14 DAY TRIAL // At its impressive E3 presentation, Electronic Arts has announced that it plans to enter the fighting game arena by creating and releasing EA Sports MMA, a title set to arrive on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony sometime in 2010.
The game should offer a mixed martial arts experience, complete with all the licensed top fighters gamers could wish for and full simulation of a wide variety of fighting styles.
EA Sports MMA is being created by EA Tiburon, which is also handling the creation of sports titles like Madden NFL, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NCAA Football. The studio has less experience with fighting games, which could be a handicap for the new title.
Peter Moore, who is the president of EA Sports, has stated that “With Fight Night Round 4 set to deliver a knockout with industry-leading visuals and genre-defining gameplay later this month, I couldn’t be more excited to announce the expansion of our combat sports strategy with EA SPORTS MMA coming in 2010. Fans have been begging EA SPORTS to get into the cage, and EA SPORTS MMA will put them in control of the sport’s unique combat experience while finally, in an immersive interactive experience, capturing the raw intensity that has made mixed martial arts one of the fastest growing sports in the world. We’re ready for the fight.” Let's hope that Peter Moore does not get a MMA tattoo to go with that statement.
UFC 2009: Undisputed, which also focuses on mixed martial arts combat, had quite a good performance for THQ when it was released in May, continuing to be at the top of several software charts. Electronic Arts hopes that it can cash in on the popularity of the MMA scene by releasing a game that fully simulates the tough and often brutal matches.