*Fight Night Champion Trailer*

[starjammer]

'One of the biggest changes to the franchise is the way blocking is handled. There is a new blocking mechanic called Reflexive Blocking. "I call it that because there are two types of reflexes involved: mine and my boxer's," explains Hayes. "My reflexes come into play when I see a punch coming or when I think a punch is coming and I pull the right trigger to block. If I respond in enough time, my boxer will put his hands in the right position and block the punch. The other option I have is to just hold down the block button to cover up. Depending on my boxer's reflex rating, he will move his hands to pickoff punches with varying levels of success depending on the types of punches being thrown and his current level of stamina."

And since there is no longer a directional mechanic involved in blocking (you no longer have to choose high or low), the right analog stick and/or the buttons are still available for punching, enabling gamers to hold down the right trigger to block, flick the stick to throw a punch, then go right back to blocking. "This just offers another strategy aspect and enables you to fight like Winky Wright, picking your shots," adds Hayes. "Now I can punch from the guard, and if I time the block correctly, I can get in a bigger counter shot. And since you no longer have to let go of guard, we don't have to do the video game-thing of slowing your opponent down to clue you into throwing a punch. Now it's up to you to counter in real time, so the gameplay action is much more realistically paced."'

[starjammer]

'"Under the hood, we have also added individual stamina meters for right arm, left arm, torso, and legs, so now if you keep throwing the same punches or if you keep throwing punches with the same arm, that arm will become tired. It's no longer about, you throw a bunch of punches and your legs are tired and you can't move. Now your arm will be tired, but you will still be able to move around the ring in a realistic manner. All of these things help us manage more realistically what a fighter can and cannot do during a fight."

Another big difference in gameplay is the new way punches are thrown using the right analog stick. It's no longer about pushing the stick in various motions in order to throw specific punches. Now it's all about simply flicking the stick -- a system EA refers to as Full Spectrum Punching. "We have to come up with a name for everything," laughs Hayes as he demonstrates the new controls. "But when we did our research from last year, we noticed that with Total Punch Control, there was an overwhelming number of left-handed punches being thrown." The reason, Hayes explains, is all in the thumb. "The thumb wasn't a fan of Total Control Punching. To throw a right-handed punch, you had to jam your thumb back toward the rest of your hand. But to throw a left hook or a left uppercut, you had more torque and it was way easier to throw left-handed punches. So for this game, we said forget the arcing gestures for hooks and uppercuts that people were accustomed to. Now every punch is thrown by simply flicking the right stick either to the left or to the right, with each angle from top to bottom representing a different punch. Now we have an analog punching system that is not only more user-friendly, but now has over twice as many punch animations than Total Punch Control could offer. We go from hooks to straights to uppercuts with punches in between."'

And to go along with the heavy punches, "Fight Night" even added one-punch knockouts to the franchise. It could be the first punch of the first round or even a last second punch in the final round, but you will see the one-punch KO where the boxer who is floored won't even have the opportunity to get up. The ref won't even count. "'Fight Night' was always about the health meter, getting it to zero, and knocking your opponent down," says Hayes. "You always had a chance to get up. But now if you hit the right shot at the right time, it's over."

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/vide...more=fullstory

[starjammer]

[starjammer]

[starjammer]

[starjammer]

David Haye is confirmed to be in the game...

Maybe this is the only opportunity we'll get to see the Klitschko Haye fights.

[Hi-Dro]

I love the bloody faces. Makes the game more brutal. FNR4 lacks in that department. It's not brutal enough. Still I hope this game plays like FNR4

[starjammer]

I love the bloody faces. Makes the game more brutal. FNR4 lacks in that department. It's not brutal enough. Still I hope this game plays like FNR4

Yeah me too. Everything I'm reading and hearing about this game sounds too good to be true.

[S H A R K B O Y]

Some of the body figures are not proportionate or even to scale.

[starjammer]

Some of the body figures are not proportionate or even to scale.

Hmm, they had that problem last year in the pre-release photos and it was improved by the time the game was released.