When Microsoft announced that it was partnering with the Ultimate Fighting Championship league – and its president Dana White – for an Xbox Live channel, I have to admit that I was intrigued. While the UFC clearly isn’t for some audiences (think of it as “extreme boxing”, where brutality or catching your opponent in the proper submission technique is key for a win), fans would surely appreciate the opportunity to check out their favorite fighters and upcoming pay-per-views from the convenience of their console. But now that their service is out, it’s time to see if it’s a knockout – or something that taps out. First off, the interface is very clean. It’s easy to navigate through the UFC’s main page, which gives you plenty of options, including checking out upcoming pay-per-views, checking fighter statistics, and even watching a few highlights of what that fighter’s done in the past. Granted, it’s not a full-blown on-demand channel, so you can’t entirely recap your favorite moments from the league. But when the service launched, it definitely brought some potential with it. And you can tell it’s very UFC minded, between all the fighters, logos, stats, etc.
The only thing missing is a running blog by Joe Rogan. That’d be a fun read. Especially if he let loose with some cursing. (Nah, this isn’t his comedy act.) Anyway, the real test for UFC On Xbox Live would have to be the option to watch live pay-per-views. This is something a lot of folks were looking forward to, as they would have the convenience of being able to watch what’s happening without the need of a cable box or having to order from some second-grade operator on a phone line. Simply hit a button, submit your credit card info, and boom, the fight is on for you. There’s even a countdown to remind you when the event kicks in, as well as an option to watch a replay afterwards. To help entice newcomers to the UFC channel, the league was offering the option to watch UFC 141 free of charge, with a limited number of tickets available. Considering it wouldn’t cost us anything (or force us to cram into a local bar with other UFC fans), we jumped on the chance, eager to see what would be coming. This would be the true test for the application…
With that, anyone remember when Sony and DirecTV launched the NFL GameDay service on the first week? Everything that could go wrong did. Channels didn’t surface, the video quality was horrible (when it DID work) and folks were yelling left and right about how they just paid $200-something for total crap. Sony has since rectified the problem and credited accounts, but the lingering thought of “Will this work?” wouldn’t go away. And sadly, it looks like history just repeated itself for UFC on Xbox Live, as many are complaining that the service isn’t up to snuff. With the launch of UFC 141, the page became a mess. You couldn’t navigate a smoothly as you could before, as most people ended up being stuck on the main screen, looking at the same Lesnar/Overeem image. Even the countdown meter seemed off. No doubt traffic played a huge part in this, but Microsoft and UFC should’ve anticipated the app’s popularity – especially with such a mega pay-per-view on the line.
This featured write-up concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to read more of our not so happy impressions of UFC On Xbox Live.
