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UFC fighter Jason MacDonald talks about Jon Fitch/Dana White situation
By Zach Arnold | December 2, 2008
From his column today on Sportsnet (Canada):
As for Jon Fitch, I’m glad to see he finally did sign the exclusive video-game agreement, which could have cost him his spot in the UFC had he not. I didn’t have any problem with signing it, even if it was exclusive. From my standpoint, why wouldn’t I want the UFC to use my name and my likeness in a video game for my lifetime? It’s not like there are other opportunities like that out there. Is Affliction going to be putting out a video game down the road? I doubt it.
The counter-argument from Ivan Trembow:
It’s also interesting to note how the UFC is preying on fighters’ lack of knowledge about other potential video game deals. We’ve seen multiple fighters, including Fitch, say something to the effect of, “Come on, who else is going to be want to put ME in a video game?” This demonstrates that they are completely unaware of the fact that the biggest video game publisher in the world, Electronic Arts, also has a mixed martial arts game in the pipeline, and unlike Zuffa/THQ, they are willing to pay fighters to be a part of it. It’s not like it would be a huge amount of money, but it shows the fighters not being aware of what they’re signing away.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Snowden has an interview with Georges St. Pierre.
Update: Nicholas Bailey rips apart Dan Lambert of American Top Team for recent comments Mr. Lambert made about UFC contracts in relation to fighters signing away the rights to their image & likeness.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 56 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
True Chuck. I heard rumors that EA strong armed reviewers to give 2K Sports’ Don King’s Prizefighter poor reviews. EA is butt hurt over Take 2, who own 2K Sports, resisting their hostile takeover attempt. I haven’t played the game so I can’t judge it though.
But I’ve seen a number of hardcore boxing fans on forums and one dissenting reviewer say that Prizefighter was superior to Fight Night Round 3 because it’s more sim-based and not arcade-ish like the FN series. No cheap haymakers, more focus on defensive, technical boxing, fights last longer just like in real-life boxing, etc. They say that Prizefighter isn’t popular with people used to Fight Night because gamers aren’t used to fighting games geared more towards defense and simulation. Most people when they get into a fist fight will start throwing haymakers and wild looping punches. That’s not what boxing is all about so if fans can’t understand, I can see why Prizefighter would be unpopular. From what I’ve heard from the game, Prizefighter probably has a steep learning curve, especially for people not familiar with boxing.
I would agree that game publishing/developing companies are even more evil/corrupt than Zuffa. To employees, gamers, reviewers, etc.
But the thing is is that Prizefighter really wasn’t all that great. I have it, and it’s okay, decent even, and it definitely could have been very good, but they rushed that game. It does have a steep learning curve, because there are WAY TOO MANY FUCKING CONTROLS!
The main problem is that there is collision detection (for those who don’t know what this means, it means that there was punches going THROUGH fighters, hence not registering as connecting), some clipping, and somewhat unresponsive controls, especially throwing hooks. Many times when you would press a button to punch, it would wait a few seconds, and THEN the punch goes through. It’s a pain in the ass and it should have been fixed. If only they pushed the game back about three months to fix the problems THEN it could have been a damn good boxing game. But as it stands, it is merely decent.
Only the hardcore need apply for this game. Thankfully you can get it used for about eighteen bucks, and new it’s twenty bucks now. So if you are a boxing fan with an XBOX360, go for it.
I don’t have a 360 so I can’t buy it. Sounds like another game that would have been great if they didn’t rush the development. This goes back to what you said earlier about how publishers impose these deadlines, rush games and then do a half-assed job. 2K Sports should have taken their time on it. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if EA paid off some reviewers to give it a low rating. EA doesn’t want competition for their Fight Night series and they also don’t like Take 2 for resisting their hostile takeover. I think Prizefighter was getting in the 5/10 range on GameSpot and IGN. Is it really that bad?
Personally, I would give it about a 6. GameInformer gave it a 7.5, and I would be hard-pressed to completely disagree. They gave Facebreaker (EA’s mediocre boxing game of this year) a 7.25, and everyone else gave it between 3.5-5 out of ten. I think everyone will agree on that Prizefighter turned out better than Facebreaker.
I guess GameInformer has a soft-spot for boxing games. But they outlined the bad points of those two games like everyone else, so there weren’t any rose-colored glasses.
Prizefighter is coming out for the Wii and DS on March 9th, so let’s see how those versions turn out (I bet there will be crappy motion controls on the Wii version and touch-screen scribbling on the DS version.).
But one boxing game that EVERYONE should avoid? Showtime Boxing on the Wii and DS. I haven’t played either version, but they are getting TRASHED by EVERYONE. Out of tens, no one is giving either version higher than threes. Very pathetic.
The point is not only that there may be other video games but also that the fighters may become more popular and that then in future versions of a UFC (or any other) video game it would be ain the interest of the publisher to have the stars of the sport involved.
Thats the time when they would have to bargain with the fighters about how much their video game appearance is worth. A debate that the UFC is trying to prevent at an early stage and at the expense of the fighters.
Lorenzo and Dana are pimps (not in ANY good sense) and poor guys like Jason MacDonald are making themselves Ho’s…