Just because Peter Moore is the head of EA Sports doesn’t mean that he’s a stuffy old “suit”. He’s a pretty skilled gamer in his own right, and that was put to the test on this past Friday’s episode of GameTrailers TV. Moore faced off against the show’s host, the affable Geoff Keighley, in a match in FaceBreaker, the upcoming arcade-style boxing videogame from EA.
FaceBreaker will be the first title to be released under EA’s new “EA SPORTS Freestyle” sub-brand, a label whose games will be aimed squarely at the growing “casual” sports gaming market. Of course, the requisite buzzwords associated with casual gaming are in full effect here: “pick-up-and-play”, “inclusive”, and “casual” -- not that that’s a bad thing, of course. In fact, I’m really looking forward to FaceBreaker, because I’d love to have something sports-related to play with my non-sports-gaming friends.
The video above doesn’t just comprise the Keighley-Moore fight; much of it consists of an extended interview regarding the game, as well as some trash talking. The whole thing is three minutes and forty seconds long, but if you’re solely interested in the fight, jump in at the two-and-a-half-minute mark. I won’t give away the winner; you’ll just have to watch for yourself.
Of note is that both men played with created characters that bore striking resemblances to their real-life counterparts; apparently, you’ll be able to use the Xbox Live Vision Camera to insert yourself into the game (no word yet on whether the game will also be compatible with the PlayStation Eye). FaceBreaker is currently set for a September 5th release; for a number of character videos, check out the game’s page at GameTrailers.
Samit Sarkar is a founding Destructoid editor and go-to Sports guy. Samit was the son of the Duke of Knees, rescued from a burning village in the afghan desert by a golden condor. He is an ace Backgammon player and lost both legs in a whaling tour. He lives for free in a nursery in Scotland where he teaches monks how to capture butterflies without hurting them.
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Samit, do you really think Moore is a skilled player? Maybe in his own right... He seemed to be mashing buttons, from where I was sitting. Anyway, we all know Keighley is a hardcore gamer!
Still, the game looks like some simple, fun! The face-mapping feature looks really neat.
Ugh. Too much damn TALKING in the vid. But the glimpses I did see of the game looked interesting, albeit different from what I had imagined. Thing that really stood out for me was this shot of Keighley's controller handelling...
That sucked. Everything about that just sucked. Those created characters were disgusting to look at (could it be they were too accurate?). I know this game is not supposed to be realistic but those animations make my stomach turn... This looks very not fun. Oh and the namesake of the game (at least for the Don Flamenco guy) consists of grabbing the guy and... punching him in the face. Wow. Here's my sixty dollars. Take it.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they had not mentioned Ready 2 Rumble before showing this game.
Yeah, I understand they did not want to be too tied down by the rules of boxing. They wanted to keep it "fresh" or whatever but why not just make it a god-damn fighting game? So it's a boxing game in which you can kick each other... That's STUPID. Stupid stupid stupid. Stupid.
And did I mention that it's also dumb? Well it's dumb. I'm sorry but in trying to make a crossover boxing/fighting game they have probably created something that just has no identity. I see that as a bad thing.
I remember reading some developer blog in which the guy was saying how none of the characters from Ready 2 Rumble were memorable save maybe Afro Thunder. He went on to say how awesome their characters are going to be blah blah blah...
These people are obviously comparing FaceBreaker to R 2 R at every turn in hopes that we'll be all like "yeah I remember those games. Maybe this will be just like them." Well it won't. This is not the next Ready 2 Rumble or the next Punch Out. It wants to be so bad but at the same time is trying to be "different". So pathetic.
This looks like an interesting boxing themed arcade fighter. I'm wondering how the slowmo will work for the pacing in two player games; it should probably allow for counters/recovers.
This games looks fun i was skeptical when i heard bout it initially bout now with this and a new fight night on the way it looks like a good year time to be a boxing game fan. Also, Keighley and his poor controller handling skills just get owned. Geoff Keighley = Peter Moore's bitch
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Contest:
7:33 PM on 06.08.2008
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The face mapping feature sounds very cool.
Still, the game looks like some simple, fun! The face-mapping feature looks really neat.
wtf?
@Genki-JAM
I saw that too and was pretty surprised to see him playing like that. At first I thought it was Peter Moore.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they had not mentioned Ready 2 Rumble before showing this game.
Yeah, I understand they did not want to be too tied down by the rules of boxing. They wanted to keep it "fresh" or whatever but why not just make it a god-damn fighting game? So it's a boxing game in which you can kick each other... That's STUPID. Stupid stupid stupid. Stupid.
And did I mention that it's also dumb? Well it's dumb. I'm sorry but in trying to make a crossover boxing/fighting game they have probably created something that just has no identity. I see that as a bad thing.
I remember reading some developer blog in which the guy was saying how none of the characters from Ready 2 Rumble were memorable save maybe Afro Thunder. He went on to say how awesome their characters are going to be blah blah blah...
These people are obviously comparing FaceBreaker to R 2 R at every turn in hopes that we'll be all like "yeah I remember those games. Maybe this will be just like them." Well it won't. This is not the next Ready 2 Rumble or the next Punch Out. It wants to be so bad but at the same time is trying to be "different". So pathetic.
I'm still optimistic though b(^-^)d