FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 has been on the North American shelves for a couple of weeks and has now hit the streets world wide as fans of the series battle their way to ring supremacy. There's been a lot praise for the game and the community has been very vocal with what they love about it along with areas that they would like to see improved.
And since the game has launched, as they have been throughout the development process, the team has been listening.
I had a chance to ask some questions about what the community can look forward to seeing in the near future and this is what Producer Mike Mahar had to say.
Q1 - What can fans expect to see in the first DLC pack later in August? Can you go into detail on the new training gym, sliders, and some of the equipment that will be available?
Mike Mahar - Fans can expect to see some updates in our first DLC pack. We’ve addressed several of the important Legacy Mode issues including:
- Boxers missing their hair textures
- Gamer’s able to schedule two fights at once and then not being able to continue their career
- Additional bugs that caused Legacy Mode freezes to occur
Gamers have noticed that the new training gym is a modern upscale training gym. Previously the gym was only available in Legacy Mode, but with the update it will be unlocked for use in Fight Now.
We’ve also introduced new gameplay sliders that give gamers the ability to tune and tweak the following attributes:
- Counter Punch Window
- Boxer Stamina
- Punch Accuracy
Gamers can use these settings to further customize the game play experience. If they think they’ve got something worthy of sharing, they can use our File Share system to share them with other FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 gamers.
Fans can also expect to see some new equipment consisting of:
- All American Gloves
- All American Shoes
- Jordan Brand Trunks
Q2 - Will there be new fighters made available in the future as well?
Mahar - While I can’t say for sure whom we’ll be offering, I can say we’re always looking to add more boxer’s to our existing roster. There are past, present, and future greats we’re pursuing and trying to sign. We want to grow the boxer roster and give gamers as many of the boxers they’ve asked for as possible. Stay tuned for more info moving forward.
Q3- Can you go into detail about the updated control scheme that fans will see in September and why the game didn’t ship with punches on the face buttons in the first place?
Mahar - The updated control scheme will allow users who are accustomed to using button controls from FIGHT NIGHT Round 3 to return to using buttons in FIGHT NIGHT Round 4. They are very similar in their implementation. The reason they weren’t originally included in FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 was two-fold:
1. We didn’t want to put them in the game without extensive testing and tuning to ensure we avoided the mistakes of FIGHT NIGHT Round 3 where some users perceived there to be an advantage to using buttons versus the Total Punch Control. It took some time, but we’ve accomplished that goal. In FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 it is just as easy to throw fast punches and combos with TPC as it is with the buttons. Gamers will not notice any difference or advantage versus the AI or playing against users online.
2. We believe that Total Punch Control gives the user the most authentic and robust game play experience possible. But, at the end of day our consumers are the most important voices and what they say counts. If people want the choice to use buttons versus TPC, we’ll give them that choice.
Q4- Will there be other gameplay improvements that the community has asked about in any of these updates such as improvements to Online or Legacy Mode?
Mahar - Our first DLC pack was almost completed when the game shipped and we’ve squeezed in as many changes as we could. Not everything the community has asked for could make it in. I can promise the community that we’re on the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 message boards constantly (you can find me posting under EA_MikeMahar) and we’re going to be offering more FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 updates as soon as we can this summer to address issues with Online, Legacy Mode, and more.
Q5- How often will the team be producing DLC updates for gamers?
Mahar - We have an aggressive plan to offer several updates for FIGHT NIGHT Round 4. Though we can't make any official announcements, I can say the FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 Dev team is going to be around for a long time to support our community.