EA Sports MMA Event Report

30 Sep 2010 at 14:42:00 by James Chalmers

Never in one day did I expect to meet numerous celebrities, learn how to choke out an opponent and also play a brand new EA Sports IP but I suppose that’s the life of a journalist.

Despite the severe tube strikes in London, something that crippled most of the capital city for transportation, there was still a decent turnout. Straight away we were given a presentation from Nick Laing one of the producers of the game. He went through some of the controls, talked about whom from the MMA industry helped shape the game such as UFC legend Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock and John McCarthy. In-fact John McCarthy, the first UFC referee helped the team shape the different sets of rules for EA Sports MMA, it was obvious that Nick and the team working on the game wanted the first title to be the most realistic out there.

Apparently the huge roster of fighters in the game is “more than just a lot of fighters, our roster is a collection of distinctive fighting experiences” hence the mix of current and older fighters from the MMA sport. One of the things that Nick wanted to get across was that the game wasn't a button mashing experience. One of the slides summed it up perfectly “Stay calm, feel the fight, no mashing.” And from playing the game you easily see where they were coming from.

After the presentation we were free to wander around and play the game or interview Nick. Getting a drink from the bar I noticed an attractive blonde sat next to me, she smiled and I was sure I had seen her before. After a couple of minutes of small talk about the game, I still couldn’t figure out where I had met her before. Maybe she was a journo from another event? Or one of the PR people… then John Robertson who had just joined us jogged my memory straight into place, ”That was Kate from The Apprentice wasn’t it?” And there I was talking about EA Sports MMA to one of the presenters from Live From Studio Five.

“Right who’s getting in the cage?” the question rang out and suddenly I ended up volunteering, well with the encouragement (is that the right word?) of Paul. Being given an EA Sports MMA T-Shirt to wear, there I was stood in the middle of a MMA cage without the faintest idea of what I’m about to do. However before my nightmare of being kicked the crap out of by a professional fighter could occur I thankfully found out he would be teaching me some moves from the ground position. Suddenly this situation had gone from getting my ass kicked to being shown how to kick someone’s ass.

IncGamers' James goes MMA

The first manoeuvre I was shown was a reverse arm lock, apparently locking it in and applying too much pressure could break the opponents arm. Yeah, so, first time I lock it in I applied a little pressure but didn't realise I was to let go and the trainer quickly tapped. Oops not the best first impression. Secondly, and my personal favourite, a triangle choke, despite getting legs around the neck of an opponent and
knowing where to squeeze it it wasn't until they do it to you that you realise how effective it was. Finally, I was taught how to switch from being on my back to flipping around to the front to lay down the elbows. Overall quite an enjoyable and successful experience.

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