“The strategy that’s involved is as deep as the skill sometimes”
This week, on the eve of the highly anticipated Strikeforce mixed martial arts bout between Fedor Emilianenko and Brett Rogers in Chicago, EA held a press conference at the arena to talk the very first details about their new contender to THQ’s critically acclaimed fighting game, UFC 2009 Undisputed.
Answering the questions of the curious press was Dale Jackson, executive producer with EA Tiburon, the studio helming the development of EA Sports MMA. Over the course of the 20-minute question and answer session, Jackson talked about everything from what it’s like to be competing with a juggernaut (THQ’s UFC 2009) to the possibility of a women’s division.
Question: About how many fighters are going to be on the roster?
Dale: It’s going to be a really big roster, but it’s not so much about the number of fighters as it is about every fighter fighting as an individual. So it’s not just a list of names and you’ll get excited about the names. It’s about having fighters in there you’ll recognize but they’ll also fight like themselves. So every fighter you play with will be a different experience, and that’s what we’re focusing on.
For those of us who have played the THQ game, what’s going to be the major differences between this game and UFC 2009.
Dale: Well, without drawing any direct comparisons…MMA is a worldwide sport, and we’re not about making a game that’s about a specific league, this is a game about the sport of MMA and what it means all over the world. And also what it means to become an MMA fighter. So it’s a pretty different experience from anything that’s out there today.
Will you be incorporating a women’s division?
Dale: We’ve looked into that. We don’t know if we’ll be doing it in this game, or not, it’s a long-haul here, but we’re evaluating that.
How will Strikeforce be represented in the game?
Dale: You’ll see the cage, you’ll see the event you see out there right now, and you’ll see the way Strikeforce holds and promotes their fights. You’ll see that level of authenticity.
Is this running on the same engine as Fight Night Round 4?
Dale: We started with the same engine as Fight Night Round 4, but obviously MMA has got a lot of differences, so we’ve been modifying it a lot. We trade technology back and forth with that team all the time. It actually shares components with even our football products and a lot of different products.
How much did you and your staff know about MMA before you started this project? Did you have to learn everything? Or did you already know a lot about the moves and the history behind it?
Dale: I’ve been watching MMA for a long time, and I even trained Jiu-Jitsu for three years. So I’ve got a bit of experience with it. I don’t miss too many fights, I love watching it, and studying every fight as much as I can. On top of that I’ve got a couple of guys on the team in training right now so there are people who are far bigger experts than I involved. There’s been some learning curve for a few people, but most of the team is pretty passionate about the sport and knew about it before they came on board.
