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Special Interview with SmackDown! Developer Cory Ledesma
Posted by Oren on 11/17/07
Interview – Smackdown Vs Raw 2008:
Hi everyone, recently I conducted an interview with the creative manager of WWE SmackDown Vs Raw 2008, Mr. Cory Ledesma. Let me personally thank Cory for answering the questions, hopefully I’ll be able to get more interviews with the SVR development team in the future.
Also let me thank Noam Wiesberg from “Atari Israel” who organized this interview.
1. Each and every year SVR suffers from un-updated roster, unlike other sport games like Madden and NBA Live, the roster is closed around Wrestlemania thus creating a problem for the wrestling fans, if a similar process is done in this game as well (SVR08), we won’t see Cody Rhodes and “Big Daddy V”, what is your opinion on the situation and what are your plans to solve it?
Cory: We are well aware that are fans expect the most up-to-date roster as possible in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. It is a difficult challenge for us, especially with the constantly changing and evolving of the WWE and its roster. However, it’s not necessarily a fair comparison from our game to Madden and NBA Live. First off, new football and basketball players aren’t just going to show up out of nowhere a month before the game ships. The developers of those games have the luxury of knowing which new rookies are going to be entering the league because the hype of the NFL and NBA drafts are well publicized. Secondly, these games do not have to generate character specific animations for their new players in the game, whereas we need to create their finishers, signature moves, entrance animations, taunts and victory scenes. Also, the models that you find in Madden and NBA Live are nowhere near the polygon count and quality of models that you will find in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. We have highly detailed Superstars with unique costumes and intricate features like tattoos. We have a very unique situation and one that requires a number of creative solutions to help deliver an updated roster to the fans. We are continuing to find ways to help deliver this roster and to keep the game as up to date as possible. We also work hard to make sure our Create-A-Superstar mode offers users many options and parts to create the Superstars they want to be in the game.
2. How do you utilize the capacities of the next-generation consoles, as of now there hasn’t been an exclusive content that was added to the next-generation games, I mean I thought that by putting a game on the PS3 or the Xbox 360 we will see more wrestlers on screen, improved match types and more, let’s put it this way, I own both a Playstaion 2 and a Xbox 360, what should be the reason to buy the game for the 360?
Cory: They are many exclusive features and content that you can find on the next generation consoles. For the Xbox 360, outside of the beautiful graphics that you’ll find on this system, players also can play online via Xbox Live. The PlayStation 2 version will not support online this year. Also exclusively for the Xbox 360, players will be able to use music stored on the Xbox 360 HDD and use it in the game as their entrance music for their created entrances. For the PlayStation 3, players will be able to use the SIXAXIS controller during the Superstar entrances to control the camera and get a first hand feel how the world is seen through Superstars’ eyes. Our goal is to develop WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 so that no matter what system you own, you’ll be able to get the majority of the great content that we offer. We also want to make sure we utilize the platform specific features to help diversify the experiences you can get across all of the platforms.
3. Commentary in the game is more generic compared to other sport games; do you plan on changing the system of the commentary, maybe creating a system which will enable the player to select a combination of commentators like Tazz and Jim Ross?
Cory: We have a unique situation where we have three teams of commentators. That’s more teams than any other sports title. Other sports titles have the luxury of only using one team and spending lots of time to fine tune those lines. However, we have times the amount of work those other teams have. We spend a lot of time and do a lot of recording in order to deliver all three teams and to give our fans an accurate and authentic experience. We will continue to improve the system and work on generating the feel of watching an actual event while playing the game.
4. The addition of the legends had been huge for all the wrestling fans, nostalgia is a big part of being a wrestling fan, what about putting some classic matches on the Blu-ray disc, what about putting Howard Finkel as an announcer for the legends?
Cory: We agree that the WWE has a very storied past. We all remember our childhood and the great Superstars and matches from the past. We want players to flashback to those great moments when they play WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. Therefore, each year we select a Legend roster that offers the biggest Legends from the past. As far as putting past matches on the disc, this will mostly likely not happen in the future since the WWE has quite a business of selling DVDs with these great matches already on it.
5. currently the Nintendo WII is the most popular console among the new consoles, a few weeks ago in E3, THQ showed the fans (with the assistance of the lovely Candice Michelle and Michelle McCool), some of the features on the new game, Rumors are flying that the season mode of the game will be a completely different game compared to the other system, could you tell us the difference between the 2 versions?
Cory: That’s correct. The Wii, DS and Xbox 360 will all offer a unique Season Mode experience. Our Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PSP versions will have the all-new WWE 24/7 Mode. This mode gives players the ultimate goal of becoming a WWE Legend and being enshrined into the WWE Hall of Fame. In this mode, players will be able to play multiple years as they develop their Superstar’s attributes and obtain goals to reach legendary status. On the way, players will also experience many WWE storylines that put the player right into the action, with authentic WWE Superstar voiceover.
For the Wii version, players have the WWE Main Event mode. Players will be able to completely customize their experience as they are given the ability to make their own career decisions. Players will be able to choose which Superstar they want to play as, which show they want to fight for, who they want to fight and what belt they want to go after. All the choices are in the player’s hands. They will be able to experience a full year of WWE action as they call all the shots.
Last, but certainly not least, the DS fans will have their own exclusive WWE Season Mode as well. Using the touch screen and stylus, players will be able to navigate around a 3D world as they wander backstage looking for fights and finding items and weapons to use in their battles. The DS version will have unique storylines and branching that only the DS fans can experience.
6. The online services of the next-generation consoles (Xbox Live and the PSN), give the fans a great multi-player experience, does THQ plan on opening an online e-fed, or a massive tournament?
Cory: We are not able to comment on any specific future plans for online features. However, I can say with confidence that we believe online gaming to be the future and we are continuing to look at offer many new online features in the future.
7. Last but not least the Smackdown Vs Raw series is very popular among Israeli fans, any words for them and their constant support for SVR?
Cory: That’s so amazing to hear that we have so many Israeli fans! We know how far the WWE has reached across the globe with their great entertainment. We are so proud of our diverse fans and the fact that this game is so big on a global level. I would just like to thank the Israeli fans for all their support. We also want them to know that we consider ourselves the People’s Game and that we look to deliver exactly what the fans what!
Thanks for reading,
Oren Nathan.
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Released: February 29, 2000
Dvlpr: YUKE's Future Media Creators
Publisher: THQ
System(s):
Playstation
3/5 Stars |
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