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Thanks to the friendly folks down the hall at SportsBusiness Daily, there is much rejoicing in video game land. For the first time in years, Mike Tyson is coming back to your gaming console.
EA Sports will announce the 2009 release of Fight Night 4 today, according to the report. Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard and Winky Wright will attend the announcement. Although it doesn't sound like Tyson has any direct involvement in the game, the fact that his likeness will be part of the game is a big selling point. Even as Nintendo re-released Punch-Out!! on the Wii's Virtual Console, they dropped Mike Tyson from the game and replaced him with the fictional Mr. Dream character.
If the report is true that the game will wait until '09, it makes sense. It would give the upcoming boxing title Facebreaker some room to breathe. While the Fight Night franchise has always focused on realism, Facebreaker is expected to be more along the lines of Ready 2 Rumble for the Dreamcast.
The talk about Facebreaker leads us to EA Sports' other bit of significant news this week. EA Sports Freestyle is being launched by the company as a sub-brand to aim at casual gaming fans. "No rules, just fun," is the motto.
Facebreaker will be the first IP under EA's new sub-brand. The press release on this one reminded me how stale sports games have become though. The new IP will be EA's first since 2002. I realize new sports aren't being invented daily, but is everyone so happy with the status quo that things don't need to be reset every now and again?
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
4 comments
Comments
Mike Tyson Punchout was the greatest boxing game ever! Now if they bring Glass Joe, Soda Popinski, Bald Bull, Super Macho Man, King Hippo….then we’re really talking. Nonetheless, I agree that a character that resembles Tyson is a big selling point. Those who see the image of the resembling Tyson character will be bring reminders of the old Tyson Punchout game. Nice job Chris.
by Big Sooners fan on May 8, 2008 12:25 AM EDT reply actions
Just to throw it out there, the replacement of Tyson came much before the virtual console on the Wii. After his rape conviction, the character was replaced by Mr. Dream. A white version of Mike Tyson that had the same hair, teeth, facial expressions and fighting style. That first minute and a half is still a bitch.
by Mez on May 8, 2008 9:08 AM EDT reply actions
At least they got all creative with the name Mr. Dream and didn’t go with something like Tike Myson. But you’re right about when the change in the character
- and game name -was made.by littmann.tsn on May 8, 2008 11:42 AM EDT reply actions
I must say Mike Tyson’s Punchout was one of my favorite games as a kid. Bis Sooners fan bringing up the names of the characters bring back a lot of memories. I am not a big Boxing fan, but I might have to get Fight Night 4 when it comes out because nothing would be better than biting someone’s ear off with Tyson.
by mattey31 on May 8, 2008 1:33 PM EDT reply actions
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