EA Chicago officially unveiled the next installment in the Def Jam franchise, Def Jam ICON. AMN recently had the opportunity to sit down and discuss the features of the upcoming brawler with the game’s executive producer, Kudo Tsunoda.
[ AMN ]: So what was behind the title’s name, Def Jam: Icon?
[ Kudo ]: One of the main design goals of DEF JAM: ICON is to inject all core gameplay mechanics with authentic hip hop lifestyle. The main goal of our one-player game has changed dramatically from fighting in an underground club for money to building your own record label. The main goal of the game is to go from an unknown rapper to somebody who owns their own record label and has achieved “ICON” status within the hip hop industry. Hence the name, DEF JAM: ICON.
[ AMN ]: Why will Def Jam: Icon become EA’s premier fighting title as they completely switch to the next-generation of gaming? Specifically, what are the major gameplay tweaks in this sequel? Just how integral will the game’s environments be towards the final outcome of each fight?
[ Kudo ]: Instead of just doing some gameplay tweaks, we have created a product that will truly revolutionize how fighting games are played on the next gen consoles. The fighting genre has been stagnant gameplay wise for the last 10 years. No matter how much the technology evolved, the basic button mashing, constant mindless attack gameplay – in a lifeless environment – has not changed at all. There have been no innovations. For DEF JAM: ICON, we have changed the role of the environment from a lifeless stage to a living breathing 3rd character in the fight. Everything in the environment animates and is driven by the beats of the music playing during the fight. In each environment, there are environmental hazards that cause the really big damage in the fights. These hazards animate to the beats of the music as well; the basic gameplay is being able to directionally control the person you are fighting in to those hazards on the beat of the music. You can control the other fighter by knocking him in any direction with different punches and kicks or by grabbing them and throwing them in any direction. So instead of just mindless striking during a fight, you now use the toe to toe combo system to set up directional attacks – knocking or throwing the other person in to a big explosion or cars rolling by.
[ AMN ]: The game was first showed behind closed doors during EA’s Summer Showcase 06 in Redwood Shores. What is your involvement with the game, and how much has changed since the original video demonstration?
[ Kudo ]: The basic look, feel, and gameplay ideas have not changed much at all. But we have certainly added a lot of new features since the Summer Showcase. One of the big new features we have added is DJ Turntable Controls. If you understand how the beats of the music trigger environmental hazards during a fight – the DJ Turntable Controls allows you to add beats to the music triggering a hazard yourself. For example, if you are fighting in our gas station environment and fire is shooting out of a gas bump to the beats of the MOP song Ante Up. If you can directional strike the other fighter and knock them in to the fire on the beat of the music you are going to cause them heavy damage. But if you kick them towards the gas pump and no big beat is coming, you can scratch the track playing like a DJ with the right analog stick. These trigger new beats in the song and allows you to explode the gas pump right on the other guy.
[ AMN ]: The past Def Jam games have done very well commercially and critically. Can we expect to see more polish on Def Jam: Icon than any other Def Jam game? Can you elaborate on what kinds of little extra features (polish) EA Chicago is implementing?
[ Kudo ]: No matter how well a game has done previously, at EA Chicago we really believe in delivering an innovative genre defining product with every game we make. This means whether it is the first game in a series, or the 3rd – we need to make the game with the same level of innovation and new features. So with DEF JAM: ICON, we focused on injecting authentic hip hop lifestyle elements in to all our core gameplay mechanics. Other so called hip hop lifestyle games have only used hip hop as a window dressing on their products – not made it part of the gameplay. With DEF
JAM: ICON, we are delivering the first true hip hop game with the focus on music – not guys in bling shooting people. The music driving all our environments and the environmental hazards combined with DJ Turntable Controls brings hip hop in to the core fighting gameplay. Even our 1-player mode has changed from rappers fighting in underground fight clubs, to building your own record label. DEF JAM: ICON is not only delivering all the high production values and polish you would expect from an
EA Chicago game, it is delivering genre defining innovative features as well.
[ AMN ]: Seeing that the games have already done well, what pressure is there to innovate when the current formula is working just fine?
[ Kudo ]: The pressure to innovate is the same on every project. You need to be delivering breakthrough gameplay or people will not want to pick up the product. We owe it to the people playing games every day to always give them a fun product that isn’t stale.
[ AMN ]: Def Jam games appear to be targeted towards one audience, how does EA Chicago make it so that everyone can enjoy the game?
[ Kudo ]: I think DEF JAM: ICON is a product all gamers will find incredibly fun and addictive. While the core gameplay mechanics are infused with hip hop, you don’t have to love hip hop to love DEF JAM: ICON. This game is going to be great for anybody who likes fighting games, sports games, or anything you can play multiplayer. If you like getting online or playing games with friends at home, this will be a great game for you!
[ AMN ]: Tell us about controlling the game using the two analog sticks. Will the system be easy for someone who isn’t used to playing 3D fighting games?
[ Kudo ]: One of the goals EA Chicago has in making games for the next-gen consoles is to build a truly immersive experience where you feel you are more in the game than playing it on TV. A big part of building this type of experience is to have intuitive, gesture controls. The analog sticks are used for directional strikes and doing the grab and throw mechanic. It is very simple to learn – but has a lot of depth to explore as well.
[ AMN ]: Importing your own tunes will be possible in Def Jam: Icon. How will this feature work and how will it affect gameplay?
[ Kudo ]: You can plug your MP3 player right in to the game and then fight to your own music. The big difference between DEF JAM: ICON and any other title is that the music you load in to the game actually affects the gameplay. Since music drives the beats of our environments and environmental hazards, each of our environments plays totally differently when a new song is loaded in for a fight.
[ AMN ]: How much input do the hip-hop stars have as the game is in production?
[ Kudo ]: Not only do they have a lot of input on everything to do with their character, but many of the rappers have been extremely helpful in defining overall gameplay in DEF JAM: ICON. Most of the artists play games all the time, so they know
a ton not only about hip hop, but about games in general. DJ Turntable Controls was
a huge feature totally developed from our working with the rappers themselves.
[ AMN ]: How is the reaction when you approach these stars and ask if they wanted to be in a game? Did you have to turn anyone down?
[ Kudo ]: The reaction from the hip hop community has been tremendous. People are so happy that a game that accurately represents the hip hop lifestyle is finally being made. Since the music in our game affects the gameplay, we needed artists from many different areas of the country with different types of beats in their song. So we could not put everybody in the game that even we wanted to, but we are always excited to work with other artists on future Def Jam games.
[ AMN ]: Will the story be as critical this time or will more focus be on the fights themselves?
[ Kudo ]: Our story mode now involves building your own record label. You start off as an unknown rapper and are able to start up your own record label. Once you start your label you need to start signing artists and releasing songs. You are trying you build yourself up to be an industry ICON.
[ AMN ]: Will the game be locked at a constant frame rate of, say, 30 or 60fps?
[ Kudo ]: The game runs at a consistent 30fps. This gives the game a much more film quality, hip hop video look.
[ AMN ]: Is the SIXAXIS (PS3) controller utilized in anyway? How about the Xbox 360 vision cam? If so, how?
[ Kudo ]: While our implementation of the SIXAXIS controller is not complete, it definitely can be used in fighting games. For DEF JAM: ICON, it could be used for quick punches, evades, blocks, and even doing taunts in our trash talking combo system.
[ AMN ]: Online was sorely lacking in the past games, will there be online modes? If so, what will they be?
[ Kudo ]: Yes! DEF JAM: ICON will be the first DEF JAM game that has online play.
There is obviously a quick head to head game mode where you can log on and fight it out. There are other modes that we’ll be unveiling at a later date.
[ AMN ]: Importing your own tunes will be possible in Def Jam: Icon. How will this work?
[ Kudo ]: As I said earlier, the music in DEF JAM: ICON really drives the fighting mechanics. The entire environment and all the environmental hazards animate to the beat of the music. You can import any song you want and have it be the driving force behind the gameplay. So if you like thrash rock, you can fight to a thrash rock song and have it animating the whole environment. This big difference with importing music in to DEF JAM: ICON is that the music does not just play over the gameplay – it is the gameplay!!!!!
[ AMN ]: It was previously mentioned that the game will make full utilization of the PS3 hardware specifically – can you explain why this decision was made and how far the game goes from a technical standpoint?
[ Kudo ]: DEF JAM: ICON was a challenging game technically because so much detail and life was put in to our environments while still delivering photo-real characters. But we did not decide to use any amount of the PS3’s capabilities specifically. We just determined what core gameplay experience we wanted to deliver for people playing the game and pushed the hardware to meet our goals for the game….just turned out with so much going on in DEF JAM: ICON, the PS3 is getting pushed to the max.
[ AMN ]: Is the game more slated towards a slightly mature crowd, or will it stick to its usual T rating from the ESRB?
[ Kudo ]: We are not striving for any rating in specific; we just make the game as authentic to hip hop as can be and let the ESRB give us the rating the game deserves. I am fairly certain it will be a mature rated product when all is said and done.
[ AMN ]: Is March 2007 pretty much the target for the game’s release? Any final comments for fans of the series?
[ Kudo ]: Yup!! DEF JAM: ICON will be released in March 2007 and is coming out on PS3 and XBOX360. We are having so much fun making this game. If you like hip hop, this is definitely the premier game for you. But if you are not a huge hip hop fan, just know this is still one hell of a fun game. Anybody who loves multiplayer games or fighting games will love DEF JAM: ICON!!!
