Damn it, damn it, damn it. I could cue a thousand Darth Vaders shouting ‘no’ at the top of their lungs and their collective heartbreak still wouldn’t equal the degree in which my heart is shattered right now. No, no, no.
No.
I had a feeling this would happen — we saw it with Fight Night Round 3 — EA is more than likely opting for a next gen console release as well as a 360/PS3 launch for EA UFC sometime after March 2014. This info comes after an EA conference call where an EA head honcho stated that UFC wouldn’t be coming out this fiscal year. Damn it. I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, but it makes sense, I even called it last January. This means EA can hit the massive installed user base on the 360 and PS3 while being able to show off new tech in the next gen iteration of the game. Furthermore, my bitter memories of console releases past tell me that if EA can get UFC out as soon as freaking possible after their fiscal year ends, they’ll be able to take advantage of a hilariously/depressingly constant in the videogame industry: barren software releases post launch.
Hey, I wanted to believe things would change, but the Wii-U, 3DS and Vita launches prove (to me at least) that new hardware won’t be graced with very much software post launch. Just like last launch, and the launch before that since the beginning of videogame time. EA UFC selling massive amounts of copies is only a good thing for the sport, so in that, I’m fine with this decision. Get this game in the hands of every gamer possible.
But still, as someone who is playing EA MMA and UFC Undisputed 3 just about every other day, I selfishly wanted it this fall, and I hope it’s at E3.
We are in touch with the studio who is creating the game up in Canada, and they are extremely mum on any details, but hopefully we can get a bone thrown to us soon regarding some information, screenshots, anything.
Some thoughts:
Knowing this much time will be dedicated to the development of the game, and knowing that they can take advantage of the next gen specs, I hope the two versions of the game have massive differences, and not just graphically. This has to be the best MMA game ever, or bust.
- Give us a larger fighter pool in the PS4/Xbox versions.
- Don’t waste time with the Kinect, unless it’s to scan your face for Create-A-Fighter.
- Both systems will employ a BluRay drive, use all of the space please. Fill it with fights. I don’t care. Content, content, content.
- TUF.
- I want more modes than Fire Pro Wrestling on crack (for some reason Fire Pro Wrestling on crack has more modes). Online tournaments, more Live Broadcasts, a ridiculously large career mode and more.
- The more I think about it, if the game doesn’t have every gaming mode from UFC 3 and EA MMA at the very least, I’ll be a bit bummed. But, that’s what sequels are for (ugh). Still, we need Pride and WEC arenas. Even Strikeforce.
- Keep spectator mode or you’ve failed us all.
I feel a little better being able to write about this, even if it’s horrible news in a way.
