Michael Blank on Fight Night Round 3

What guy doesn’t like boxing? Okay maybe a very minute, microscopic percentage. Same with gamers that weren’t in awe of Fight Night Round 3. PLAYSTATION 3 owners are very lucky to have new features added to their version of the game like Get in the Ring mode and  ESPN Integration package that delivers updates, scores, breaking news, radio podcasts and ESPN Motion.

Little was known about these two additions, until now. EA Canada Producer Michael Blank satisfies the inquiring mind Jeremy Dunham for IGN as he gives out details on the both features. In Get in the Ring mode you become the boxer. You’ll see everything as it happens through a boxer’s eyes from the moment he steps into the ring until he suffers a knockdown.

What makes the experience remarkable is the degree of reality attached to it. “What makes it so powerful and exciting is that the experience changes as the boxer’s health deteriorates. We’ve captured the sensation and feel of taking punches by implementing a number of different effects such as ear ringing, simulated loss of hearing, and restricted vision that mimics the effects of eye swelling and damage as well as flashes of bright light, color shifts and blur to give players that sense and feeling of getting punched,” says Michael Blank.

  

Although the mode is geared towards the single player, multiplayer mode will allow players to o go head to head in first person split-screen battles.You can see the damage happening in real time, which if you take the time to stop punching and look over at your opponent’s side you’ll be able to see the effects of the damage on his vision.

The new damage system in first-person is reflected in changes to your vision and hearing. If you’ve forgotten how to work your jab and to keep your defense up, the visual effects gets more dramatic and intense as you’re being beaten to a pulp.

An example given by Blank is this, “If your eye has been worked by multiple punches and has swollen up, the side of the screen representing your bad eye gets blurry and will darken to show you that your eye is in bad shape. This will make it harder to anticipate punches towards the damaged eye. Ultimately, you’ll need to figure out how to better protect that side of your face or you risk not being able to see punches coming from that direction.”

  

Sports fanatics will have the time of their lives as they indulge in news articles, streaming video, live ticker and SportsCenter updates about boxing. Specific contents will also be provided like news and highlights of ESPN Wednesday Night Fights and Friday Night Fights.

However the interview’s highlight is when asked for an honest as possible answer about the difficulties of porting the game from the Xbox 360 to PLAYSTATION 3, to which Blank modestly replied, “Making the game work on the PS3 was not an easy feat but this is the experience all game makers have at every hardware transition. The PS3 works differently than the 360 in many respects. That being said, once the initial learning curve was overcome, we’ve become very adept at figuring out how to get the most out of the platform.”

He also touched on the PLAYSTATION 3 controller’s six-axis tilt functionality, graphical changes made to the game, the Create a Character option and downloadable content, which you can read about in the full interview available via the read link.

Via IGN

What guy doesn’t like boxing? Okay maybe a very minute, microscopic percentage. Same with gamers that weren’t in awe of Fight Night Round 3. PLAYSTATION 3 owners are very lucky to have new features added to their version of the game like Get in the Ring mode and  ESPN Integration package that delivers updates, scores, breaking news, radio podcasts and ESPN Motion.

Little was known about these two additions, until now. EA Canada Producer Michael Blank satisfies the inquiring mind Jeremy Dunham for IGN as he gives out details on the both features. In Get in the Ring mode you become the boxer. You’ll see everything as it happens through a boxer’s eyes from the moment he steps into the ring until he suffers a knockdown.

What makes the experience remarkable is the degree of reality attached to it. “What makes it so powerful and exciting is that the experience changes as the boxer’s health deteriorates. We’ve captured the sensation and feel of taking punches by implementing a number of different effects such as ear ringing, simulated loss of hearing, and restricted vision that mimics the effects of eye swelling and damage as well as flashes of bright light, color shifts and blur to give players that sense and feeling of getting punched,” says Michael Blank.

  

Although the mode is geared towards the single player, multiplayer mode will allow players to o go head to head in first person split-screen battles.You can see the damage happening in real time, which if you take the time to stop punching and look over at your opponent’s side you’ll be able to see the effects of the damage on his vision.

The new damage system in first-person is reflected in changes to your vision and hearing. If you’ve forgotten how to work your jab and to keep your defense up, the visual effects gets more dramatic and intense as you’re being beaten to a pulp.

An example given by Blank is this, “If your eye has been worked by multiple punches and has swollen up, the side of the screen representing your bad eye gets blurry and will darken to show you that your eye is in bad shape. This will make it harder to anticipate punches towards the damaged eye. Ultimately, you’ll need to figure out how to better protect that side of your face or you risk not being able to see punches coming from that direction.”

  

Sports fanatics will have the time of their lives as they indulge in news articles, streaming video, live ticker and SportsCenter updates about boxing. Specific contents will also be provided like news and highlights of ESPN Wednesday Night Fights and Friday Night Fights.

However the interview’s highlight is when asked for an honest as possible answer about the difficulties of porting the game from the Xbox 360 to PLAYSTATION 3, to which Blank modestly replied, “Making the game work on the PS3 was not an easy feat but this is the experience all game makers have at every hardware transition. The PS3 works differently than the 360 in many respects. That being said, once the initial learning curve was overcome, we’ve become very adept at figuring out how to get the most out of the platform.”

He also touched on the PLAYSTATION 3 controller’s six-axis tilt functionality, graphical changes made to the game, the Create a Character option and downloadable content, which you can read about in the full interview available via the read link.

Via IGN