Busy first week back at EAC - sk88z's Blog - Operation Sports

Originally Posted on Operation Sports

Talk about a crazy first week back at work here at EA Canada. As a first blog post here in OS, I wanted to share a little of what I do in my day-to-day as a Community Manager. I really do think I have one of the sweetest gigs around and I consider myself pretty lucky to work with the talented people that I do.

Fight Night Round 4 - I'm in the midst of putting together our Community Day event near the end of February and putting out invites to EA Fight Night fans. I'm a huge fan of the game myself and really excited about having some of the community come on in and check out what's in store.

If you haven't yet chimed in on the Ali vs Tyson debate, check it out on the official website: Fight Night Round 4 and talk about it in our forums (as well as on the OS ones of course). I'm looking for an OS representative as well (non-editor) so if anyone is interested have one of the OS editors here send me your info.

NBA LIVE - I've been working with the NBA LIVE team who I know are present on these boards quite a bit. I think it's great that they are out in the community talking and listening to the fans and from what I can tell from their planning, the game is going to, once again, make some huge strides.

We've just launched our NBA LIVE Staff Group Page where, along with here, I've asked them to talk about their behind the scenes look at the game as well as talk about who they are in general. Check out Jeff Antwi’s look at some of the talent from a recent Motion Capture session, Ryan Santos’ Sneak Peek at some of new kicks that will be in the game, Marcus Stephenson with another look at Dynamic DNA, and Gameplay Designer Mike Wang tells us about his holiday break.



NHL - On behalf of the team, I'm excited that OS has recognized the hard work that the team has done over the past year(s), and thank the editors for work they've done. Being recognized by the gang here for the SPOY is some huge recognition and I know the team will be pleased to hear that they're the recipients of this year's award.

For those of you that are interested, there were also a couple of Q&A's on the upcoming 3 on 3 NHL Arcade game soon-to-be released. Check out my Q&A with Matt Mahar and ESPN's Jon Robinson's Q&A with Matt and David Littman.

I've also began to Simulate NHL Games of the Week and you can check out our first round of sims to see if you agree with what NHL 09 predicts.

NCAA Basketball - Looks like the voting is just about all counted up for the EA SPORTS Toughest Places to Play contest and if you haven't had a chance to vote yet, I'm told they'll be shutting it down this weekend. I've also been told that I may have a chance to visit a couple of the schools to write about it so I'm personally really excited about that! Take me to UCLA!!!

Make sure you also check out Producer Novel Thomas' handy work in his Hoops 101 videos that give you the edge in the game. I'm working with them as well to get their Staff Group page up, though I know that the team has a lot of presence on these boards as well and I know they've had a lot of interaction with you folks already.

I'll come back from time to time to share my thoughts & rants with you as I know that the hardest core fans are here at Operation Sports and I wanted to acknowledge that and share a little of what goes on here at EAC. Feel free to message me directly or leave me comments and I'll do my best to respond to them. In the meantime, I'm prepping for a trip to Orlando next week to meet up with my fellow Community Managers from around the world and plan our ideas for the upcoming quarter.

I can't wait to get out of the snow and into some warm Florida sun!!!

Manny Pacquiao - The BEST Boxer in the World!

Photos courtesy of Wally Skalij of the New York Times: Pacquiao Forces De La Hoya to Quit

Manny Pacquiao should be on the cover of Fight Night Round 4. He just dethrowned the former cover athlete with speed and precision making it look rather easy.



Leading with the left cross early, Manny’s speed was too much for Oscar who was out of his league in this fight. By the time Manny felt Oscar ate enough lead lefts, he beat the snot out of him with his hooks and jabs and just out boxed him with deadly and precise combinations. It was almost too tough to watch near the end. Manny was just doing his best to put on a good battle after the fans were treated to some pretty terrible opening fights, all featured bouts lasting no more than 5 rounds between 3 of them.

From the start you could tell that Oscar was having trouble with Manny's speed. Coming forward, Oscar found himself on the receiving end of many straight lefts followed by right hooks that he had very few answers for.

By the sixth round Manny's combination punches were too much for the veteran who's left eye could barely be seen underneath the now sizable bruise. It began to look at this point like Manny could put an end to this fight at any time.

After another dominant round in the seventh, Oscar seemed to just be unresponsive to the continued onslaught of punches coming in his direction from every angle. Numerous times, Manny had the former 10-time World Champion on the ropes only to back off and safely execute trainer Freddy Roach's plan of skilled execution over 8-9 rounds.

As the ten second mark was called Pacquiao unloaded a flurry of punches that connected upon Oscar in the corner putting an exclamation point on an already masterful evening of boxing. At the end of the round, everyone in the MGM Grand Arena, where 7 years ago these fighters both successfully fought in same ring 7 weight classes apart, witnessed two fighters going in opposite directions.

When Oscar's trainer told him that Manny was just too fast, it was enough to keep him from standing to answer the ninth round bell. He would only get up to congratulate Manny already celebrating and graciously thanking the fans, everyone around him, and God for the victory!