EA Sports MMA Demo Set for September 28

I’ve been covering the upcoming “EA Sports MMA” video game, set to be released October 19 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, for quite some time now. For a variety of reasons, my initial feelings of hesitation and suspicion have given way to anticipation and excitement. With every new piece of the EA MMA puzzle being revealed in a timely fashion, from how the game plays to who’s in the roster, the nagging feeling at the back of my brain that this is just a cash-in attempt has receded more and more. But now I’ll have the chance to decide once and for all if this is the game for me: Electronic Arts has announced via the official EA Sports MMA website that a downloadable demo will hit the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE on September 28.

Here’s what the official release had to say: “The highly anticipated EA SPORTS MMA demo will be available on September 28 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3! Jump right into a match via “Fight Now” to experience the intensity of MMA in two weight classes: heavyweight and middleweight. Fans can take control of current STRIKEFORCE heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem, or utilize the brute strength of former professional wrestler, Bobby Lashley. The two middleweights featured in the demo are predominantly Jiu-Jitsu fighters – the top ranked Jake Shields, as well as the always entertaining Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Matches in the demo are officiated by the best in the business – Big John McCarthy, with fighter introductions by Jimmy Lennon Jr.”

“For the “Fight Now” experience, step into the STRIKEFORCE cage at the HP Pavilion and test your mettle across four different skill levels. Or learn the ropes via the “MMA 101″ interactive tutorial that pits rivals Shields vs. Miller in a ring at the Horizon Center of Japan. EA SPORTS MMA is the only game that allows you to travel the globe and experience different fighting environments, rule sets, and training locations.”

“By sharing the demo with friends, fans can unlock “Classic” Randy Couture as a playable character in the full version of the game. Additional information outlining the exclusive EA SPORTS Live Broadcast mode, as well as other modes like Career, Fight Card, Create-A-Fighter (featuring Photo Game Face), Fighter Share and Online Belt Rank are detailed in the demo.”

While downloadable demos are an inevitable, integral part of today’s world of video games, I’m still very excited that I’ll be able to test the waters before putting down my money. I’ve really begun to notice the effort that’s been put into this game, and as a self-professed video game nerd, I’ve got some pretty high standards. The phrase “easy to learn, difficult to master” comes to mind. If I feel the game is too arcade-like, with too many flashy moves or crazy submissions, I won’t be pleased. If the game is so technical that it’s a boringly-slow chess match or a reversal-fest (and reversal-fests were one of the main reasons I grew to hate UFC Undisputed 2010 so fiercely), I won’t be pleased either.

But at the end of the day, I remain cautiously optimistic about EA Sports MMA. There’s a chance that this really is just EA hopping on the bandwagon and making a poor excuse of a game just to bleed money out of the growing MMA audience. There are people who firmly believed that when the game was first announced, there are people to this day who still think that to be true. And who’s to say they’re not? But soon enough we’ll get a chance to see for ourselves. And if EA MMA is all that it could be, we may have one of the best fighting games of the last several years on our hands here.

And what about you, fans and friends? As we creep closer and closer to the launch date, how excited are you for EA Sports MMA?