Issue 106
October 2013
The resurgent UFC lightweight isn’t into video games, he’s into Call of Duty
How much of a gamer are you?
“I definitely do play video games, but it’s not really video games as much as video game, because I only play Call of Duty. I’ll play all the new Call of Duty releases but I only play Call of Duty.”
Is it the multiplayer you like?
“Yeah I do a lot of online stuff. I ‘prestiged’ once. I only do it once, just to do it, then I just stay (at the same level) because I like having all my same guns. I don’t like having to fight back and try and get all my guns back.”
How long have you been playing video games?
“My parents didn’t let me have a video game console in my house until I was probably 14 or 15. But by that time I was so into going outside and playing sports.
My parents never really let me have anything growing up but I think the first thing I got was the PlayStation 1 and I used to play Need For Speed 3. Me and my dad would race each other.”
What console do you have now?
“I’ve got the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I usually just use the PlayStation for watching Blu-rays, I don’t play games on that.”
Have there been any games you’ve been addicted to?
“No, when I was growing up I really liked Need For Speed. There was another game, I think it was Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, you had to go through each level, you could throw Chinese stars and sneak up on people. I played a lot of the very first Halo my freshman and sophmore years in college. Then I didn’t really get into video games again until the Xbox 360 came out and I started to play Call of Duty.”
Quick Fire
Sonic or Mario?
Mario
Single player or multiplayer?
Multiplayer
Three games on a desert island?
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,
Call of Duty: Black Ops and
Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”
BACK TO THE FUTURE
VIDEO GAME HISTORY OF MMA: PUNCHED OUT
How did Chris Weidman know what to do to defeat Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title? Some label it training, game-planning, smarts. Others might call it Punch-Out!! because in very literal terms, the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System boxing classic laid out the exact blueprint for KO’ing ‘The Spider.’
Punch-Out!! is one of the greatest retro games of all time for the same reason as any game: it’s easy to learn, hard to master. Gameplay is remarkably deep for a 26-year-old title – you’re able to hit to the body and head, need to time opponents’ unique attacks, and manage stamina as well as what the manual calls ‘fighting spirit.’
Although a port of an arcade game, the NES version (also called Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! while the license lasted) is better known and better loved. It’s referenced in The Simpsons and there was even a Jens Pulver TapouT T-shirt homage. Which means it’s no stretch of the imagination to think the ‘All American’s camp had spotted a Silva-ready tactical blueprint in Punch-Out!!’s digital bowels and made it a hefty part of Chris Weidman’s UFC 162 training camp.
Players take the role of Little Mac, an unassuming, black-haired New Yorker (we s**t you not), who ultimately faces Tyson or Mr Dream, depending on the version. En route, Little Mac comes up against part-time magician Great Tiger. Known for his elusive movement in the ring (again, no legs are being pulled here) players can get the best of him by punching him in the body (just like Weidman was cornered to do at UFC 162) when he dips for an uppercut.
But the best part is, after Tiger steps back to show off a little dodging and Mac blocks five consecutive shots, Tiger will look as though he’s finding the whole thing a little humorous. Which is, of course, Mac’s cue to sock him with a single shot in the mouth. Tiger will hit the canvas, and it only takes a few follow-ups to finish the job. If that isn’t Weidman-Silva predicted way back in ’87 we don’t know what is.
Video games: great for killing time, better for beating UFC middleweight champions.
1. We’re certain Weidman will have mirrored this pink tracksuit in his training – for authenticity...
2. The penultimate blow, in life and fiction. Really, how did no one see this coming?
3. Honestly, this actually is quite eerie. Video game, or crystal ball?
LAUZON'S BEST BITS
Geek and UFC 155lb contender Joe Lauzon shares morsels from his life in video games
Lauzon on game length
“I think for the most part multiplayer has really taken over for a lot of games, like Call of Duty. You can bang out (the single player campaign of) Call of Duty in six or eight hours but it’s all about the multiplayer. Part of it too is people have got so good at the game they can run through the missions much quicker. Before it was new so you’re not quite as good.”
SEPARATED AT BIRTH
GABRIEL GONZAGA - DONKEY KONG
Look at those eyes. Those mean, scowling eyes. And it doesn’t even matter which pair because they’re both identical: former number-one contender for the UFC heavyweight strap Gabriel Gonzaga is a dead ringer for Nintendo gorilla Donkey Kong. (Gonzaga being blessed by the body-hair fairies helps with this resemblance more than a little.) The barrel-throwing, ground-pounding primate has downed all-comers in his 20-plus release video game career. There’s not an organism in the animal kingdom he hasn’t smacked in the chops.
