It’s kinda fitting how the covers for the two major NBA video games worked out this year. 2K Sports recruited Kobe Bryant—he of the defending champion L.A. Lakers—to rep for NBA 2K10. As for NBA Live 10? Well, EA Sports enlisted Orlando Magic forward Dwight Howard, the star of last year’s NBA bridesmaids. And that about sums up the state of the competition between the two franchises in 2009-10. The 2K series has dominated basketball gaming for almost the entire decade, while Live has struggled to keep pace.
But don’t count Live out just yet—EA has essentially acknowledged the weaknesses of its recent NBA offerings by proclaiming this year’s edition as the franchise’s comeback. And it looks the part: NBA Live 10 (which drops today on 360, PS3, and PSP) has been rebuilt from the floor up, with more realistic gameplay and sim features as well as “Dynamic DNA,” which wirelessly updates player and team info throughout the season. Over the summer, we visited the EA Canada headquarters near Vancouver to get an early look at Live 10 and chat with its cover athlete. Read on for Dwight Howard’s candid responses to The Complex 7 as well as a look at the Live trailer and Buy It Now links…
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST…
TITLE: Fight Night Round 4
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER/PLATFORMS:
EA Canada/EA Sports/360, PS3
FUN FACT: New this year is EA’s Photo Game Face, which allows players to use their own likenesses (or Gucci Mane’s) in the creation of original characters.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Unfortunately, last week’s Best of Video Games (So Far) post was filed too early to include Fight Night Round 4 (which officially drops tomorrow). But no worries: By the time ‘09 expires, we’re quite sure that FNR4 will be atop everybody’s year-end list (check the Metacritic.com stats, son!)
Many a wack boxing game has been released in the three years since the last Fight Night—we’re looking at you, Don King Presents: Prize Fighter—but they’ve all been pretenders, not real contenders. Fight Night Round 4 resoundingly reclaims the belt with everything you loved about Round 3—only better. That means noticeable improvements to the Legacy and World Championship modes (including a much deeper single-player career experience and online title fights) as well as subtle refinements to graphics and gameplay, which were pretty damn near flawless already. FNR4 is the best boxing game you’ll ever play, period. So even if you’re gonna be broke for the next few months, know that some Dutches and this game are all you need to kill off summer. Word!
CLICK HERE TO WATCH MIKE TYSON IN FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4!
“I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart.” Ahhh, who could forget Michael Corleone’s classic lines to his doomed brother in The Godfather II. Well, thanks to Electronic Arts, you can relive all of your favorite Corleone moments in the new Godfather II video game, which ships tomorrow. EA’s first Godfather installment was one of the sleeper hits of 2006, leaving a successful formula for the sequel: violently fun gameplay and the best mafia brand name in the world. In addition to its Corleone nostalgia, GFII emphasizes the building of a true crime family through strategic recruitment and delegation. Like a boss!
EA not only laced us with two copies of The Godfather II (Xbox 360 and Sony PS3) but they also sent us two exclusive, promo-only items—a T-shirt and a hoodie—to give away. We’ve got two GFII trivia questions after the jump, one for the 360 copy, and one for the PS3 edition. Winners will get to choose either the T-shirt or hoodie (see below) to go along with the game. To win The Godfather II prize pack, answer one of the two questions below. Good luck!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST…
Above: “Dick Monster #1″
We may try our hardest to act like adults, but most of us still can’t resist a good dick joke. That was made evident when Electronic Arts released the “creature creator” for their online evolution game Spore, which drops this Sunday. At first, users made a serious effort, producing scary space monsters and creatures that look like they may already inhabit our planet.
And then, of course, users started creating what has been dubbed “Sporn.” These sexually charged creatures started popping up everywhere before EA and Maxis started cracking down and banning them from the game. But before they totally wiped the internet clean, we collected a few of the best dick monsters (pause on this whole post). Check 'em out and vote for the funniest one below.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST…
In the nearly three years since EA’s Fight Night Round 3 revolutionized boxing video games, we’ve been starving for another console puncher to hold us down until Round 4 drops in ‘09 (sorry, 2K, but Prizefighter was trash). This week, Facebreaker (360, PS3, Wii) steps into the ring, and unlike the Fight Night series, it’s a simple button-mashing cartoon brawler, not a boxing sim. That’s good news for all of us who heavily fucked with Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and Ring King back in the day.
Like in Punch-Out!!, the comical characters in Facebreaker play on stereotypes (the brute Russian, the Latin lover, etc.). What’s especially cool is the Photo GameFace feature, which allows you to upload real-life photos to create new characters and share them online. Looks like it’s finally time for that 50 Cent vs. Joey Crack fight to pop off. Check out the brand-new Kimbo Slice Facebreaker commercial below…
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST…
