Perez's Take
PEREZ: THQ's Undisputed franchise the undisputed king of MMA games
May 3, 2010 - 5:17:32 PM PEREZ: THQ's Undisputed franchise the undisputed king of MMA games

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By: Anwar Perez, MMATorch Columnist

In the world of gaming, there are a handful of games that are yearly standards, where gamers eagerly await a new iteration of a franchise. Madden NFL, any of the entries in the Call of Duty series, Grand Theft Auto, and now UFC Undisputed are all games which have a track record of new versions on a near yearly basis.

After the smash success of UFC: Undisputed 2009 last year, it was only logical that they would try to make it a yearly series, similar to the pro-wrestling and sports games. Also similar to those games, because of the success of the UFC game, other companies have decided to jump into the MMA/gaming fray.

EA Sports has an MMA game coming out later this year, and is set to feature fighters from Strikeforce, Dream, and some current UFC notables such as Randy Couture. This happens often, as one brand or game becomes popular and another arises, be it the 2K series to challenge EA Sports in basketball or hockey, TNA wrestling with their own game against WWE, and now EA Sports with their own variation on the successful Undisputed formula.

Today, as MMA becomes more and more mainstream, and is still really always climbing upwards, the gaming world was ripe and willing to accept a game that would give other fighting and sports games a run for their money. The UFC had tried before, unsuccessfully, to feature their brand of MMA on the video game circuit; but lack of options, controls, and realism made any entry a sad, pale comparison to the games of the day, including when the first of the Fight Night boxing game series came out.

Ironically, as MMA was taking the fight to the boxing world, the boxing game had hit a wall and seemed to do less and less every year, maybe because of the decline in popularity in the sport, or maybe, gaming fans were looking for an alternative.

Last May, the UFC returned to the gaming front with the Undisputed franchise, and a new season was born. Like sports, gaming seems to have different seasons, when new games come out and dominate the landscape. When baseball gives way to football, so too does Undisputed give way to Madden.

When boxing’s latest entry, Fight Night Round 4, was released last year, it paled in comparison to the booming sales of UFC Undisputed. The game became an overall success, in that Dana White has stated that he wants this game to become to MMA and the fight game (no matter boxing or MMA) what Madden is to football.

So far, comparisons are being made that this years addition will smash records that its predecessor achieved, with an improvement on the create a fighter, legends being included (Jens Pulver, Royce Gracie, Dan Severn), and improved controls on the ground game.

With the games website being overloaded due to anticipation of simply the demo's release, the game has expectations that are surely going to be lived up to. The cover for the game has Brock Lesnar, who is arguably the most well known MMA fighter, and even without that his face has become synonymous with video games as he’s also been on the cover of one of the WWE entries in Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain.

It’s only a matter of time before the UFC, and MMA as a whole take over the gaming landscape and catapults itself alongside the Call of Duty’s, Madden’s, and Grand Theft Auto’s of the gaming world.

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