LAS VEGAS - Quinton (Rampage) Jackson thanks God for his good fortune. Forrest Griffin says he can now die happy.
The two mixed martial arts fighters, who meet Saturday for Jackson's light-heavyweight title at UFC 86 in Las Vegas, are both counting their lucky stars that they are featured in the upcoming UFC video game.
"I grew up loving video games and now I'm in a video game," said Jackson, a 30-year-old father of four. "I just want to do a dance and song and praise God for me being in a video game."
"I've been in a video game and on a beer can (Mickey's)," added the 29-year-old unmarried Griffin. "I can die now -- I'm happy."
The two fighters got a firsthand look recently at THQ's "UFC 2009 Undisputed," due out next spring for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Japanese developers from Osaka-based Yuke's, who are working on the project with THQ, showed off a demo of the game to journalists, using Jackson and Griffin as combatants, on the 32nd floor of The Palms in Las Vegas before the recent "Ultimate Fighter" Season 7 finale.
"We're really excited to have this new video game because everybody knows our first one sucked," UFC president Dana White said dryly, referring to 2002's "UFC Tapout."
"That was a deal that we were married into when we bought the company and I know a lot of the fans were disappointed with our old game. Hooking up with THQ, we were looking for a partner who was going to help us quash the stigma of the old game and really put together the best fighting game anybody's ever seen."
THQ promises an authentic MMA gaming experience, drawing on more than 80 real fighters from the UFC's five weight classes. The game display shown to reporters was devoid of health bars, HUD (head's up display) or anything else cluttering up the picture. Griffin and Jackson looked their part in the game, with eyes swelling and torso reddening as they battered each other on screen.
"It was awesome, very cool. Shockingly, they even got my ears right," said Griffin, whose ears are somewhat prominent. "That's amazing."
Jackson fired a string of advice to the Japanese developer playing his character after jokingly warning him "Hey, you better watch how you play, homey."
"Give him a body shot," Jackson yelled. "There you go. Uppercut. Hit him with the uppercut. There you go. Jab, jab, jab him now. Elbow, elbow, elbow on his face."
The larger-than-life fighter grabbed the controller away from the developer when Griffin began to get the upper hand -- "Oh that don't feel good," Jackson said as he took a virtual beating -- and proceeded to floor Griffin.
"That's how you do it," a jubilant Jackson crowed as he did an impromptu victory dance in front of the TV screen.
Developers are looking to live up to the UFC slogan: "As Real as it Gets," by filling the game with virtual versions of real-life commentators, announcer, ring girls, cut men and referees as well as the same tale-of-the-tape graphics used on the pay-per-view broadcasts.
"They've given us access to all their people, they've given us all sorts of love," THQ vice-president Keith Kirby said.
Mixed martial arts offers game developers a unique challenge because the sport is no one-trick pony. Instead MMA features boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a host of other disciplines.
"In terms of a combat game, MMA is as difficult as it gets ...," Neven Dravinski, product manager for the THQ Fighting Group, said in an interview. "Most publishers and developers have been reluctant to even try it. It certainly is a challenge."
Yuke's, known for THQ's successful "WWE Smackdown" franchise, has developed its own game engine to help handle that challenge. Developers promise that the final product will be sophisticated and varied, noting half of the UFC 2009 combat coming from clinch and ground positions.
Dravinski also says that while gamers will be able to pick up and play "UFC 2009," those who invest time in the game will be rewarded.
"Button-mashing will make you lose," he warned.
THQ has high hopes for the title, noting UFC's young demographic matches that of video gamers.
"This brand is super, super powerful," said Kirby. "As soon as we announced that we were going to be doing this product, we got resumes from all over the industry to come work on this product."
The game has already got a rave review from Jackson, who says his college roommate once estimated Jackson spent 14 hours a day gaming. The UFC champion still logs time in front of a console, according to trainer/manager Juanito Ibarra.
"At (training) camp, when we're not training, he's (supposed to be) resting," said Ibarra, who is also in the game. "And then I peek in on him, and he's not resting. He's playing that damn video game for like hours and hours and hours. I know he just did that Grand Something Auto Theft. I'm not a gamer but he beat the whole game, like 90 per cent or something. So he loves games."
Jackson says he usually opts for fighting, racing and role-playing games, citing "Ninja Gaiden II," "Grand Theft Auto IV," "Forza Motorsport 2" and "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" as recent labours of love.
He has even done his fight homework via video games, recalling he took advantage of a K-1 video game when he fought K-1 fighter Cyril Abidi in real life in 2002
"I knew nothing of this guy, (it was) my first kickboxing fight ever," Jackson said. "I had the K-1 video game, so I played another guy and I let him (Abidi) be the computer and he fought just like in real life. So I figured out his strategy from the video game and I ended up knocking him out in the first round."
"And this game is way more realistic and way better than that game," Jackson said of the under-construction UFC title. "I'm pretty sure fighters can probably figure it out. But I hope they don't figure it out with me, try to figure me out from playing video games, I don't want anyone to try and whup my butt from playing a video game."
Jackson was featured in Pride Fighting Championship's "Pride FC" 2003 game, although he says it was so bad he never played it.
