dudes. There’s a DEFINITE difference, and it’s not a bad thing. This will make people want to delve into every weight class and try every fighter.

Every fighter is different. And we’re not just talking stance wise (ahem.. THQ). We’re talking movements and individual characteristics that make these fighters not only LOOK like their real-life counterparts, but also FEEL like they would feel if they were transformed into fully playable real life dudes. (can’t wait for EA MMA 2098!)

Jason told us to try spinning the right thumb stick while standing and using Jason Miller. To my amazement, spinning back fist!

“Hold down the kick modifier”.

BOOM! Spinning back kick!

The community is worried about whether or not this game was going to feel satisfying, and I can surely put your mind at ease people. This game felt GREAT. You will NOT be disappointed.

With that being said, let’s talk counter punching.

In the stand up, while holding the Block button and flicking the left stick , you will sway. Now don’t be discouraged.. we discussed why we can’t simply hold the left stick and stay in a certain sway position. Jason Barnes put it the best when he said that you’ll see Pacquiao sit laid back and throw punches. You can’t do that in MMA. In Mixed martial arts, you need to be quick.. and a guy who leaves his head back or down for more than a second is going to get caught, or taken down. Yes, this works exactly like THQ’s brand in this sense.. but I truly believe (and trust me.. I’ve been very critical of EA MMA) that the way EA has nailed this down.. it really gives you that ‘sense’ that you’re in the pocket. You want to bob and weave and parry , get in and get out.

Satisfying is how I want to make you guys feel about the standup. Swaying in and out while in the pocket is such a fun time. Anything can happen, but you have to be smart about it.

Also keep in mind that during all of this standup , you can be out of range and come into range by flicking the left stick towards the opponent. It works the same way going backwards. Flicking forward and throwing a straight will initiate a superman punch on some fighters. You’ll need to mess with this some more, but the options are endless. Flick towards and throw a kick for a more powerful kick, add the high low for a more powerful leg kick.. etc.

One of the cool things I noticed is how well the fighters engage. Unlike UFC where the fighters will have an awkward clinch and the swaying seems robotic.. EA MMA makes it very fluid and it looks 100% natural. I can tell when my opponent wants to engage, just like in real life. When we get within range, our demeanor changes completely. The stance will reflect this (depending on the fighter) and it makes you feel like you’re in total control.

Also, as someone who appreciates the little things.. I remember playing as Fedor and coming out of the corner after a round, Fedor was touching his face, rubbed his nose.. it’s a small detail but it just adds realism and I absolutely LOVED it. These little things add up, and you’ll appreciate them while playing. (note: these animations do not effect you at all.. you still have total control of the fighter).

Another thing to mention on the standup is the fake button. Holding the fake button while throwing a hook or a kick will do just that.. it will fake a punch or kick.

At first I was skeptical that this wouldn’t effect game play. However, throwing a fake can force your opponent to block and you’re open for a takedown. I want to re-iterate that this works so well, because the engine is FLUID. I didn’t have exact numbers on screen (and I failed to ask ) but I’m positive this game runs a solid 60FPS. This means TOTAL control.

Flash knockouts are in.. but definitely not as prevalent as the THQ game. We used heavyweights quite a bit, and there were a lot of knockdowns and TKO’s, but flash KO’s were spread out. I’m not saying they were rare, but you’d see a TKO before a flash KO probably on a ratio of 5:1.

I’ve talked a lot.. but I think the best thing to do is explain how a fight goes to give the best idea of how cool this game really is.

Overeem vs. Rogers:

We’re both in the pocket and I (Rogers) land an overhand right. He’s noticeably rocked, based solely on his animation and not a gimmicky black and white , matrix style approach. When you rock someone, you KNOW it by how they react, and not by an on-screen alert. You have to be aware at what’s happening and not rely on the game to throw it in your face.

While overeem is rocked, he’s having a hard time moving backwards. It’s much slower and you can just tell he’s almost done. Rogers get into the pocket and starts swaying and throwing bombs. The crowd is getting louder, and now Overeem is against the cage. I press Y to initiate a clinch, and start throwing punches and knees there. I’m hitting B to deny him the ability to Advance, simply because my controller vibrates when he wants to try to advance. However, he’s at a disadvantage in this position so my ‘warning’ is a little longer than normal. I keep denying him, but he throws some punches back.. which makes my controller rumble and I think he’s trying to advance. So I hit B, realize he’s punching back so I switch it up to LT to block him from doing any damage.

This is exactly what he wanted me to do .. so he hits the LS away from me and presses Y (To initiate standup and get out of the clinch) and we’re separated. I get back in the pocket because visually, Overeem is still desperate and still kind of rocked.

I’m landing bombs, but Overeem is doing a great job in covering up. I sway backwards to avoid , what I think is an incoming punch (Overeem fakes it) and then Overeem takes me down.

I’m not kidding.. this game is that exciting!

While we’re here.. let’s go over the ground game:

Overeem took me down by pressing A. I could’ve avoided this by pressing B, but I wasn’t expecting it. Just like in a real fight, you need to be aware of when a fighter is most likely to bring you down and anticipate it.

EDIT

One of my gripes with the takedown system was that once he’s got the takedown, he’s got the takedown. You can’t avoid it halfway through and battle through it. If he hit A before you hit B.. you’re down.

In the above statement, I was wrong. Rear Naked Poke had some more insight on the takedown system , which I think you'll be happy to hear:


one of the coolest gameplay feautre's for me was that there are 3 possibly 4 outcomes for defending a takedown, depending on how early u hit the B button. For example if u hit B just as your opponent shoots in you defend with a full sprawl, if u hit it a little later you will barely fight of the attempted shot, and if you hit B litteraly as the guys got a hold of you u manage to close your guard as u hit the mat instead of ur opponent landing in half guard or open guard. Another outcome is if u time it right and hit X (the submission button ) just as ur opponent shoots in u can pull off a guillotine choke.. How awesome is that.


Also a quick note about takedowns:

Flicking the left stick towards your opponent (see: superman punch) and hitting A will give you a single leg takedown. Most times this was, of course, ended with ending up in half guard. I can’t remember right now if it ever had me in side control.. Hopefully one of the other guys can clear that one up.

The ground game is really where this game shines. It’s not as complex as THQ’s, but it’s also not limited in what you can do.

While Overeem is on top of me (He’s in my guard) I’ve got options, and so does he. He can simply hit A to pass the guard to half guard, or he can hit Up on the left stick and A for a MAJOR transition. Of course, during any of his transition attempts (whether minor or major) my controller will rumble telling me he’s up to something.. and all I need to do is hit B to deny him.

Keep in mind: if he attempts a major transition (UP + A) and I deny it, that’s a reversal. Only major transitions can be reversed. Minor transitions are only stopped.

Also take note that in any position I can try to press Y and get the fight back on its feet.. whether I’m on bottom or top. The same rules apply here as they do for minor transitions. He can feel it coming, and I have to do my best to fool him with punches and then try to sneak in a transition.

This works so well because there’s no stick hugging. Yes, someone can hold B all day if they feel a rumble, but If they do that they can’t transition. Plus if all they do is hold B.. I can land strikes and do some damage. When I start landing strikes and doing damage, it will force the opponent to make a decision:

a) Hold LT and block these punches
b) Hit Deny (B) because he thinks I’m transitioning
c) Try to press X and catch him in a submission

It opens the door for people to work their way into transitioning. Stick hugging (or button hugging) will NOT work in this game. You will be forced to be smart and very technical in order to out-match a worthy opponent.

My early concerns with this was that it may not be complex enough for the hardcore guys who have adapted the UFC’s mechanic of turns on the right stick.

However, I can counter that with the fact that the rumble that warns you about a transition can also fool you. So making the “transition” and “deny” controls simply two buttons may SOUND simple.. but it’s really not. There’s a mental game, which comes into play here.. and I think that’s just another place where EA will destroy THQ in terms of game play.



So I briefly mentioned submissions there and I want to talk about them because this was one of my best memories from the event.

I believe Damon and Jason were having some epic submission battles on Saturday afternoon. I remember them yelling at the screen and just being overall excited.

Can you guys imagine how great this game must be when a guy who’s been working on it for two years (Jason) still gets pumped up and excited at what happens?

Submissions are initiated by pressing X when you’re in a position to do one. Obviously, some fighters are able to do submissions that others can’t. You have to be knowledgeable enough to know when the guy you’re controlling can do a submission.. otherwise if you’re attempting one.. you can set yourself up for a transition from your opponent.

Let’s say I catch a fighter in an arm bar.. you’ll see some information pop up under your name on the top of the screen;

The offensive fighter will have a large X with a stamina bar
The defensive fighter will have a large B with a stamina bar.

The way this works is simple; You want to escape the submission using short burst of energy. Jason Barnes said this the best:

“Joint locks are all about stamina management and exertion. Keep in mind your submission skill at arm or leg factors in to your success along with your grapple defense for surviving.”


So, as the defending fighter, I tap B maybe 5 times in one second.. my stamina goes down but I don’t want it to go down all the way. Once I stop hitting B.. it starts to move back up to full. Once it’s full again, I want to tap it back down to NEARLY empty.

This same ideology applies to the offensive fighter as well.

What happens when It’s empty? I get submitted.
What happens when the offending player empties his stamina? His submission is stopped.

I also want to touch on submission chaining. Although this was available for certain fighters in the build we played, the User Interface for which this will take place wasn’t present. However, I did get some insight from Mr. Barnes and he gave me some info on how this will work in the game. Here’s what he said:

“For submission chaining. It is a skill that the fighter has to have and it comes from certain submissions like Omoplota to Armbar. Here how it works..

As fighter is escaping a submission then the attacking fighter can put on a chained submission.
We did not have the UI working at the event, but what will happen is where the button hints are on the HUD we will display a pulsing A button for both fighters.

If the defender successfully presses his A button first then there won’t be a chain (we still plan on playtesting this part of it)

If the attacker successfully presses his A button first then we will chain to next one.

We decided to go with A, because it is not being used and it makes sense that is a new position even though it is a submission that you are moving to.

We are going for that high level BJJ fighter sinking in the next move just when you thought you got away. “


This all works so well, because as the fight goes on longer and longer.. the stamina bars become shorter and your strategy in using that stamina to escape or chain a submission becomes that much more important.


Any submission that involves a choke, the game brings up an entirely NEW submission system. You still hit X to initiate the submission, but in the case of the Rear Naked Choke…. Things get more interesting.

A circle is presented on the screen with a yellow dot moving around. Your goal is to move your left thumb stick to match that yellow dot. Once you’ve matched it, your controller will vibrate. Also once you’ve matched it, that yellow dot moves.

Both players use the same circle, and are finding the same yellow dot.

The mechanic works in conjunction with your stamina. If you’re stamina is high, you’re ability to find that yellow marker is easier than someone who’s stamina is low.

The same goes for the offensive player. Of course this means, if the fighter has a very high submission offense and the other has a low defense, the offensive fighter will have a bit more of an advantage in finding the yellow dot.

Whether giving the submission or receiving the submission, you want to find that dot more than the other fighter.

At the end of the battle, if you’ve found the dot the most.. you’ll need to find the dot one last time and keep your thumb stick held in the sweet spot to initiate the escape.

It’s very hard to explain without video.. but it’s easily the BEST way to escape submissions and the BEST way to submit people.


It’s VERY clear that they wanted to stay away from button mashing and giving you blisters on your hands. It’s a smart and VERY intuitive approach to the ground game.

Finally, finishing fights is simply AWESOME.

Let’s say I rocked Overeem so much he falls right to the ground. While he’s on the ground on all fours, I run towards him and hit my gesture for a straight. This makes me put a knee on the ground and hit him full force. Now I’ve got his back and I can start throwing bombs for the TKO.

Under another rule-set.. while he’s on all fours, If I held the kick modifier and did a straight gesture, guess who gets soccer kicked? ?

Head stomps are in for sure as well, but as we were told.. Soccer kicks and Head stomps can only be used to finish fights. To protect the ESRB rating, they had to do it that way. Some of you sadists will not be pleased with that, but I think it’s a very good approach. They worked hard to keep them in there, and we should be very happy.


Commentary was very good and Mauro and Frank sounded great. There’s a lot of commentary that’s specific to the fight as well. They’ll reference past fights between the two fighters, and discuss many other things.

What’s also good to note about commentary is that if Mauro and Frank are discussing something in detail, and a big knockdown happens.. Mauro will interrupt and commentate on what’s happening.

I’d also like to point out that the crowd is very reactive. That’s one thing that gets to me about sports games.. and EA MMA has crowd reaction down good. Being pre-alpha, there were a few times the crowd was very silent and wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but that will be fixed.

I know I missed a lot , even though this seemed to drag on forever. Guru wants to do a Q&A and I’ll jump into that topic from time to time to answer what I can.

Keep in mind, we’re only allowed to discuss game play mechanics at this point and not actual game modes.

Also, we were NOT given any information or able to use the Create a Fighter mode.

JBHuskers
05-22-2010, 04:14 PM
IGN First look into EA MMA - http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/109/1092069p1.html

JBHuskers
05-22-2010, 05:21 PM
Check out the EA Sports MMA interview with gameplay designer Victor Lugo from Gamespot:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAb94HLIkFI

JBHuskers
05-25-2010, 01:35 PM
$10 off EA MMA preorders today only at Gamestop (thanks to Beatn for finding it)

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/thedeal/?loc=homedeal

I OU a Beatn
05-25-2010, 02:25 PM
So glad I held off buying UFC Undisputed. MMA looks/sounds 100x better than UFC.

cdj
06-01-2010, 07:07 PM
Nice interview from MiddleEasy.com (http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2297):

This is team Tiburon that also works on Madden, is it mostly Madden people working on EA MMA?

Not necessarily. We gave a handful of people teams. Some from Madden, some from Nascar...I can think of an animator specifically from Fight Night Round 4 who was working up in the EA Canada studio who came down to help us out. The way I like to think about it is that at the beginning of the project, we knew we wanted to do something really great with it so it's like we tried to handpick the best ninjas from EA that we could, really come out strong with the first iteration of this game. It's certainly going to be a franchise and we wanted to come out strong right off the bat.

Have you played UFC Undisputed 2010 yet?

Oh, absolutely. I was up til about 3:30 in the morning last night playing the hell out of the career mode because if you think about it, it's like a game of poker and they had to show their hand and put it all down so now we're able to see everything they did and didn't do as far as the game is concerned. It's not just me. The more other people from the team plays their game, the more confident we are that we are going to come out really, really strong.

Whats going on with your career mode?

So as far as career mode I can tell you that we have elements that they do not. There are things I can't talk about just yet, but they clearly don't have the elements we have and I can say that definitely because i was playing their game and I was like 'OK, cool...'. How do I say this, we are going with such a global emphasis on the game that we are doing things they could never do. They are restricted by the UFC license. I like creative freedom. Working on the UFC game, sure that would be great. They are a big name here in the states. But the thing, they are restricted only to the octagon. [They're] restricted to their fighters and [They're] restricted to their rule set. Whereas with us, we've been able to announce recently that the fact you can fight in Japan gives you 10 minute first rounds 5 minute second rounds. We have fighters from around the world, not just Strikeforce and in Japan we are gonna have head stomps and we are gonna have soccer kicks and you can't see that in a UFC game because that's not what a UFC game is about. So we have this awesome creative liberty to really show people what MMA is about, not just what UFC MMA is all about.

Great, great Q&A and read it all here (http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2297). Might be the best dev Q&A I've read for any title as it talks about the game at hand, the competition, and the sport it portrays and you can tell each guy is relaxed and open.

JBHuskers
06-03-2010, 10:51 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvR-lxMf0Qg

cdj
06-14-2010, 06:48 PM
First Live Broadcast is tomorrow at 4 PM CT: http://www.easports.com/mma/broadcast

Product Fact Sheet is also out:
Product Description

EA SPORTS MMA brings the authenticity of the world’s most intense combat sport home like never before. Choose from the world’s top fighters or climb the ranks of the worldwide circuit with your created prodigy to become the ultimate MMA champion. Travel the globe and learn a multitude of fighting techniques and skills from masters in each discipline. Select from various weight classes, rule sets, and take on all challengers in multiple cage types or a ring. The challenge continues online with the most robust offering for any MMA videogame, including the ability to create and share custom fighters, prize fights, and more. Are you ready? Let’s get it on!

Features

The Definitive MMA Experience – Featuring multiple disciplines, rule sets, locations, and fighters from, the worldwide sport of MMA, all represented authentically. Throw down in a ring, hexagonal or circular cage. Environments come to life with ring girls, corner men and the best referee in the business – Big John McCarthy. Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. provides fighter introductions, while MMA legend Frank Shamrock and Mauro Ranallo call the action.

Live Broadcast YOUR Fight – Now you can have your online fight broadcast and viewed by gamers all around the world via the console or web! EA SPORTS Live Broadcast is one of the new and highly innovative online features for EA SPORTS MMA. Create your fighter, produce your hype video and get noticed by an EA SPORTS promoter. Once selected you will have the opportunity to fight for real world prizes and online fame! In addition, your fight will also feature live commentary calling your every move!

Total Strike Control – Go on the offensive with Total Strike Control; an intuitive control system for striking, elbows, knees and kicks. Total Strike Control is accessible via analog sticks or face buttons, providing the utmost flexibility.

Advance Defense System – The best offense is a good defense, so get ready to master parrying, slipping, countering and dodging to gain an advantage over your opponent.

Feel the Fight – Controller rumble acts as an alert to simulate body movement when an opponent attempts to advance position. Take notice and use the small window of opportunity to counter or defend.

Submission Battles – Using an intuitive system, opponents must strategically manage their advances or counters to secure the desired outcome; button mashing is the road to failure. Properly manage your stamina because in MMA you must be as smart as you are strong.

Travel the Globe – Visit the most established gyms across Japan, Brazil, Thailand, and the United States to learn new skills and techniques in career mode. Bring a created fighter up through the ranks to attempt to make one of biggest stages in mixed martial arts – STRIKEFORCE. No career mode will ever be the same, ensuring a unique experience each and every time.

And In This Corner – EA SPORTS MMA will feature a vast array of fighters in its roster, including the #1 heavyweight in the world Fedor Emelianenko. MMA legends Randy Couture and Dan Henderson, as well as international stars Shinya Aoki and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza showcase global variety. Every fighter will use their distinct style and fight like their real-life counterparts.

Create a Fighter – Use Photo Game Face to create your own, personalized roster of fighters.

Product Specifications
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
Developer: EA Tiburon
Ship Date: October 19, 2010
Category: Sports

I OU a Beatn
06-14-2010, 08:13 PM
Wow, Live Broadcast sounds absolutely awesome. HOPEFULLY, this gets implemented into all of EA's games next year.

cdj
06-14-2010, 08:16 PM
From what I can tell, Live Broadcast is NOT for every online bout - it's for certain fighters and bouts picked by EA. That's just the take I get from what I've read and heard. JB - can you clarify this?

I OU a Beatn
06-14-2010, 08:23 PM
Ahh, that sucks if so. I'd LOVE to have that feature for every game for all of EA's online games.

JBHuskers
06-14-2010, 08:31 PM
From what I can tell, Live Broadcast is NOT for every online bout - it's for certain fighters and bouts picked by EA. That's just the take I get from what I've read and heard. JB - can you clarify this?

From what I gather, you can set up your own broadcast PPV's for your friends to watch. It's not just limited to EA setting up a PPV I don't think. We didn't get to see any of this at the community day, but I think that you can set up your own broadcast. I'll look into it to make sure.

JBHuskers
06-14-2010, 08:34 PM
Wow, Live Broadcast sounds absolutely awesome. HOPEFULLY, this gets implemented into all of EA's games next year.

Unfortunately it probably won't happen. EA MMA has only two fighters where a football game has way more moving parts. That was kinda what they said at the EA MMA community day.

Kingpin32
06-14-2010, 09:32 PM
I'm not really into MMA, but this game almost looks too good to pass up.

JBHuskers
06-15-2010, 07:46 PM
Raw gameplay from the E3 floor:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3X6ya7IxL4

I OU a Beatn
06-15-2010, 07:56 PM
I can honestly say that looks about a billion times more fluid and realistic than UFC 2010. So glad I held off on buying that. This will be a day one purchase if the reviewers like it.

JBHuskers
06-15-2010, 07:59 PM
I can honestly say that looks about a billion times more fluid and realistic than UFC 2010. So glad I held off on buying that. This will be a day one purchase if the reviewers like it.

That's what I said from day one after playing it at the Community Day. It was just announced that this game, EA Sports MMA is nominated for Best of E3 by IGN

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs089.snc4/35836_404890345138_87620665138_4228034_4478399_n.j pg

JBHuskers
06-17-2010, 02:15 PM
they are running out of space for the "best of E3" nominees

http://cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c54102/x2_1a6833b

I OU a Beatn
06-17-2010, 02:42 PM
Very impressive. Is there a semi-firm release date for this?

JBHuskers
06-17-2010, 02:44 PM
Very impressive. Is there a semi-firm release date for this?

October 19th. Guess I better edit the thread title :D

JBHuskers
06-21-2010, 09:54 AM
If this "Worlds Collide" trailer doesn't get you fired up for the game, nothing will :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pns2ypZ87jI

cdj
07-28-2010, 12:48 PM
ESPN Video Games breaks down career mode (http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/videogames/blog/_/name/thegamer/id/5417055/ea-sports-mma-career-mode-breakdown):

Playing every sports game that comes out, one thing that's been bothering me is the rut various career modes have fallen into. Follow the calendar, click on a few mundane tasks, head to practice (not to actually practice but to get it out of the way), then move on to the next fight/game/whatever. It just all seems the same week after week, game after game, character after character.

"We're about to change all that," boasts "EA Sports MMA" creative director Jason Barnes. "Every time you play through a career in our game, you're going to get a completely different experience."

Heard that one before? "EA Sports MMA", however, might be the real deal.

"Our goal with career mode is that everyone who plays the game is able to create a completely different fighter," says Barnes.

To accomplish that, gamers will take their fighters across the world to learn different aspects of mixed martial arts. Standup fighters might take a path to a boxing gym in England while submission fighters will head to Brazil to learn the ground game. "The idea is that every fighter you create will come out unique on the other end," adds Barnes. "They're not just all going to be the end-all, be-all fighter in every category. Every fighter in our game that you create is going to be unique because it's up to you to decide what type of fighter you want him to be, what types of moves you want him to learn.

"We're going week-to-week training, and we have a ton of different ways to train from using the heavy bag to working with different Thai pads" Barnes explains. "We also have objective-based sparring where you need to take your opponent down a certain number of times. So not only are you gaining those attribute points, we're actually training you to become a better fighter."

More at the link above

cdj
08-16-2010, 09:44 PM
Online features:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZAwJF70uLs&feature=player_embedded

IGN article on "Belt Race (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/111/1112933p1.html)"

I OU a Beatn
08-17-2010, 06:41 PM
Wow, that's pretty awesome. Looks much more fluid than UFC Undisputed.

JBHuskers
08-17-2010, 08:12 PM
Wow, that's pretty awesome. Looks much more fluid than UFC Undisputed.

Very much so, the control scheme is a million times better too.

cdj
08-25-2010, 05:35 PM
The game will include Cowboys Stadium as a playable venue, some pics at the link (http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2825:the-cowboy-stadium-is-in-ea-sports-mma-and-we-even-have-the-pictures-to-prove-it&catid=34:organizations).

cdj
09-07-2010, 12:19 PM
Demo available on September 28 featuring four fighters from two weight classes:

Heavyweight
Alistair Overeem
Bobby Lashley

Middleweight
Jake Shields
Jason “Mayhem” Miller

"Share" the demo with a friend and you unlock classic Randy Couture in the retail version.

JBHuskers
09-16-2010, 07:29 PM
Nice shot at UFC here .... taking advantage of their cockiness:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTsIv6w-o_M

JBHuskers
09-24-2010, 12:21 PM
Free overnight shipping at GameStop for today and the weekend....

http://ht.ly/2Jtm6

Marlowe
09-24-2010, 05:05 PM
this game is making me jump around like a little girl in anticipation...teehee...

JBHuskers
09-24-2010, 05:16 PM
this game is making me jump around like a little girl in anticipation...teehee...

same here! :))

JeffHCross
09-24-2010, 10:27 PM
JB ... as you know, I'm a fairly long-term professional wrestling fan. Personally, it's the grapplers who have always caught my primary interest ... the "technicians" if you will. So when I play SvR, it's always with suplex machines and mat wrestlers.

I don't watch MMA and have little to no interest in the sport (besides the occasional discussion of Lashley, Lesnar, or Gina Carano). However, I have even less interest in boxing (never even watched a fight), yet I occasionally give the Fight Night and other boxing games a try and have enjoyed them.

This is my long winded way of asking if you think my enjoyment of the actual wrestling aspects of pro wrestling (and SvR) would suggest that EA MMA might be enjoyable for me.

JBHuskers
09-28-2010, 09:21 AM
Demo is out for 360 now.

Marlowe
09-29-2010, 12:46 PM
Any thoughts on the demo? I'm not a big fan of punching with the sticks but at least they gave the option of changing the control scheme. I've been playing ufc 10 this past week and the movement feels so much better on this demo. From the transitions to the submissions, the movement feels much more fluid. I like how when a submission is applied you can see through the limb to the bone and watch the stress applied. I wonder if they added bone breaks (a la Cung Le/Shamrock)? Some ground pounding after getting rocked, lol. "Going to town" is an understatement lol! So yea I liked the demo. :)

JBHuskers
09-29-2010, 01:10 PM
I first played the game in it's pre-alpha stage back in May, and hell even then it felt more fluid. But the demo is much much tighter. Transition and escape from clinches in stand-up and against the cage are much more realistic....when I played pre-alpha, it was a bitch trying to get out of them. I wish I had the retail now because after playing the demo four months later, I just wanted to dig into a career mode all night long. In talking with one of the designers last night, there will be even more tightening up on retail compared to the demo....so I'm excited for it to be three weeks from now already.

JeffHCross
09-30-2010, 10:17 PM
Way to answer my post, JB :P

JBHuskers
09-30-2010, 11:04 PM
Way to answer my post, JB :P

:D yes is my answer. But play the demo, you'll get a good idea of the mechanics. The career mode I haven't gotten to dig into yet, but it looks like it's going to be a blast.

cdj
10-14-2010, 10:10 PM
- A couple of guys in the community have started up MyMMAPad.com (http://www.mymmapad.com) and looks to have some cool features that will tie into the game.

cdj
10-15-2010, 09:02 PM
I have the game a few days early, so if you have any questions or media requests please ask them here.


- So far, I've used Fighter Share to create my own fighter, did some Fight Nows to get the hang of the game, and then started Career Mode - sitting at 2-0.

- I like the controls and flow of the fighting more than the UFC Undisputed franchise. It helps that there is the MMA 101 to learn some basics as well as another breakdown when you are in Career Mode, so you learn all aspects in a simple and friendly manner.

- I'm digging the Submission methodology. Granted I am playing on a lower difficulty (medium), but I can actually get submissions in this game - I had 0 combined in UFC 2009 & 2010.

JeffHCross
10-15-2010, 10:17 PM
It helps that there is the MMA 101 to learn some basics as well as another breakdown when you are in Career Mode, so you learn all aspects in a simple and friendly manner.Something that every game in this genre could learn from.

cdj
10-15-2010, 10:44 PM
Something that every game in this genre could learn from.

I agree. UFC had a deep tutorial, but I find this one easier to grasp - though that could be due to the control scheme more than the tutorial.

JBHuskers
10-17-2010, 11:54 PM
Just set up a fight card with Kory who was also at the community day....we basically set up four fights in a row against each other one from each weight class. Online is very well done, and is pretty deep too with the Belt Race. I love that my whole name is in the game for Jimmy Lennon, Jr. to announce, and also my nickname is "Big Red" :D

Marlowe
10-18-2010, 08:26 AM
Can you watch other fights online (spectator mode)?

cdj
10-18-2010, 08:30 AM
Can you watch other fights online (spectator mode)?

To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure how that works. When I've been online I haven't found anyone to even play, much less test out other aspects like the Fight Cards and Live Broadcast. :( I'll look more at it tonight and see if I can figure it out.

JBHuskers
10-18-2010, 09:13 AM
Can you watch other fights online (spectator mode)?

When you're in a Fight Card you can. It's basically an online lobby which can be private or public. The "commish" of the Fight Card will be able to set up four matches with whoever is in the room. You'll get to watch any fight on that fight card that you're not fighting in.

Live Broadcasts are run by EA but the Fight Card is kind of the private version of the Live Broadcast that you and your friends will have a BLAST with.

On top of that, if you wanna scout someone, you can watch their last five fights online I do believe, but it is something I haven't tested out yet. Online with this game is very deep, and I didn't get to dig into everything yet.

JBHuskers
10-18-2010, 11:36 AM
The EA SPORTS MMA UStream Launch Party is tonight at 9-11 Eastern

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=157383780963048&index=1

While the game launches on Tuesday, October 19th, the day before launch we will have our EA SPORTS MMA USTREAM Launch Party where we showcase the entire game.

We will be broadcasting LIVE on Monday, October 18th from 9-11pm EST. Not only will you be able to see EA SPORTS MMA in its entirety, you will be able to chat with the dev team, win tons of prizes, and maybe a guest appearance from some real life Strikeforce fighters.

Make sure you are a fan of the EA SPORTS MMA fanpage and RSVP for your chance to win.

JBHuskers
10-19-2010, 10:01 AM
Good reviews to start....

GamePro - 90
Cheat Code Central - 82
Joystiq - 80

cdj
10-22-2010, 07:46 PM
I'm really enjoying this game. I love the online features and have had next to zero issues online connecting to anyone and have been practically lag-free. The online feature set in general is very impressive.

JeffHCross
10-22-2010, 07:57 PM
Pasta's going to run a Fight Card for 360 players: http://www.pastapadre.com/2010/10/21/ea-sports-mma-fight-card-1

JBHuskers
10-22-2010, 09:04 PM
I just won my first online championship belt!

cdj
10-25-2010, 06:56 AM
"EA is likely to back out of the mixed martial arts genre after its debut offering, EA Sports MMA, made a poor start at retail.

That's according to Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz, who thinks UFC Undisputed maker THQ may have scored a knockout blow in the MMA battle between the publishers.

"EA's recently released 'MMA' appears to be more or less DOA at retail, while UFC recently announced an extension of its license with THQ, likely putting an end to EA's efforts to expand into the mixed martial arts genre," the analyst said in a research note this morning."

Courtesy: OS (http://www.operationsports.com/newspost.php?id=453001)



I'm not sure anyone thought MMA would complete saleswise with UFC. It always seemed like this would be a title that relied on word of mouth and constant sales for the next few weeks and months to get on solid footing. The reviews and scores for MMA seem to have been pretty solid for a new IP.

JBHuskers
10-25-2010, 08:23 AM
There are so many people that have enjoyed this much more than UFC by far. Dana White probably paid that guy to say what he said. It's not going to sell 3.5M like UFC 2009 did. UFC 2010 dropped from 2M to .7M on 360 alone last year. That should be more alarming than the first week of sales (which the importance of that is WAY overblown) of EA SPORTS MMA. To say it's DoA 6 days out is ridiculous.

The extension of the UFC license was announced the day EA SPORTS MMA came out, but do you think that extension isn't going to come with a buyout if UFC 2012 or whatever is next has another 150% drop in sales? Well we do know one thing, the next UFC game will probably come with striking controls on the right stick ;)

cdj
11-19-2010, 07:39 AM
- Patch is out now on PS3, unsure on 360.

- It's a Double XP weekend online for the game! Time to rank up on those belts.

JBHuskers
11-19-2010, 08:53 AM
Yep, definitely going to play tonight and this weekend.

JBHuskers
11-19-2010, 10:56 AM
EA SPORTS MMA is going to get a price drop soon. Take my word for it, the career mode is great, online is smooth. This game is great for MMA fans.

http://stickskills.com/news/1310/ea-sports-mma-gets-huge-price-drop/

JeffHCross
11-19-2010, 10:29 PM
EA SPORTS MMA is going to get a price drop soon. Take my word for it, the career mode is great, online is smooth. This game is great for MMA fans.SvR or MMA? If you could only choose one.

JBHuskers
11-19-2010, 11:24 PM
SvR or MMA? If you could only choose one.

Right now MMA but I've not had much time with SvR yet.

cdj
12-12-2010, 12:24 PM
A technical article discussing how MMA was made. (http://www.develop-online.net/features/1066/EA-Diaries-How-we-built-MMA)

cdj
02-22-2011, 01:26 PM
Info on a new patch:


What’s up EA Sports MMA Community. First off we’d like to thank everyone for their patience in regards to a new patch! We’ve been actively reading the forums since our last patch and have been collecting your feedback and suggestions. We are happy to announce that a new patch has passed testing, and is scheduled to go live tomorrow. The items that have been patched include:

• Fixed a crash that occurred when editing multiple fighters in Create a Fighter
• Updates to the Live Broadcast tools to improve stability.
• Fixed Stamina exploit bug during Arm submission battles.
• Fighters created using Create a Fighter Attribute Cap exploit can no longer be used online.

The game team is still exploring, investigating and testing other items that you have brought to our attention in regards to gameplay tuning for a potential future “hot fix”. We appreciate everyone’s feedback and encourage everyone to continue sending in your comments and concerns. We should have some news on this very shortly.

Thanks again for your continued support of EA Sports MMA!

Courtesy: EA Forums (http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/5177900.page)

JBHuskers
03-04-2011, 03:20 PM
From Pasta

While the recent patch for EA Sports MMA caught some by surprise and the company has not stopped there with post-release support. A tuner for the game has been released that affects heavyweight, middleweight, and lightweight classes.

Areas such as stamina drain and regeneration, health regeneration, blocking, and more have received adjustments. This appears to be a significant update to gameplay and early response to the changes have been quite positive. Continue on to check out the full details on what the tuning update provides and leave any thoughts in the comments!
•Blocking now takes priority over parrying. The block effectiveness has been raised so players will be able to block more strikes than before. A missed parry will result in a higher likelihood of stun so use your parries carefully.

•Stamina System has received a major overhaul. Strikes will now drain more stamina than before, however stamina regeneration has also increased. This is done to discourage spamming and encourage more realistic striking combinations.

•Health will regenerate slower than before, especially while blocking. This in combination with the adjusted blocking will require you to be more methodical and plan for a longer fight where you slowly chip away at your opponent.

•A few windows and timers have been adjusted on the ground. You will now have more success knocking people out from positions other than mount and backmount. You will also have to carefully balance when you decide to block, parry, and pass.

•The power of knees and the stamina loss in the clinch upon failed takedowns has been adjusted. We have more accurately captured the devastating power of a knee to the face, but you have to be very careful about when you use this because it requires a lot of stamina.

•Updated all of the fighter records and adjusted a few fighters that needed to be more balanced.

cdj
03-09-2011, 12:04 AM
You may have noticed the Bigfoot Silva you so carefully crafted on a Thursday night after watching the season finale of The Bachelor has now been altered through a recent patch on EA Sports MMA. The Bigfoot Silva you manifested has now been replaced by someone named 'Bigfoot *****', and I'm sure a lot of you feel a strong sense of disappointment. Your create-a-fighter wasn't replaced with a typo, or incubated by some alien being that has a fascination with asterisks. Not at all. It's what you assumed was impossible, suddenly became a stark reality. It appears that ZUFFA has slapped a copyright infringement claim on names like 'Wanderlei', 'Silva' and 'Lesnar' that appear as selectable create-a-fighter names in EA Sports MMA. In order for us not to come to wild conclusions (which we already have), we asked EA Sports what happened with this recent content change, here's what they said.

"EA respects the intellectual property rights of others and the changes made were to address user-created Content that could possibly infringe on these rights. Per the terms of the EA SPORTS MMA Terms of Service, EA has the right to remove or alter any Content that is objectionable for any reason."

Fighting stances like the 'Hawaiian Prodigy', 'Elusive striker', 'Iowa wrestler' and 'Generic Pit Fighter' were also removed from the game. Also, don't expect to see that massive sword tattoo anytime soon as a few custom inks and pre-made create-a-fighter heads were expelled from the game like some gossipy girl in elementary school. However, if you really want to retain the content that was included in the retail version of the game, grab a copy and just never hook your console to the internet.

Courtesy: MiddleEasy (http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4025: now-we-have-an-official-explanation-as-to-why-ea-sports-mma-removed-content-from-the-game&catid=34:organizations)

cdj
04-17-2011, 10:00 AM
It's a Triple XP Weekend for EA SPORTS MMA.

Unfortunately, it seems that every weekend a game I own has 2X-3X, I am too busy to get online and play. This is no exception. :(

JBHuskers
04-17-2011, 02:11 PM
It's a Triple XP Weekend for EA SPORTS MMA.

Unfortunately, it seems that every weekend a game I own has 2X-3X, I am too busy to get online and play. This is no exception. :(

Same here. I just got back into town, have some OD games to do, want to do the historic 1990 Masters before it ends tonight....I'm just not going to have time.