EA Sports has released some new screenshots from Facebreaker featuring a character going by the name Voodoo along with a new trailer which puts the spotlight on Steve. While there has been an inordinate amount of screenshots and trailers released for the game thus far they have generally centered around Romeo and to a lesser extent Molotov. The original trailer gave glances at a few more characters to come but this is the first time they’ve really shifted the focus to others.

You can check out all 10 of the new screens at the official Facebreaker website. Continue on to watch the trailer.

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With just one month to go until release the first gameplay footage from Don King Presents: Prizefighter has finally appeared. Up until now the storyline has seemed intriguing (despite it being linear) but there have been questions around the gameplay and why no videos had been shown or hands-on time been given.

In a demonstration done on the Gamespot program “On The Spot” executive producer of the game Matthew Seymour walks through some of the aspects of the story mode and fighter creation before getting to the gameplay.

Needless to say the action looks…well the best way to put it may be awkward. I still think that the story mode could be fun to play through but the gameplay shown is rough to watch.

With this being the first look at the game and the big news coming out on Fight Night Round 4 yesterday, it is an uphill battle to keep or gain the interest of gamers right now considering the position Prizefighter has placed itself in.

In something that may be even more interesting than the video, a representative of 2K Sports on the company’s official forum (2K Admin Ron) is publically berating the game’s executive producer for his “ridiculous representation of the game“, that it looked like he had never played the game before, and that the game was made a mockery of. All of those quotes and more can be found in the reaction thread in their forums.

Continue on to view the video which runs for approximately 11 minutes.

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Though it was known to be in development, EA Sports has made official that Fight Night Round 4 will be coming to the 360 and PS3 in 2009. They’ve also revealed the first details on what to expect. This is the first time in nearly a decade that Mike Tyson will be featured in a boxing game. You can check out the full press release here. The important info from it can be found below.

Featuring a re-written gameplay engine, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 will add a variety of fighting styles and boxer differentiation to authentically emulate the greatest fighters of all time. Pressure your opponent with the brawling inside style of young Mike Tyson, bobbing and weaving to set up powerful hooks and uppercuts. Capitalize on Muhammad Ali’s reach, hand speed and fleetness of foot to bewilder your opponent with lightning fast jabs and straights from the outside. For the first time in history, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 gives you the opportunity to pit these legendary heavyweights against one another and name a true champ.

No fight will be the same with an all-new physics-based animation system that recreates the full spectrum of true-to-life punch impacts, giving boxers a devastating arsenal of punches, blocks and ring movement. The new physics system allows for missed punches, glancing punches, knockout blows and for the first time ever, rough and tumble inside fighting. Fatigue, adrenaline, footwork and timing all come into play as you hammer away at your opponents.

It appears that Facebreaker will be the next EA Sports game to get a price reduction. This follows the releases of March Madness 08 and FIFA Street 3 ($50) and NFL Tour ($40) which all had an initial sale price lower than the standard.

Gamestop has now updated Facebreaker with the new information (”price drop” of $10) which turned out to be the first indications for those previous releases as well. As of now it looks as though Facebreaker will sell for $50 which is the same as the upcoming NFL Head Coach 09 sell for on its own.

Given that this is an arcade style game kicking off what EA would hope to become a franchise it makes a lot of sense to open it up at a lower price.  They’ve already put a great deal of effort into creating awareness around the title. Early indications seem to be that there is a lot of interest in the game so releasing at a lower price point will make it easier for those people to give it a chance. While many of the EA Sports franchises have become a yearly staple for consumers it makes new IP a challenging sell.

As I alluded to yesterday it appears that Facebreaker will be releasing for the PS3/360 earlier than originally anticipated. The dates have been moved up to the first week of September. I don’t know if that’ll stick considering NFL Head Coach 09 is releasing that same week and NHL 09 soon after but seeing the possible release move nearer does explain part of why EA has been showing so much of it so early.

There are now four additional screenshots (found in the gallery) and a new video which can be viewed by continuing on. This one focuses on the character Romeo which has been the one that’s been the most visible since the start. It’ll be interesting when to find out about some of the ones who have been seen in the trailer and this video but little is known about.

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Eurogamer has posted up their preview of Prizefighter. You can check it out in full here. This follows the IGN preview which expressed some gameplay concerns but seemed encouraged by the story mode and presentation.

The alarming thing that came out of this preview is the news that losing a fight will result in your career being over.

As interesting as the documentary style of the game is, it’s also a somewhat limiting factor, since the developer hasn’t created any branching storyline elements within the format. Lose a fight, and you don’t get to stage a comeback - you just get a Game Over.

That basically means it would leave people resetting their console at the signs of it happening or going back to a previous save. Not exactly an ideal way to play a game. I believe there will be at least one scripted loss in the story (citing the corrupt judges) so it won’t necessarily mean a 50 win streak. I didn’t mind the linear storyline as it seems quite intriguing as is, but knowing it all ends due to an unscripted loss is bothersome to hear.

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The first full trailer for Facebreaker has arrived. As opposed to the previous teaser this one shows off actual in-ring action. Several previously unknown personalities, some of the venues, and lots of over-the-top action are on display. Continue on to view the trailer.

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IGN has posted up their early preview of Don King Presents: Prizefighter. Some of the areas discussed include the story mode, aspects of gameplay, the controls, and the soundtrack. You can read the full preview here.

From what I’ve read I really like the sound of the story mode and the overall presentation. 50 fights would be more than enough for me but I’m sure some people out there will wish there was more to it. Still beats what you could get out of Fight Night’s career mode.

As to concerns around gameplay it sounds like some of the things I got a sense of from the trailer, especially the lack of fluidity, is an issue with the game. Although it is worth stating that depending on how old the build was those things could’ve been addressed to a certain extent by the time the game is completed.

The official website for Don King Presents: Prizefighter has revealed the full roster for the game. Nine of the boxers are exclusive to the 360 version and won’t be available for the Wii or DS when those release later this year.

• Heavyweight: Samuel Peter, Shannon Briggs, Andrew Golota, Sergei Liakhovich

• Cruiserweight: O’Neil Bell, Chad Dawson, Enzo Maccarinelli, Steve Cunningham

• Middleweight: Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik, Daniel Santos, Edison Miranda, Ricardo Mayorga, Arthur Abraham, Roman Karmazin

• Welterweight: Ivan Kirpa, Andrew Berto, Luis Collazo, Julio Ceasar Chavez Jr, Jose Luis Castillo

• Lightweight: Nate Campbell, Juan Diaz, Joan Guzman, Julio Diaz, Joel Cassamayor

• Featherweight: Chris John, Elio Rojas, Vic Darchinyan, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Juan Manual Marquez

• Classic Boxers: Archie Moore, Max Baer, Ken Norton, Floyd Patterson, James Braddock, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Larry Holmes, Joe Lewis, Rocky Marciano

Continue on to view the debut trailer for Prizefighter.

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Thanks to the official Facebreaker website we have two examples of concept art in planetarium and skate venues that didn’t make the final cut. Pretty neat ideas and makes you wonder what type of venues they’ll have in the game if these didn’t make the final cut. Click the thumbnails below to view the two images.

For some reason I hadn’t even thought about the idea of fighting in non-traditional environments. It does fit the over-the-top nature of the game though and will add to the fun factor. So what type of unique settings would you like to have fights staged in?