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RIP Gatti, you'll live on in this game and all your ESPN Classic highlights

The speculating has ended, the hoopla has passed and when the smoke cleared there was no doubt that Fight Night Round 4 emerged bigger, better and more badass then ever before. Indeed, it's now impossible to overlook what is easily the best boxing game of all time. But FNR4 is not without its flaws and with such stiff competition in the simulation sports genre, it's quite possible that this incredibly enjoyable game could get passed up for Sports Game of the Year.

FNR4 is a victim of its own polished play, boasting realistic graphics and gameplay that is pound for pound better then any fighting game out there – even UFC 2009 Undisputed. Because the fighters are so perfectly rendered, the glancing blows so fluid and the AI so advanced, its easy to see where the game is lacking: the presentation.

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• Fight Night Round 4
• Score: 4.50/5.0
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Recent recipient of the Game Critics Award for "Best Sports Game of E3", Fight Night Round 4 looks to be ready for a pair of upcoming DLC packs slated for the next two months.  Which should be music to any fan of the sweet science's ears.

Check out the full details after this jump!

In this new EA Sports documentary, Fight Night Round 4's producer Mike Mahar talks about all the improvements Fight Night Round 3's career mode has seen and how it has developed into the new Legacy Mode. Below is a bulleted list of all the awesomeness you'll be experiencing in this new mode when the game ships one week from now.

• Boxer customization: Change up your eye color, facial hair, trunks, boots, robes, ring entrances with fireworks and custom music loaded on your XBOX 360. You can even brand all your clothing with real brands like Nike and Adidas.
   
• Leaderboards are now in the game showing up to 50 ranked boxers. You'll also be allowed to customize who is in your division; Include the all-time legends like Ali or choose not to and only battle fighters who are currently boxing.
   
• Boxer progression: You start as a 50th ranked prospect and then train and fight your way to the top. The training and fight scheduling aspect of the mode is similar to UFC 2009 Undisputed where you are allowed to schedule your own fights and choose how you want to train. Each "rung of the ladder" has a set of goals that you must achieve to move on to the next level of prestige. If you constantly lose then you'll find yourself labeled as a "bum."

Check out the video after the jump.

Frankly, I was going to write a post about this a while back and then something called E3 happened and it kind of got in the way. Than I stumbled upon this developer's diary at gametrailers.com and after watching it said to myself: "Wow, he said everything I was going to write about."

Basically, this new "photo game face" feature will allow you to upload photos of your face to EA Sports World where you can access them on your XBOX 360 and the game will use them to recreate your likeness. If you have a front shot and a profile shot the feature's accuracy when recreating you is that much better. Like it says in the video, you can even alter your face after the fact to make yourself look better than you are in real life. I mean, let's face it, the truth can sometimes hurt so why not doctor it up a bit?

Enough of my rambling...check out the video below and when you're done with that feel free to check out my Fight Night Round 4 preview if you haven't already.

There's a few memorable boxing games over the years but none defined a generation or set the bar higher than EA Sports' Fight Night Round 3. FNR3 is considered the pinnacle of boxing simulations and when I heard EA was going to try and top it with Fight Night Round 4 I was intrigued by how they would make that a reality.

EA's boxing franchise doesn't have to just live up to the growing hype, it has to overcome the same hurdle its football franchise has to – giving gamers something that isn't “more of the same.” FNR4 in many ways plays similarly to its predecessor but fortunately the feeling you get from the fast paced smooth action on screen is something entirely new.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, FNR4 is fueled by an all new physics driven gameplay engine which brings a dimension of reality to the game that couldn't be delivered in previous titles. Punches are fluid and dynamic and come from multiple angles while glancing off the opponent's arms, body and head in just as many. For the first time in a boxing game, the range at which you throw your punches is extremely important. A right hook from Manny Pacquiao when chest to chest with Ricky Hatton won't do as much damage as the same hook from half a foot or so farther back.

Welcome to another episode of Fight Night Round 4: Boxers Unveiled! If you've been keeping up with our Fight Night Round 4 coverage, you should know that last month we revealed 9 new fighters. Well, this week there's 9 more, bringing the total to 30. And, I'm sure there's at least one more boxer reveal to come.

Now, instead of a huge list of 21 boxers, you can find them at the previous post: here.

Hit the jump for the main event.

A few weeks ago I introduced to you the 8 new boxing styles that EA Sports has developed to make the AI in Fight Night Round 4 act in the virtual ring they same way the would in real life.

Today I'm going to show you a video EA created to display the differences in these styles and how they will significantly impact the way the AI takes a swing at you.

After the jump you can check out the first raw cam footage of a fight between Miguel Coto and one of boxing's greats, Julio Cesar Chavez. I know many of you have been holding back your judgments until you got a chance to see unedited gameplay footage, well here's your first chance. It doesn't disappoint!

Ricky "Hitman" Hatton fans, including myself, may get a little upset by EA's predictions of his fight against Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao set for tomorrow night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The publisher simulated the bout in their upcoming boxing title, Fight Night Round 4.

Both men absolutely pummel each other in this fight and FNR4's new physics engine shines in this 2 minute 10 second video. The way each fighter's face ripples after getting punched and how the blood spews from their mouths and runs down their face is something never before seen in this much detail in a video game before. Every time I watch a new FNR4 trailer I can't help but compare it with UFC 2009 and so far I'm more impressed with FNR4's graphics.

The gameplay is something I still haven't gotten my hands on but will soon when the demo releases at the end of this month. The demo will feature the same fight seen here, Hatton vs. Pacquiao. If you pre-order your copy of FNR4 now through GameStop you can get access to the demo 2 weeks before everyone else, according to GameStop. The game is scheduled for release on June 30. Click here for a list of all the known fighters in the game so far.

Check out the gameplay trailer after the jump.

A few weeks ago we announced 5 new boxers for Fight Night Round 4.Today nine more have been added to the already great list of fighters. The great thing is there is plenty more where this came from.

The previously announced fighters:

• Muhammad Ali
• James Toney
• George Foreman
• Lennox Lewis
• Eddie Chambers
• Joe Frazier
• Mike Tyson
• Roy Jones Jr.
• Sergio Mora
• Kelly Pavlik
• Vinny Paz
• Jermain Taylor

New boxers after the jump. Beware there's a few pictures ahead.