Posted Sep 02, 2006 at 01:28PM by Anna S. Listed in: Interviews, Fight Night Round 3 Tags: Canada, Downloadable Content, ESPN
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FNR 3 001


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.

Fight Night Round 3 - Image 1 Fight Night Round 3 - Image 2 


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."

Fight Night Round 3 - Image 1 Fight Night Round 3 - Image 2 


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]

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34 Comments


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   by Razz (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » DAMN!

Wow, Impressive shots. I'd love to see it motion.

   by KnowLedge - 2006-09-02
 » Xbox 360 what?

PS3 version simply KILLS X360 version in graphics AND gameplay department.

Next-gen is about to come, when SONY starts it.

   by Yo (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » Stop being a fanboy

No but seriously please stop being a fanboy. How could you say the ps3 kills the xbox360 in gameplay when you haven't even played any of the ps3 games. And you won't probaly get to see much of the ps3 graphical power right not because games that are multiplatformed arent going to look better from the ps3 version to the xbox360 because their entirally the same game including the art and player models you see. You will only see the graphics being pushed in console exlusives for the ps3 and 1st party games. Maby down the line games that are getting multiplatformed will have two seperates devs one for xbox360 and one for ps3. But don't hold your breath, game makers just want your money.

   by KnowLedge - 2006-09-02
 » Are you blind?

It looks much better than XBox 360 version, look at muscle details, lighting, textures resolution, shading, HDR, facial features. Even EA confirms that it will look better on PS3 thanks to system's power.

And another multiplat that looks notably better on PS3 is Virtua Tennis 3. It sports incredibly detailed models and sharper textures on PS3 according to IGN, and GamePro.

Crappy multiplat games won't look better on PS3, the ones from good development houses will.

   by Shiftedx - 2006-09-02
 » gurhk

They are basically the same game except some control differences, and the fact that they made them sweat unbelievably. Fanboys need to stop fighting and do the math. PS2 came out before xbox and xbox had better graphics. Xbox 360 came out before PS3 so PS3 will have a slight graphical boost. The only thing really holding the ps3 back is its memory, only half that of the xbox 360's.

ENJOY THE GAMES AND FORGET ABOUT THE GRAPHICS!

   by KnowLedge - 2006-09-02
 » Wow WTF?

Why does PS3 hold trolls like this dude who made comment number 5?

Half of the RAM? You must be high.
And this is not a slight difference, it's GREAT leap.

Anyway, I forgot to mention gameplay improvements for the PlayStation 3 version.

The game got new game mode called Get In The Ring, it lets you play from 1st person perspective, so you feel just as if you were the one fighting.

Also they fixed animations and clipping, 2 things that really broke the next-gen effect of XBox 360 version.

   by darksquirrel (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » to #5

Yeah ps3 does not have half the memory of the 360. The 360 has one set location holding it's 512 mb ram, whereas the ps3 has 2 256 sections, 1 on the video card and one for the proccessor. On the ps3 both sides are equally accessible from the main processor, they're just seperated for graphics to processor coding simplification.

   by VJ (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » haha

Yet another PS3 game that s**** on the 360 version.

I think its clear the PS3 is more powerful now, 360 is already outdated trash!

Goodbye 360.. you were a decent placeholder for the PS3.

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   by Dj Natas (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » LOL

I read the article, and the guys at EA let a lot of cats out of the bag, XBOX LIVE and SONY Online thing is about the same, PS3 is more powerful and SONY did not push developers to rush a product, lol. He said, "They had more time".

   by Shiftedx - 2006-09-02

Yea the ps3 has more power but if you look at the RAM 360 has 512mb ps3 has 256mb. PS3 does have half the RAM and it is a restraint if it had 512 it would be able to completley blow the xbox 360 away.

PS3 = System Memory 256MB XDR
X360 = 512 MB of 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM

I'm not saying 256 is a bad thing its just something sony could have improved on.

   by Shiftedx - 2006-09-02
 » one more thing

EA also had a finished game for the xbox 360 they could improve when they were developing for the xbox 360 it was a rushed product like all EA's xbox 360 launch games. They had longer to work on the ps3 version.




   by Figboy (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » to Shiftedx

actually, the PS3 has 256MB XDR Main RAM, and 256MB GDDR3 VRAM for a total of 512MB RAM.

i think the 512MB can be utilized by either the GPU or CPU, depending on the needs of the developers. it's very similar to the X Box 360 being able to do the same with it's 512MB, just implemented differently.


   by Shini (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » well

Ive been looking at these screens compared to IGNs 360 screens....while the PS3 does looks better....

I cant say that it is by that much...at all, most screens looked on par with eachother.

   by pythn2005 (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » check out that sweat

there is no way they look on par ps3 has way more detail on 360 they just glistened with sweat but for this one if you look close you can see that the sweap is actually dripping down the contors of their body and the detail is great more veins and little specks like pores and stuff also for some reason i think the abs look way better

   by hush404 - 2006-09-02
 » Thanks figboy (#12)

I was about to post the exact same thing. That is how the system's are set up, equal memory.

   by SteveTao - 2006-09-02
 » Lol

Oh my, another PS3 game that blows the 360's version out of the water. Remember those so call Fight Night Renders from E3 2005? The 360 couldn't even match that. And now look, the PS3 version is matching that exactly. Amazing. Just amazing. Just wait til you see Killzone PS3.

   by chief (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » this is more like it

qj finally posted it, you can even see the stretch marks on dude lol. but the facial animation will also be unpar with what they showed in the E3 05, cant wait for this one

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   by KnowLedge - 2006-09-02
 » Dear Shini...

You can't see the difference (some people have eye problems, I don't blame you), so I will point it out for you.

1. SSS, now the lighting and skin reflections are MUCH more realistic.
2. Details. All the veins, all the WORKING muscles are there, they weren't in X360 version. Also the sweat is much more detailed and skin as well, leading to....
3. Higher res model textures, the skin looks real, unlike in X360 version.
4. HDR - now it makes all look real, not plastic.
5. Redefined shaders, look at the color of skin, and on how materials look - much more realistic than on X360.


That's it for things you can see on these screans. Developer also confirmed that they fixed the animations, and made it look like E3 2k5 demo.
XBox 360 version has terrible animation, and never ending clipping, which ruins the great look of models (I don't try to say that X360 version looks bad, it's in fact the best looking next-gen game right now).

So to make the difference notable, on this level of graphics, they needed LOTS of power.

Of course they also needed more time, which they had, and used it well.

   by myth (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » their both good!!!!

both version's rock,but the ps3 version is better more gameplay mode's ,better high res models ,the ps3 version rocks!!!

   by 360 is old (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » ok

the 360 version came out a while ago. they had much much more time to work on the ps3 version. that is why it looks better. if they delayed the 360 version a year, they would probably look almost identicle. they had much more time to think of what to add in the ps3 version also. i will admit that the ps3 version would have been better, but their wouldnt be that much of a noticable difference.

   by Zafiu (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » Nice...

It has started...

All the xbox360 fanboys running for cover!!!






   by Fin - 2006-09-02
 » O yeah

I will be getting this game. I'm a Fight Night freak and love it.

   by kura (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » OK number 20

if that's the case, would you like to follow the console which forces publishers to sell imperfect games, rushed launch, or one that allows time and provides one of the most powerful hardwares available.

Choice is yours

   by 0101010101 (Unregistered) - 2006-09-02
 » post number 2...

Yeah your totally right... but the devers. kinda messed up wit hthese screenshots I see... I mean look at them again... to me the black guy is not looking so well because his skin looks to grey and not really black... he needs to be more black and it would look much better, lol.

And the white guy... I think he may be just a very little to dark of skin for being white. I mean yes there lots of diff skin colors and tones in real life but what I am saying is if they would do it how I said they would look better, lol.

Oh well first screens anyways and owns the crap out of the xbox360 verison, lol. All PS3 games do for real and I'm no fanboy or a liar.

Maybe I sould be a fanboy since PS3 is no.1 anyways and have the best looking games ever with al lthe latest, newest, best top of the line next gen stuff in it like Cell, RSX, 128bit color, 120fps, hdmi 1.3, blu-ray, xdr memory, and everything else that is the best, lol.

I been watching PS3 ever since e3 2005 and got to know everything in the PS3 and how Cell works and nifo on hdmi 1.3 and everything else, lol.

So I know 110% what I am talking about, lol. I cant wait till tgs since there gonna be 27 playable games and I beileve there gonna be a demo or a realtime in game footage gameplay video of killzone PS3, lol.

And finally get the final RSX specs, lol. IT WAY MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then what you all think it is, lol.

   by Games4James (Unregistered) - 2006-09-03
 » LOL! - I knew this will bring out all the PS fanboys.

Really, you guys are SOooo predictable.

Will it be better than the 360 version? Of course it will, since it will be released about 1 year after that version! Way back at the beginning of the year, EA said that the PS3 version will incorporate much of the new technology they're developing, technology which will not be ready for the 360 version, hence the PS3 version will be more like Fight Night 4 (I they also said this in an interview on 1up.com).

In this interview with Gamespot, it is clearly the case that the PS3 version has benefitted mostly from time. It's not a case of the PS3 being SO much more powerful than the 360, since whilst the improvements requires a machine if the power offered by the PS3 (and 360), the game has benefitted from all the developements in EA's game technology since Fight Night 3 on the 360.

Fight Night 4 will be released on both consoles, and it will look even better, with both consoles featuring the identical technology. Therefore expect very little difference seen between the versions (just like EA's other sports games being released simultaneously on both consoles).

   by Games4James (Unregistered) - 2006-09-03
 » Just to add...

I should have said the interview with IGN, not Gamespot. :)

#24, where did you get the idea that the PS3 will offer games running at 120fps? That 120fps comment from Ken Kutaragi was made at a conference for HD movie technology. It was about movies, not games!

If you were following the PS3 as closely as you claim, you would have known that already. :|

   by KnowLedge - 2006-09-03
 » Dear 25

STOP LYING

I already mentioned that, developer said that they did so many improvements because of more time, AND because of powerful hardware that let them things that are UNIQUE to PlayStation 3.

He didn't use the word mostly on any of this.

Hell he even came back saying that both machines have strong and weak points, of course because EA is 3rd party publisher, and M$ wouldn't be pleased by them saying in public which console is stronger.

But damn that guy already did it.

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   by Games4James (Unregistered) - 2006-09-03
 » #27 - Learn to read (and above all, learn to think).

He didn't say the extra features were BECAUSE of the PS3's power, but that the extra time allowed for the extra features and that each console has their strengths (hence they also have their weaknesses).

Of course there are things they can do with the PS3 that are unique, just as there are things they can do with the 360 that are unique, because the architectures of these consoles have unique features (or did you not know that?). What he did not say is that they are doing things on the PS3 that they can not do on the 360. FACT. To achieve the same results would require slightly different methods, and the same would apply to implementing features unique to the 360 on the PS3.

   by Games4James (Unregistered) - 2006-09-03
 » And btw...

I am really looking forward to this game (always have), especially for the improvements I was expecting over the 360 version, and mostly the animations, since I know EA have developed technology for smooth transitions between animation sequences (unlike the jerky transitions since up until now, including FN3).

However, I have no patience for the fanboy losers who frequent this website (360 included), who latch onto every piece of info which proves to them that their console is SO much better than the competition. I'll leave that kind of behaviour to the kids.

In the meantime, I have my PS3 on pre-order, and FNR3 is on my 'must buy' list.

   by KnowLedge - 2006-09-03
 » How about you go back to school?

"IGN: Are the visual improvements specifically thanks to "The power of PS3" or is it simply because the developers had more time to work on next-gen hardware?


Blank: The answer is both. More time allows us to think about how to do things in different ways. At the same time, the PS3 is a powerful system and there are things we can do on this system that are unique. "

The last sentence: "Each system has its advantages but both systems are really powerful tools that help us to make the great games we want to make."
Is clearly PR bull***** he had to even things out, cause EA can't say that one system is better than the other, it would piss off M$ and therefore EA would lose lots of money.



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