We are proud to present our interview with Kudo Tsunoda, Creative Guru Type of EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 – EA Chicago.

Operation Sports: What kind of changes can we expect in Career Mode?

Kudo Tsunoda: This year’s career mode is very different than in previous years. Instead of just having a ranking ladder you need to climb, we have big milestone fights you participate and builds towards as well as rivalries you build with other boxers in your career. We build up a genuine hatred for certain opponents in the game so when you climb in the ring with them, you really want to beat them senseless.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to change weight classes through diet?

Kudo Tsunoda: You are able to fight in multiple weight classes during our career mode. You can change weight classes not via diet, but through training and the other physical conditioning mini-games during career mode.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to manage a stable of fighters?

Kudo Tsunoda: Of course!! You can take multiple boxers through multiple careers – in the same weight class or in multiple weight classes. You are responsible for anything from scheduling their fights to managing their training regimen.

Operation Sports: Will there be multiple belts and will the belts be the real world titles (IBF, WBO, WBA, etc.)

Kudo Tsunoda: There are multiple belts you can win within a single weight class – a title belt, you can win the unified title belts, a Pound for Pound title belt, etc. And since you can change weight classes, you can win multiple versions of these.

Operation Sports: Will there be any other injuries besides cuts? (Broken hands, ribs, etc.)

Kudo Tsunoda: There are a full compliment of injuries – cuts, big time swelling, bruises, and broken noses. No broken hands or ribs though! But when you land a devastating punch and see the guys nose actually bend out of shape showing you the broken nose, it is pretty sweet!

Operation Sports: Will there be multiple promoters that our fighter can sign with?

Kudo Tsunoda: Not multiple promoters per say. In our game, you the person playing the game is the boxer’s promoter – making all the decisions a promoter would in handling your career. We want the person playing, not some game generated character to make those decisions for their boxer. You are able to sign with multiple trainers and corner people in the game all of whom have an affect on your career.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to schedule fights according to a 12 month calendar and fight every week if we wanted to, instead of only being able to fight 3 times a year?

Kudo Tsunoda: There are definitely multiple time frames for different fights in your career. You cannot fight every week, but you can fight anywhere from every 3 weeks up to a year between fights. Each decision you make on the timing of the fights affects your career and boxers readiness for the fight.

Operation Sports: Will each punch have separate rating? If not, will each hand have a separate power rating?

Kudo Tsunoda: Each boxer in the game has a separate rating for left hand power and right hand power. But the real bonus in the game this year is our customizable style system. You can build your own unique fighting style including movement styles, punch styles, and blocking style. The punch styles will change the power and speed of all your punches independent of these ratings.

Operation Sports: Will the game include detailed gameplay sliders?

Kudo Tsunoda: EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 has many different customizable options in the game. But to me, gameplay sliders are for games that are not able to tune their gameplay properly. In this year’s game, we have our new Self Determinent AI system. Not only is the AI a lot more human like, it is smart enough to auto-adjust various gameplay elements based on your fighting styles and how well you are doing in the game.

Operation Sports: Will there be an option to disable the "1st Person view" or “KO ready" features in the game?

Kudo Tsunoda: You can disable the KO Moment but not the 1st Person view portion of the fights. The 1st Person view is a regular part of the gameplay flow that really focuses both boxers on a tense offense vs defense mini-game.

Operation Sports: Will fighters have their real signature punch, such as Hatton's lead jab/hook?

Kudo Tsunoda: Each of the boxers in the game we talked to and have given them the signature punch they wanted in game. Some have their patented in the ring moves like Joe Frazier’s big left hook. But funny enough, others wanted punches in the game that they wished they could throw in real life. In all cases we got the punch in that the boxer felt most was a representation of them.

Operation Sports: Can we watch computer fights in career mode? For example, you’re thinking of having a tough fight with this certain boxer, and you want to watch how he performs in his recent bout. Can we somehow scout our competition?

Kudo Tsunoda: You can watch the computer fight the computer in any of our gameplay modes. We also have scouting in career mode that lets you see all the strengths and weaknesses, and gives you tips on your opponent’s style for every person you fight.

Operation Sports: Is there still going to be an amateur mode? If so, has it changed at all? Are there any tournaments or Olympic bouts?

Kudo Tsunoda: There is still an amateur mode for sure. You are able to fight through amateur rankings to win an amateur title belt before you turn pro.

Operation Sports: Will the jab be able to break up those that come in with a haymaker?

Kudo Tsunoda: All of our Impact Punches (the Haymaker, the Flash KO Punch, and the Stun Punch) are much harder to land and much more risk reward than last year’s haymaker. They are easier to defend but do a lot more damage. Jabs and all other punches will break up somebody throwing an impact punch.

Operation Sports: Will there be real TKO stoppages with the ref stopping the fight from cuts, taking too many unanswered punches, or by a doctor's request? Will opposing trainers throw in the towel if they feel that their fighter can’t win?

Kudo Tsunoda: The fight can be stopped by the fight doctor due to damage and by the ref if one boxer is taking too much of a prolonged beating.

Operation Sports: How many actual stances are in the game? Will there ever be more than the current 3 in Power, speed, and balance?

Kudo Tsunoda: This is one of the biggest improvements in the game. You are able to choose from a wide variety of movement, punch, and blocking styles in our game. With all the different combinations you can build over 700 unique styles!

Operation Sports: Will you be able save replays of fights, via some form of archive, to study your past fights and future opponents?

Kudo Tsunoda: you cannot save replays but there are movies that will give you a preview of many of our licensed boxers so you can see what their style is, how they fight, and how their style affects gameplay.

Operation Sports: Will there be any suspense in the decisions at the end of the fights? Will we see a scorecard after every round? It would be nice if there wasn’t a scorecard after every round, it would add to the suspense if it comes down to a decision.

Kudo Tsunoda: There is no scorecard after every round anymore. There are indicators of how the fight is going – commentary, replays, etc. But you will not know who will win the fight until the deicision is ready by the announcer on all decisions.

Operation Sports: Can you change minutes per round in career mode or have an accelerated clock?

Kudo Tsunoda: For sure! you can customize this to play however you want!

Operation Sports: Can you create boxers and then put them in the career mode?

Kudo Tsunoda: You can create boxers and take them in to any of our gameplay modes including career and online!

Operation Sports: Will there be more statistics on the boxers, e.g., all their opponents, their records, how they won or lost each fight UD10, KO5, Draw, etc.

Kudo Tsunoda: There is a ton more information on all the fighters. Not just on their records either. Of course the record data is there. But you get a full preview of their record, all their stats, and a breakdown of their styles and how they fight.

Operation Sports: Will there be more ways to train this year, last year there were only a few. Did you add anything?

Kudo Tsunoda: There are many different training games but the biggest improvement has been made in our Sparring sessions. There are different training regimens you can choose from depending on who your upcoming opponent is and what their fighting style is like.

Operation Sports: Have you made improvements to the training in career mode? Is it still set up so that you only train one time before each fight, or have you switched to a calendar, day-by-day type training where you actually train for the weeks and months leading up to a fight instead of just the day before a fight?

Kudo Tsunoda: You can do both sparring sessions and the more gym based physical activities. You can spar over multiple sessions before each fight.

Operation Sports: Is cut man/corner game still in this year? Has it been changed at all?

Kudo Tsunoda: This has been changed to reflect our new damage system and the controls have been tweaked to make them more user friendly than last year.

Operation Sports: Has the parry been toned down and its effects been made more realistic, or is it the same over-exaggerated parry from last years version of the game?

Kudo Tsunoda: The parry system has been updated to reflect the strengths and weaknesses of each of the blocking styles. For instance, the Philly Shell has longer parry times and give you more opportunity to counter punch of a parry. The Cross Block has much shorter parry times giving you less opportunity to counter but gives you more general protection. Each blocking style is different and the parry system now reflects the blocking style the user chooses.

Operation Sports: Will fighters be wearing robes and other accessories (Their championship belts, head bands, masks, etc.) when entering the ring?

Kudo Tsunoda: Championship belts and such. Robes no.

Operation Sports: Will there be real trainers in the game (Mayweather Sr., Emanuel Stewart, Buddy Mcgirt, Freddie Roach)? Also, will we have the option to create our own trainer or promoter?

Kudo Tsunoda: No actual trainers in as we focused on getting as many of the real boxers and venues in the game this year instead. And our ring girls are actual ring girls!!!!

Operation Sports: Can we choose the country for matches (i.e., boxer's hometown, bigger venue for a grudge match/title fight)? I would love to see this incorporated somehow into a storyline.

Kudo Tsunoda: You can choose the location of the fights although not in a story mode.

Operation Sports: Do fighters now have popularity ratings that increase or decrease throughout their careers and determine which fighter the crowd is more behind?

Kudo Tsunoda: This is something new we added this year – boxer popularity. Your popularity builds also altering how fast your career moves forward.

Operation Sports: Will current fighters included in the game be in career mode this year? Will we have the option to include or exclude legends in career mode?

Kudo Tsunoda: Yes! A lot more licensed boxer fights in career mode!

Operation Sports: We would like to thank you for your time with this interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

Kudo Tsunoda: WOW! that was one of the most thorough interviews I have ever done!! :e) It is nice to get questions from somebody who obviously knows boxing and Fight Night!!!