This week, Level Up is blogging from the road as we visit several videogame publishers along the West Coast. On Friday, we stopped by EA Canada, as Electronic Arts' Burnaby studio--the company's largest--is called. First up: the EA Sports boxing game "Fight Night Round 3", for PS3. The Xbox 360 version that shipped in March was a phenomenal achievement, yet the PS3 version easily KOs it, like Cassius Clay did Sonny Liston. That's because EA has used the intervening eight months to create an exclusive first-person mode--aptly named "Get In the Ring"--and it's nothing short of a revelation.

Instead of a traditional boxing game where both your boxer and your opponent appear onscreen, you only see your arms and fists on the TV screen, as if it's really your point of view. Take too many jabs to your left eye, and the left side of the screen will progressively darken to reflect the swelling, or turn red to reflect the bleeding. After repeated right hooks, you'll hear a ringing sound coming from your left speaker; too many and the sound from that speaker will drop out entirely. Motion blur, color smearing and shifts in lighting intensity are all skillfully used by the "Fight Night" team to convey the pounding you risk by stepping into the virtual arena. We got so jacked up playing the game that we didn't even miss the lack of rumble in the PS3 controller; that's how much the first-person mode immerses you in the action. Once you've played "Fight Night" this way, you won't want to go back. Ever.

P.S. Fanboys looking for ammo for their console superiority debates had best look elsewhere. Associate producer Michael Blank guesstimates that only 20 percent of the visual difference between the PS3 and 360 versions can be attributed to the PS3's technical superiority. The other 80 percent? Chalk it up to the extra eight months of development time.