This past week gaming media and UFC officials met in Las Vegas, days before the Ultimate Fighter finale takes place, to unveil the next game in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) franchise. I have been waiting forever for this.
"At a press conference in Las Vegas timed to coincide with tomorrow's Ultimate Fighter "Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest Finale" at the Palms Hotel, THQ and UFC announced that they have partnered with developer Yuke's on UFC 2009 Undisputed. The game is targeted for release in spring 2009 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Dana White, UFC's president, admitted to the media gathering that the first UFC games "sucked," but the organization is teaming up with THQ to improve UFC's reputation with game-playing fans. White admitted that he isn't the gamer type, but stated that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Forrest Griffin have been vetting the game and approving of what they see. Before the press event was over, Rampage and Forrest—who will be facing off in their own pay-per-view battle on July 5—went against each other in the game to show off the title's capabilities.
Among the game's highlights that THQ discussed are that it'll feature 80 fighters, including such luminaries as Chuck Lidell, Anderson Silva and BJ Penn, as well as Rampage and Forrest; announcing the action will be Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg; high-quality 3-D scans of fighters and announcers are being used to take the game visuals to highest levels, with models containing up to 30,000 polygons each; and extensive reference photography and footage is being used to make sure the look is as authentic as possible. Gameplay will offer solid interactive controls, with THQ claiming that you'll be able to make "choices from any position of the Octagon," meaning you can punch, kick, knee, grapple, take down and seek a submission hold, as well as reverse out of a bad situation.
There will also be "unprecidented collision" with strong deformation and damage on the opponent. The up-close-and-personal presentation will help those involved make UFC 2009 Undisputed "as real as it gets."
Check out these screens (and related images) from the game below, and if you're interested in more on UFC 2009 Undisputed, come back in a few hours—at June 21, 8am PT—when you can view a trailer from THQ that shows more about the title. "
