GameSpy: And there won't be any slowdown in widescreen mode this year. Is that correct?

Kudo Tsunoda: Yes, Fight Night Round 2 has been optimized specifically for widescreen televisions. Not only is there no slowdown or impairments in widescreen mode, the game looks amazing. Plus, it gave us a great excuse to get more widescreen TVs at work!

GameSpy: Your spokesman, Bernard Hopkins, is one of the most colorful personalities in boxing. What has it been like working with him?

Kudo Tsunoda: Bernard has been great to work with all year. First of all, he is clearly the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport today, and his knowledge and insights on the sport of boxing have been instrumental to the creation of this year's game. Plus, as you say he has a colorful personality, and it has been loads of fun having him around the office this year. But I think the thing that was amazing to me about working with Bernard is the great gameplay design ideas he had. He had played the heck out of Fight Night 2004 and had some great gamer-oriented feedback on the design, as well. He was able to contribute ideas that not only made Fight Night more authentic, but more fun for all types of gamers.


GameSpy: Any Hopkins stories or quotes you'd like to share?

Kudo Tsunoda: Like I said, Bernard is pretty darn good at the game. Apparently, Fight Night is a big activity in his training camp. Bernard and the rest of the people in camp are pretty competitive. So as much as we were trying to get good boxing and game feedback from him, he spent a lot of his in-office time trying to get tips from people around the office on how he could beat different people in the game.

Lots of times we would take a break during the day, and when it was time to get back to working I would find him fighting somebody around the office hitting them up for information. It was great to see that he is such an avid Fight Night gamer.

GameSpy: Is there any concern that you might infect Hopkins with the "Curse of EA?" You put Roy Jones, Jr. on last year's Fight Night and he went on to lose twice.
Kudo Tsunoda: Well, we knew we had made a great EA Sports game when the guy on our cover starting having career problems. I don't think there is much reason for concern with Bernard, though. He has been at the top of the middleweight division for 10 years now and is one of the most consistent performers in boxing. If he does get knocked out twice this year, like Roy Jones did last year, then I think we will start charging boxer's coming up the rankings to put the champion of their division on the cover as it might help out their careers.