Last night in Hollywood EA SPORTS rolled out the red carpet
at the House of Blues with the launch event of the year dubbed the Showdown on
Sunset. The event featured some of the
game's biggest names, musical guests, and other Hollywood notables in an
evening where fight fans were invited to not only get a look at but to also get
their hands on the most anticipated game of the year.
The evening began when the stars arrived and walked the
carpet posing for pics, talking about the game with the media, and getting a
little time on the sticks at the end of the line. The crowd on hand not only got a chance to
see boxing greats in Iron Mike Tyson, Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora, and
"Sugar" Shane Mosley, MMA fighters were also in the house including Dan
"Punkass" Caldwell from Tapout.
The Showdown on Sunset began with our ring announcer
introducing the first two combatants to take the stage: Mosley vs Mora in what proved to be a good
opening fight of the evening. After what
was deemed a warm-up fight where Mora got knocked down early and was unable to
get up, both fighters agreed to a rematch, caught their bearings and went at it
in the second "official" fight.
The fight was fast paced and fierce as both fighters slugged
it out. Mora looked to have the upper
hand at one point even knocking down the virtual Mosley. But with the crowd behind the Welterweight
champ, Mosley shook off the knockdown and in the third round knocked Mora down
twice. The second time, Mora could not
get on his feet before the 10-count.
In between fights gamers in the packed venue got a chance to
play the full version of the game on one of the dozen stations set up all
around the House of Blues. From the
awesome graphics to the feel of the punching power, fans had nothing but good
things to say about Round 4.
Next up was the main event between Snoop Dogg and in my
personal opinion, the greatest knockout king of the ring, Iron Mike Tyson.
The fight between Tyson and Snoop's specially created
character for the game, Malice, lived up to all the hype. Tyson came out bobbing and weaving and
looking to get inside reminiscent of the Champ in his prime. Malice, not to be outdone, dished out plenty
of punches to the roar of the crowd in his corner and caught Tyson walking in a
few times with big hooks and uppercuts of his own in the early rounds.
Tyson's aggressiveness however would seem to be his downfall
as Malice would counter the Champ's own signature uppercuts with pounding body
shots dizzying Tyson late in the fourth and put
the Champ on the mat with only a couple of seconds left in the fight.
The Showdown on Sunset Champ would be decided in the hands
of the judges. All four scorecards had
Snoop on top. Following the fight, Tyson
proudly presented Snoop with a check for $5000 to go towards Snoop's charity, the
Snoop Youth Football League.
Music and EA SPORTS games go hand-in-hand and the night was
highlighted with an appearance from Snoop's nephew Young Dre who performed a tight
set on stage including one of the title songs from the game, Cheah Beah. Also performing was Pete Rock who closed
the evening with some slick hip-hop beats to the delight of the fans in the
house. I'll have more pics to come so stay tuned for that!
After a
few years in hiatus, the FIGHT NIGHT series makes its return in grand
fashion. Will you be one of the many
going FTW and challenging for a shot at the Online World Championship? More details on that to
come, but for now, get your copy when it hits the stores this week and meet me,
sk88z, online on XBL if you're up for the challenge!