Fight Night Demo Set For Release

EA Sports will be releasing the demo to one of its most anticipated games of the year, Fight Night Champion, on February 1.
There is a lot of pressure on EA to make this next installment something fun and memorable. Their last effort, Fight Night Round 4, was not a huge hit and they’re looking to change that with this next installment.
EA Sports has basically given the whole game a facelift. This will be the first M rated sports game EA Sports has released, because it will bring you into a much darker world of boxing.
The career mode for this game will start you off in prison. This has been a topic of debate between fans. Many believe that the game is or will go too far. I’m not worried about that. I’m actually very interested to see how the game handles this.
Yet, due to the dark nature of the game, it will receive a Mature rating (Mature rated games have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain mature sexual themes, more intense violence and/or strong language.)
This will be EA Sports first M rated sport game they release. So, you can expect to see a lot more of boxing’s brutal side.
Now, once February 1 rolls around, you’ll be able to try the game for yourself. The demo, which will be released on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, will have online play for a limited time.
There will also be four boxers and you’ll be able to fight for three rounds. What I’ve read is that the four boxers will be Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao.
The full game will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 1.
The big question is will this game be a huge hit? It’s definitely going to make money, no doubt about that, but I think that there are some people out there that just lost interested in boxing. That is mainly due to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
Executive Sports Editor, Brad Carroll, said it best, “There is just no more characters left in boxing.” Is this lack of characters driving fans to MMA? I’ll let you be the judge.
Getting back to the game, there is no doubt that the MMA and UFC games are huge competitors for Fight Night. These types of games are attracting the same audiences. The Fight Night series hasn’t had a real competitor in years and that’s why I think they’re upping the ante this year. I believe they are hoping to grab people’s attention with starting career mode in a prison, and with fans arguing whether this is going too far, I think they’ve done that.
If you want to brush up on your boxing skills before Fight Night Champion, you can pick up Fight Night Round 4 for very cheap. The game might not have blown away EA Sports in sales, but it’s still a great game and one I really enjoy.
On another note, if you haven’t already, check out the premiere episode of Sports Page Online; I’m the feature guest. I talk about the origins of the column and give my thoughts on online play.
Video is below.

New Decade. New Rules.

Sports Page Online: Episode 1

Arcade Classic Returns

If you had the chance to visit an arcade back in the ‘90’s, there is no doubt that you came across X-Men arcade.

This arcade game came out in 1992 and became a favorite of many. Recently this game was ported onto Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. Yet, after all these years is it still as fun as it once was?

I downloaded the game for the Xbox 360, which cost me about $10, which seems to be a fair price.

The game let’s you play as Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler or Dazzler. The goal is to battle through eight levels filled with Magneto’s minions in the hope of saving the world. That’s how deep it gets.

The dialog in the game was the first thing that hit me as being really bad. I don’t really know if I can complain about this to much, because I laughed quite a bit.

The gameplay is really just button mashing. You just continuously beat up enemies until you get to the end of the level. It’s really boring if you’re playing by yourself, but if you have a group of friends over or you jump into an online game it becomes less of a chore.

You can complete the game in under a half hour and if you’re playing on the Xbox you can get most of the achievements in one sitting.

Yet, you are treated to two versions of the game. You get the U.S. version and the Japanese version. They’re basically the same. The Japanese version has some differences, like energy pills and also it feels a lot faster than the U.S. version.

The graphics are very dated, but they’re not terrible. I just wished they made slight improvements, then again look what happened to Turtles in Time. I feel if you mess with a games look to much you loose some of what made it special, some if its magic so to speak.

Another weak point for the game is that it’s just a port. Yes, there is a new menu system, which is good, but everything else is limited. There is nothing so new to the game that you’ll be blown away; you’re basically getting the same exact arcade game from back in the day.

If you’re looking for a side scrolling, beat them up style game that you can play with friends then this is a good option. It’s not perfect, it can be very repetitive, but it still has a charm to it.

7 out of 10

Mario Celebrates 25 Years, But Is It Worth It?

It’s Super Mario’s 25th Anniversary and Nintendo is celebrating it with the release of Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition for the Wii.I was able to get a copy of this game and I was very impressed with the packaging. You get a game disc that includes four classic Mario games, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3, all classics.

Now on a separate disc you get a soundtrack, which has various themes and sound effects from many different Mario Games. Full soundtrack list follows:

1. Aboveground BGM (Mario 1)

2. Aboveground BGM (Mario 2)

3. Athletic BGM (Mario 3)

4. Aboveground BGM (Super Mario World)

5. Slider (Super Mario 64)

6. Delfino Plaza (Super Mario Sunshine)

7. Aboveground BGM (New Super Mario Bros.)

8. Super Mario Galaxy

9. Title (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)

10. Super Mario Galaxy 2

11. Coin (sound effect)

12. Jump (sound effect)

13. Super Mario transform (sound effect)

14. 1UP (sound effect)15. Enter a Pipe (sound effect)

16. Hurry (sound effect)

17. Lose a Life (sound effect)

18. Game Over (sound effect)

19. Course Clear (sound effect)

20. Castle Clear (sound effect)

The last thing the package has is a 32-page Super Mario History book. In this book you get interviews and concept art. It is a very impressive package, but it does fall short in some areas.
Let’s start with the four NES games. I love being able to have Super Mario All-Stars on the Wii, but it doesn’t offer anything new. The game itself is a shameless port and that’s all. I mean they actually have instructions in the game on how to play on your Super Nintendo controller.
The games themselves are fun, of course, but playing on my HD TV I noticed some delay. I had to mess around with my TV’s settings to try and reduce the effect of the delay but I couldn't get rid of it 100 percent. Also, the games doesn't support widescreen, which is a huge disappointment.
Besides those problems the games are still very fun to play. Nintendo has also made it possible to use a host of controllers. You can use your Wii Remote, Wii Remote Plus, Wii Classic Controller, Classic Controlller Pro or the Nintendo GameCube controller. I found the best way to play these games is using the Wii Remote.

Moving onto the soundtrack, which is a cool idea and has some cool tracks, isn’t as great as it could be. Half the soundtrack is made up of sound effects that last only seconds, which, in my opinion, is a waste.
For $29.99 or more, since it’s becoming harder to find, I would say it’s worth it for the die-hard Mario fans that need everything Mario. If you own a Super Nintendo and have a copy of Super Mario All-Stars, well you’re all set. This is the same stuff we saw back in 1993.

Now, this is a hard thing to rate, because I can’t just rate the game itself. I need to also rate everything the package includes.

For the soundtrack I decided to give it 6 out of 10. It’s basically a little more than half a soundtrack. The music they do include is classic, but they should of filled the whole CD with music from the games.

Next is the history book. It’s definitely colorful and has some interesting things included in it; I chose to give it 7 out of 10.

The final thing is the game itself. If I was just rating the games individually I would give them all 10’s. They’re all classics and can be played over and over again. Yet, the game is just a port that is not presented in widescreen and offers nothing new. With that said there is no denying that these game are fun to play and they still look very sharp, graphic wise, so I decided to give it 8 out 10.

The overall score is a 7.

Irvin Kershner 1923-2010

For those of you who don't know, Irvin Kershner was a director. He helmed the best of the Star Wars series, The Empire Strikes Back and after battling a long illness he passed away on Saturday at the age of 84.

Bryant shouldn’t be held to higher standard

Call of Duty: Black Ops might be getting some positive press, but Kobe Bryant is getting some heat because of his involvement in a television commercial for the game.

Before the game’s release, a promo starting airing showing various people, including Bryant and talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, using guns to fight off other people. Basically doing what you do in the game.

“Does Kobe Bryant really need this money, this badly?” said Skip Bayless, an ESPN commentator. “Doesn’t he have a couple of daughters, last time I checked? He is smiling while wielding an assault rifle in combat, while we have troops overseas at this moment, doing the same thing for real.”
Many share that opinion, especially since Bryant is smiling while firing off an assault rifle.

“I was shocked to see Kobe Bryant in the ads, and shooting the grenades off,” said Bomani Jones, another ESPN commentator.

Bryant hasn’t talked about the controversy.
In my view, when I first saw the commercial I didn’t really find anything wrong with it. It’s simply a commercial and I do believe there are worse things going on in the world than this. With that said, when I analyzed it, the commercial does makes combat look fun, which is bad. Combat should always be taken seriously and never taken lightly. Yet, we have to also remember that this is a commercial for a video game and shouldn’t be taken seriously. They are not fighting in a real battle they are at home playing the game and the commercial wanted to show that they are having fun playing and that people from all walks of life enjoy the game.

Yeah, maybe Bryant shouldn’t have been in it, because he might be a role model. But then again, he was accused of rape several years ago, so I don’t know how much weight can be put into the role model label.
Now the other person that appeared in the ad was Kimmel, but he isn’t getting any backlash from this. Why is that? Yes, Kimmel is partially blocked from the camera’s view, but he should be held up to the same standard as Bryant.
The whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me and quite possibly you would have to play the race card as well. Bryant is black, while Kimmel is white.
The whole thing is overblown. I keep reading things like “think about the children.” For the most part, children are smart enough to separate real from fantasy. I don’t think this ad is harming children, it’s just another thing for people to complain about for a week and then next week it will be something new. It isn’t real and people need to realize that.