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POSTED:
Nov 20 2009, 10:26 AM
With the DLC and Title Update lined up for early December, we polled the community for their questions about the upcoming additions and sat with game Producers Mike Mahar and Brian Hayes to get their take on things. Above you will find the first of 4 videos with answers to those questions.
Right before these videos we recorded their recap of the Pacquiao-Cotto fight, which is why Brizzo makes mention of this being the "Second most exciting thing in boxing". That recap should be coming next week along with some pics and extra video from their trip.
Please note an update to the release dates of the Title Update and DLC, which are subject to change, since we filmed the videos:
December 2
X360 Gold & Silver - Title Update
December 3
X360 Gold - Free Content - Accessories
X360 Gold & Silver - Champions Pack (Boxers and Game Modes Available)
PS3 - Title Update
PS3 - Accessories and Champions Pack
December 10
X360 Silver - Free Content - Accessories
Pricing for Champions Pack
Ring Rivalries - $1.99 US / 160 MS Points
Old School Rules - $3.99 US / 320 MS Points
Individual Boxers - $1.99 US / 160 MS Points (Evander Holyfield, Bernard Hopkins, Sonny Liston)
Champions Pack Bundle - $9.99 US / 800 MS Points
POSTED:
Nov 19 2009, 02:22 PM
Join FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 producers Mike Mahar and Brian "Brizzo" Hayes in Club Fight Night
in the EA SPORTS Complex next Wednesday, November 25th from 4-5PM PST
for PlayStation 3 gamers. The game producers will be available for
gamers to chat with them about the upcoming DLC and Title Update
release coming in December.
For those that may not be able to get into the chat or do not have a
Sony PlayStation 3, you can still join in on the conversation as we
will also be hosting a Cover It Live event alongside the PSN Home chat.
In the meantime, make sure you get up to speed on all the latest details about the DLC and Title Update in the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 blog and come ready with your questions and feedback for the producers.
Go to the news article on the EA SPORTS to access the Cover It Live event: FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 Producer Chat
POSTED:
Jul 27 2009, 12:25 PM
UPDATE - August 17th 1:45PM PST
De La Hoya Headlines Downloadable Boxer Pack (Click here)
UPDATE from the Development Team
- August 7 - 6:30PM PST
As you may be aware there is an issue related to the DLC Pack 1.
Users who’ve downloaded this pack may experience situations where they
load into game play (online and offline) and their controller config
will be changed to button punch controls. This happens without warning
and the button controls are not yet available as a feature via the
Settings screen.
This issue only occurs for Xbox 360 users who’ve downloaded Pack 1
and the fix will be going live early (2 AM Pacific Time) in the morning
on Tuesday, August 11, 2009.
After MS releases the update users must follow these steps to fix the issue:
- Delete Fight Night Round 4 Pack 1 via the Xbox Blade
My Xbox > Systems Settings > Memory > Hard Drive >
Games > Fight Night Round 4 > Fight Night Round 4 Pack 1 >
Delete
- Once it is deleted select to Play Fight Night Round 4 via My Xbox
- Press Start to advance to the Main Menu
- The user should be prompted with a new ‘Downloadable Content 1 is now available’ pop up.
- Select to download it.
- Once downloaded the user should no longer experience the ‘random button config’ issue during gameplay
- If users have previously unlocked Olympic Sugar Ray Leonard via the Pizza Hut promotion he will still be available/unlocked.
UPDATE - July 31 3:15PM PST
Thanks to the community for your patience as our team has been
working around the clock to resolve an issue with a button control scheme showing up randomly in online play. The team has determined
that the issue is
linked to the DLC update that went out this week to XBOX 360 Gold
members. The devs are currently working on getting a fix in to
resolve the issue within the next couple of weeks.
What does this mean for XBOX 360 Silver gamers?
As XBOX 360 Silver members do not have the ability to play online,
the issue will not manifest itself for those that wish to download the
DLC when it becomes available on August 6th.
What does this mean for XBOX 360 Gold gamers who have downloaded the DLC?
As the team is working on implementing a fix for the bug, we will
provide more detailed instructions within the next couple of weeks on
how to rectify the issue as MFST will allow us to push out the fix
after the appropriate approvals. In the meantime, please follow the
steps below to ensure you do not encounter the issue or if you are in a
match with the issue occurring:
If you want to be absolutely sure you don't encounter this issue
in online, back out to the Main Menu after each online fight and then
re-enter the game mode.
If you do happen to enter a fight with buttons, you can pause the
game, go into the settings -> controller configuration menu and then
back out which will cause a desync with both fighters not receiving a
win or a loss on their record.
The desync should only occur if the bug appears.
What does this mean for PS3 gamers?
We have determined that it would be optimal for PS3 users to not
encounter this issue, so we will be combining this first update with
our scheduled second update slated for early September. We understand
that means that the issues some users are experiencing that we planned
to have fixed with the first update will still be present, though the
fixes with this first update along with the fix with this new issue and
improvements with the second update will be available at that time.
We appreciate everyone’s
understanding as the team works to resolve this issue.
Original Entry - July 27 12:25 PM PST
Mike Mahar here to provide a quick word on our first game
update which went live over the weekend for XBOX 360 users and which
will go live for PS3 users next week. The following items have been
updated included in the Patch/Title Update:
Legacy Mode – Fix for scheduling two fights at once and not
being able to advance in the Legacy Mode schedule. Users will need to
start a new Legacy Mode file for fix to be applied.
Legacy Mode – Legacy Mode freezing fix for users’
encountering random freeze events. This fix applies to save load
functionality and will NOT fix currently corrupted Legacy Files but
will fix all new Legacy Files after the patch has been applied.
XBOX 360 Boot Up Freeze – Sometimes game would freeze if user
had a high number of playlists. This issue has been fixed to handle
over 30 custom play lists elegantly. This is for XBOX 360 only.
Online – Online HUD functionality altered so opponent’s HUD
is hidden during the fight. Change made to improve quality of online
game play.
Live Tournament Feature – Fight Night Round 4 will be
offering Live Tournaments in the future. This feature will not be
accessible until the Live Tournament functionality it turned on. Stay
tuned for more information regarding tournament dates and times.
New Game Play Sliders - Two new sliders that allow the user
to customize boxer stamina, boxer accuracy, and the counter punch
window for off line game play.
Our apologies for not messaging out the specifics of the patch in
advance, while some XBOX 360 users got it on Saturday July 25th, it
wasn’t scheduled to go live until July 28th. However, a free DLC update for XBOX 360 users is scheduled to go out in the early morning hours of July 28th.
The
Sony PS3 patch and DLC update will be available on August 6th due to
slightly longer processing times through Sony. This will include all
bug fixes mentioned above and free DLC content.
Due to the tight
time lines of this patch, not all the requested issues could be
resolved. We will continue to collect feedback and offer more
improvements and fixes in future updates…like the Button Patch.
If you have any questions regarding the patch please post them in the forums or PM Brizzo, sk88z, or me.
-Mike
POSTED:
Jul 16 2009, 01:47 PM
In case you haven't visited the EA SPORTS Beta Media Lounge, we've collected all the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 Hints and Tips videos and posted them here.
Are there parts of your game that you need improving or not sure how to master? If it's not listed here, let us know and we'll see if we can provide some help in the near future.
Corner Tips
Learn how to master the Double End Bag training exercise
Learn how to master the Heavy Bag Combo training exercise
Learn how to ace the Maize Bag training exercise
Learn how to master the Stay on Your Feet training exercise
Learn how to master the Sparring training exercise
Learn how to master the Heavy Bag Push training exercise
Producer Mike Mahar talks with Jason and Rob about how to be successful in Legacy Mode - Part 1
Producer Mike Mahar talks with Jason and Rob about how to be successful in Legacy Mode - Part 2
Meet the Heavyweights - Jason Thompson breaks down the Heavyweight Division
Meet the Light Heavyweights - Jason Thompson breaks down the Light Heavyweight Division
Meet the Middleweights - Jason Thompson breaks down the Middleweight Division
POSTED:
Jul 07 2009, 12:25 PM
I just wanted to give the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 community a quick update of what the Dev Team has been working on since Fight Night was launched.
First, let me say we’re incredibly happy with the final product. Critics and boxing fans agree that FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 has revolutionized the fighting genre through the use of our physics based game play engine and enhanced visuals.
One of our goals, when we began working on FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 ,was to create an new and innovative game play system that would improve and surpass the game play and visuals of Fight Night Round 3. It wasn’t easy…but we think we’ve achieved our goal.
That said, our work doesn’t stop with the shipping of FIGHT NIGHT Round 4.
The dev team is constantly reading and posting on our message boards, keeping in contact with community members, and taking feedback from the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 community. We have a team of individuals committed to keeping the game fresh, addressing issues, and working with the community to deliver more high quality content.
While we can’t provide exact dates and content specifics just yet, we can say there are solid plans moving forward. With the feedback and wish lists provided from the community our users can expect exciting content in the future.
Bottom line…we love the sport of boxing and want to continue to expand on the innovation in FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 and we’ll continue to do so with input of our community.
So, if you have anything to say or want to provide us with your feedback, be sure to stop by the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 forums, http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/categories/show/79.page and let us know what you think.
Talk to you soon,
-Mike
Check out a Q&A with Mike on the latest news here: Q&A with Mike Mahar
POSTED:
Jul 02 2009, 02:40 PM
Hey there! Mike Mahar here and I thought I’d take a few moments to give you an overview of new feature in Fight Night Round 4 called Online World Championships.
First, let me give you some background on how we came up with the idea … As you’re aware most EA SPORTS games have a standard online ‘Play Now’ mode. This mode is usually a quick pick up and play, come as you are affair… whereby the user selects a licensed or created team/character and heads out to take on the best competition they can find. Results are tracked on leaderboards and satisfaction comes from the competition … or more specifically…laying the smack down on your opponent.
We wanted to take this idea a step further for those who wanted to invest slightly more time into their online character/persona...hence the introduction of the Online World Championships.
Online World Championships are different from Fight Now in several ways:
1. You can only use created characters. Our objective is to encourage users’ to create and use their ‘virtual selves’ online…obviously we also expect there to be a fair amount of Borats and Obamas. The the use of Photo Game Face and the ability to download boxers from EA SPORTS World will make for amazing looking boxers!
2. All boxers will have their ratings/attributes leveled. We do this do ensure a level playing field amongst all participants and focus the fight on who is the most skilled Fight Night Round 4 boxer. Not, who has the better ratings.
3. There are three weight divisions; Light Weight, Middle Weight, and Heavy Weight. We condensed the weight classes to ensure there is always a critical mass of users around to fight in your selected weight division.
4. …and this may be the biggest… There is only one championship belt available for each weight division. This means, if you hold the belt…you’re truly the champion of the world in your weight division.
5. There are no regions…when you sign up to fight you’ll be fighting against boxers from around the world playing Fight Night Round 4…including the UK, France, Canada, Germany, the USA and more.
6. More than winning the belt you can also earn titles. For example; Most Knockouts, Most Wins, Fastest Win, etc. These titles are marked with icons beside your gamertag on our leaderboards. These titles are earned by being the best in the world and/or the best in the region you are playing from… I.e. I could have the Most KO Wins in Canada.
7. You must battle your way up the ranks to earn a shot at the champ. The lowest ranked fighter won’t get a shot at the belt until he earns it by beating down the competition.
8. Once you’ve won the belt you have to keep it by winning X amount of fights over a certain period of time. We will be monitoring these conditions once we go live and have the ability to make this easier or more difficult based on the community feedback.
Online World Championships encourages people to create their virtual selves, get online, and prove who, from around the globe, has the best Fight Night Round 4 skills…no different weight class match ups, no ratings differences, no BS, just boxing.
We’ll be watching the action…Good Luck!
-Mike
POSTED:
Jun 09 2009, 02:17 PM
Producer Mike Mahar walks us through the Photo Game Face feature that our fans have been buzzing about lately. The video goes deeper into talking about boxer customization along with Boxer Share, the ability to share created boxers with FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 fans everywhere. Add your own music to your entrances and your entrance style and your personalized style is set.
All you need now is the game. Can the 25th come any quicker please???
POSTED:
Apr 17 2009, 11:36 PM
Mike Mahar, producer
Styles make fights. It’s an old boxing adage that succinctly describes
how the boxing styles of two combatants determines the type of fight
they will have. If you put two cutesy southpaw counter-punchers in
against each other and you’re probably not looking forward to a
barnburning slugfest. If you put to face-first, take-two-to-give-one
sluggers in against each other and you probably won’t have an
exhibition of outstanding defensive technique on your hands. Creating a
diverse set of boxing styles for the AI in Fight Night Round 4 has been
a focus since the early stages of development.
There are a lot of things that make up a boxer’s style. First off,
you have the stance: orthodox or southpaw. An interesting twist in
Fight Night Round 4 is the addition of independent power ratings for
each hand. This allows you to make a southpaw boxer with a dominant
right hand, or vice versa. The boxing world is full of natural
southpaws that were converted to fight right-handed by trainers early
in their career. In Fight Night Round 4 you can simulate that effect
with created boxers and you can expect licensed boxers that fought this
way to have their attributes reflect that.
The way a boxer positions their feet and holds their hands is
probably one of the most recognizable facets of their boxing style.
It’s the kind of thing that you can look at for one or two seconds and
get a sense for what kind of boxer they are. Boxers like Roy Jones Jr,
George Foreman and Emanuel Augustus are very distinct from one another.
Roy holds his lead hand low baiting his opponents to throw something so
he can use his speed and reflexes to defend and counter. George
Foreman held his hands high and stalked towards his opponents waiting
to unleash the fury the moment their backs touched the ropes. Emanuel
Augustus, well, I don’t think anybody has really figured that guy out
just yet. Fight Night Round 4 features a wide variety of different ways
for boxers to stand and hold their hands that allows us to recreate the
style of all the licensed boxers and allows you, the user, to create a
huge variety of virtual opponents.
On top of the boxer’s stance and hand position there are a 3
different base punch styles and 3 different base block styles to choose
from. With the new physics system, the different punches and block
styles have subtle differences in how the punches contact the target or
how the blocks cover against incoming punches. Another interesting
addition in Fight Night Round 4 is the ability to select your boxer’s
best punch and give it a boost. This doesn’t make it a crazy animation.
Joe Frazier’s left hook didn’t look really different than other left
hooks – until it landed. No more Sinister Cross or Judge Jab. The
system is more balanced but it still allows us to customize fighters to
match their real life counterparts.
But a boxer’s style really comes down to their strategic approach
when they step inside the ropes. For Fight Night Round 4 we developed 8
base boxing styles that we assigned to every licensed boxer. Then we
tweaked and tuned these base styles to make them each boxer’s strengths
and mimic the way they fight (or fought) in real life. The 8 base
styles include:
Conventional Boxer: A boxer that sticks to the fundamentals and tries to set things up with the jab.
Unconventional Boxer: A boxer that eschews the fundamentals for a more dynamic approach.
Slugger: A roughhouse power puncher that likes to throw bombs, thinks the best defense is a good offense.
Brawler: Another power puncher, but one that shows more defensive ability.
Counter Puncher: A slippery, in-the-pocket defensive style fighter.
Boxer Puncher: A boxer that takes a conventional approach to setting up his big punches at medium distance.
Inside Fighter: A close range boxer-puncher that moves his head and tries to control the ring and work the body.
Outside Fighter: A stick and move fighter that focuses on keeping the opponent at the end of their punches.
One
of the really great things it that using the Create Boxer feature, you
can assign one of these 8 base styles to any boxer you create, which
allows you to ensure that when you create one of your favorite legends
and import him into your Legacy Mode as an opponent, he won’t end up
dancing around the ring when you want him to be an aggressive puncher.
When it all comes together and you combine the different animations,
boxer styles and boxer attributes with the differences in height and
reach, you can really see big diversity between the boxers you face
inside the ropes in Fight Night Round 4.