Hello WWE Games fans, it’s that time of year again. When THQ announces their latest WWE title and
the hype train towards its release date begins.
The game this year, as we already know is WWE ’13 and will be arriving in stores on October 30th for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii. Although a version for the PSVita has yet to be announced I can’t help but hold onto hope that I will have some portable WWE gaming goodness this holiday season as well.
I’m not going to sit here and bore you with the currently known features of the game and the rumors swirling around the internet regarding everyone else. If you’re reading this, chances are…you already know all that. My purpose of this article is pretty simple. To be the voice of the voiceless for the WWE Games Community in hopes of sparking change in this years games release and for future WWE games to come.
Last year, around this time I sat in a THQ board room with several other community leaders and bounced ideas and concerns with the WWE Games design team about WWE ’12 and the overall future of the franchise.
Due to unforeseen circumstances this year that led to our old Community Managers leaving and new ones arriving, myself and the rest of the WWE Games Community Leaders were not able to see WWE ’13 early this year as many of us would have liked. Not to be able to play the game first, but to be able to provide crucial feedback and critiques that will help make the overall game better.
As Sheamus said on G4, THQ plans to once again have their big reveal for WWE ’13 at Summer Slam. And while I’m excited to see what they bring to the table this year, part of me worries that August I just a hint too late to impact the kind of change that we could have provided just a few short months earlier.
So with that being said, I’m going to put together a wish list of sorts for WWE ’13. What I hope has been fixed/added. And what they could do to help the overall product. Be sure to leave comments below giving your own thoughts and ideas as well. I’m pretty sure the fine folks at THQ will read this and take your thoughts and opinions to heart. Just speak in a constructive and professional manner. You’d be shocked how far that will take you in life.
Without further ado, here is my wishlist for WWE ’13:
_______________________________________________________
- I want to CONTROL my Universe with version 3.0:
Last year’s Universe mode was a huge improvement over last years. But there were a lot of minor things that I feel could have been done to make it an overall better experience. We have a calendar now, and while its great I can edit the three main shows…the rest of the days I see every week are going to waste. It shouldn’t be that way. If I want to great a show on Tuesday nights like NXT, I should be able to do that. If I want to create an all Divas show with their own championships on Saturday to take them off the main rosters. I should be allowed to do that as well. More control, more options will at the end of the day lead to more replay value. I want to be able to say at this time next year I’m still neck deep in Universe 3.0 with WWE ’13. Sadly, and truthfully the same can’t be said about WWE ’12 at this stage of the game.
Furthermore, when I tell the game I don’t want a “Remarkable Match” to take place and I replace it with something else, DON’T keep putting the same match in every freaking week until I end up having to sim it to just get rid of it! If I take it out one week that doesn’t mean I want it the next, it means I don’t want it at all. Do not force your matches upon me that not only don’t make any sense in my current Universe but frustrate me to the point where I no longer want to play the mode.
I could go on and on about things I’d like to see changed and fixed in Universe mode but that will probably be another article for another time.
- Bring arena interaction to the next level:
While it’s nice that we now have the inclusion of “Oh My God” moments this year that surround the ring. It’s time to allow to make total use of the arena around us. The stages are beautifully done every year, but they mean absolutely nothing if we can’t interact with them like we can on television. I want to be able to throw people in the LED mini trons. Slam their heads into the spinning WWE logo on the stage. Hell, even be able to THROW people off the stage fight around it, just like they do almost every week now on WWE TV. The ultimate WWE experience needs to include something like this. If we see it on RAW every Monday night, we should be able to do it in the game as well.
- Take Creation up a notch:
I love all the creation modes that the WWE games franchise brings to us each and every year. As far as I’m concerned, no one does it better. But after last year, I can’t help but feel we deserve a lot more.
While the name stitching in create a superstar/diva was a welcome addition (one that I have been asking for years mind you) there just weren’t enough real names to create the people you would want to create. The amount of names this year needs to be picked up a notch. But that’s just the start…
As far as create a superstar goes they have a lot to fix. Not only did they hardly add any new clothing items last year. They still didn’t fix the ability to correctly adjust the wrestlers skin tone and the transparency issue on tattoos and other items was still a big concern. While the PS3 users this year may just be satisfied at the fact that they get as many layers at 360 owners this year, I don’t think that’s a enough.
I’m not saying rehaul create a superstar, because that would be insane. I’m simply saying take what’s already there and build upon it in a big way! We have enough blur restrictions already, lets not limit what we can do with lack of attire and clothing options again in WWE ’13. The more stuff you can put in there the better. The lack of specific diva clothing items for tops and bottoms were the WORST it’s ever been. That needs to be fixed this year, THQ knows how vocal the diva fan community is. So let’s not give them a reason rise up and riot again this year shall we?
-Make brawling backstage FUN again:
I still fondly remember the days of Here Comes The Pain, when I could brawl all over the arena going from room to room causing destruction and pain upon my opponents. Not only was it fun, it was extremely entertaining to do.
Now a days, when I see the backstage brawl option show up I groan. They aren’t fun anymore. The move sets are ridiculously restricted and the entire match revolves around irish whipping your opponent into objects that may or may not connect to knock them out, in a game that will evidently revolve around the Attitude Era, this needs to change…and it needs to change now!
First things first, we need to be able to enter the backstage area through the main stage in a pin falls count anywhere match. I don’t care if there are loading times, I don’t care how it has to be done…but it needs to be taken care of.
From there, only a few simple things need to be done to make brawling backstage fun again…
The game this year, as we already know is WWE ’13 and will be arriving in stores on October 30th for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii. Although a version for the PSVita has yet to be announced I can’t help but hold onto hope that I will have some portable WWE gaming goodness this holiday season as well.
I’m not going to sit here and bore you with the currently known features of the game and the rumors swirling around the internet regarding everyone else. If you’re reading this, chances are…you already know all that. My purpose of this article is pretty simple. To be the voice of the voiceless for the WWE Games Community in hopes of sparking change in this years games release and for future WWE games to come.
Last year, around this time I sat in a THQ board room with several other community leaders and bounced ideas and concerns with the WWE Games design team about WWE ’12 and the overall future of the franchise.
Due to unforeseen circumstances this year that led to our old Community Managers leaving and new ones arriving, myself and the rest of the WWE Games Community Leaders were not able to see WWE ’13 early this year as many of us would have liked. Not to be able to play the game first, but to be able to provide crucial feedback and critiques that will help make the overall game better.
As Sheamus said on G4, THQ plans to once again have their big reveal for WWE ’13 at Summer Slam. And while I’m excited to see what they bring to the table this year, part of me worries that August I just a hint too late to impact the kind of change that we could have provided just a few short months earlier.
So with that being said, I’m going to put together a wish list of sorts for WWE ’13. What I hope has been fixed/added. And what they could do to help the overall product. Be sure to leave comments below giving your own thoughts and ideas as well. I’m pretty sure the fine folks at THQ will read this and take your thoughts and opinions to heart. Just speak in a constructive and professional manner. You’d be shocked how far that will take you in life.
Without further ado, here is my wishlist for WWE ’13:
_______________________________________________________
- I want to CONTROL my Universe with version 3.0:
Last year’s Universe mode was a huge improvement over last years. But there were a lot of minor things that I feel could have been done to make it an overall better experience. We have a calendar now, and while its great I can edit the three main shows…the rest of the days I see every week are going to waste. It shouldn’t be that way. If I want to great a show on Tuesday nights like NXT, I should be able to do that. If I want to create an all Divas show with their own championships on Saturday to take them off the main rosters. I should be allowed to do that as well. More control, more options will at the end of the day lead to more replay value. I want to be able to say at this time next year I’m still neck deep in Universe 3.0 with WWE ’13. Sadly, and truthfully the same can’t be said about WWE ’12 at this stage of the game.
Furthermore, when I tell the game I don’t want a “Remarkable Match” to take place and I replace it with something else, DON’T keep putting the same match in every freaking week until I end up having to sim it to just get rid of it! If I take it out one week that doesn’t mean I want it the next, it means I don’t want it at all. Do not force your matches upon me that not only don’t make any sense in my current Universe but frustrate me to the point where I no longer want to play the mode.
I could go on and on about things I’d like to see changed and fixed in Universe mode but that will probably be another article for another time.
- Bring arena interaction to the next level:
While it’s nice that we now have the inclusion of “Oh My God” moments this year that surround the ring. It’s time to allow to make total use of the arena around us. The stages are beautifully done every year, but they mean absolutely nothing if we can’t interact with them like we can on television. I want to be able to throw people in the LED mini trons. Slam their heads into the spinning WWE logo on the stage. Hell, even be able to THROW people off the stage fight around it, just like they do almost every week now on WWE TV. The ultimate WWE experience needs to include something like this. If we see it on RAW every Monday night, we should be able to do it in the game as well.
- Take Creation up a notch:
I love all the creation modes that the WWE games franchise brings to us each and every year. As far as I’m concerned, no one does it better. But after last year, I can’t help but feel we deserve a lot more.
While the name stitching in create a superstar/diva was a welcome addition (one that I have been asking for years mind you) there just weren’t enough real names to create the people you would want to create. The amount of names this year needs to be picked up a notch. But that’s just the start…
As far as create a superstar goes they have a lot to fix. Not only did they hardly add any new clothing items last year. They still didn’t fix the ability to correctly adjust the wrestlers skin tone and the transparency issue on tattoos and other items was still a big concern. While the PS3 users this year may just be satisfied at the fact that they get as many layers at 360 owners this year, I don’t think that’s a enough.
I’m not saying rehaul create a superstar, because that would be insane. I’m simply saying take what’s already there and build upon it in a big way! We have enough blur restrictions already, lets not limit what we can do with lack of attire and clothing options again in WWE ’13. The more stuff you can put in there the better. The lack of specific diva clothing items for tops and bottoms were the WORST it’s ever been. That needs to be fixed this year, THQ knows how vocal the diva fan community is. So let’s not give them a reason rise up and riot again this year shall we?
-Make brawling backstage FUN again:
I still fondly remember the days of Here Comes The Pain, when I could brawl all over the arena going from room to room causing destruction and pain upon my opponents. Not only was it fun, it was extremely entertaining to do.
Now a days, when I see the backstage brawl option show up I groan. They aren’t fun anymore. The move sets are ridiculously restricted and the entire match revolves around irish whipping your opponent into objects that may or may not connect to knock them out, in a game that will evidently revolve around the Attitude Era, this needs to change…and it needs to change now!
First things first, we need to be able to enter the backstage area through the main stage in a pin falls count anywhere match. I don’t care if there are loading times, I don’t care how it has to be done…but it needs to be taken care of.
From there, only a few simple things need to be done to make brawling backstage fun again…
- No more limited move sets
- Crowd noise and chants are a must, as you can hear them on TV when brawls happen.
- Commentary, for the same reason as above.
- Allow the referee to follow for pin falls or submissions.
- Knockouts are cool, but they shouldn’t be the only way to win.
- Proper sound effects EVERYWHERE, if I throw someone into a wall or door and it doesn’t make a noise, it takes you out of the moment.
-Community
Creations and Online need to work DAY ONE:
I often stop and think about, as well as WWE ’12 sold. How much better the game would have done with
properly functioning online and community creations right out of the gate.
While this isn’t just a THQ problem it has been plaguing a number of huge games as of late, the problem is where most of those games get their issues sorted out in days. We unfortunately weren’t that lucky this year.
Part of me kinda wished that Community Creations had never been invented, as I often wondered how much easier and smoother online would have worked last year without CC being there and featured crashing the servers on a daily basis. But at the end of the day Community Creations is here to stay and it needs to work right from the get go.
I know THQ has been hard at work on the servers for WWE games ever since WWE ’12 launched last November, if you think they haven’t been and you think they are just sitting on their hands while all of this goes on, you’re out of your damn mind.
So here’s hoping what they’ve figured out in the last six months will pay dividends to the final product of WWE ’13. Because at the end of the day, while the single player experience could end up being incredible, a glitchy online could ruin the entire overall experience, I for one surely hope we don’t see anything like that happening again come October 30th.
_______________________________________________________
These are the main issues that immediately come to mind when I think about the future of WWE Games with WWE ’13 and beyond. While there are several other small things they can do to help improve upon the product going forward, those will be covered in future entrees.
I’m curious to hear what you all in the WWE Games community think about what needs to be done to help improve WWE ’13. What’s your wish list? Sound off in the comments section below and allow your voice to be heard, until next time…
These have been the words of the Show!
While this isn’t just a THQ problem it has been plaguing a number of huge games as of late, the problem is where most of those games get their issues sorted out in days. We unfortunately weren’t that lucky this year.
Part of me kinda wished that Community Creations had never been invented, as I often wondered how much easier and smoother online would have worked last year without CC being there and featured crashing the servers on a daily basis. But at the end of the day Community Creations is here to stay and it needs to work right from the get go.
I know THQ has been hard at work on the servers for WWE games ever since WWE ’12 launched last November, if you think they haven’t been and you think they are just sitting on their hands while all of this goes on, you’re out of your damn mind.
So here’s hoping what they’ve figured out in the last six months will pay dividends to the final product of WWE ’13. Because at the end of the day, while the single player experience could end up being incredible, a glitchy online could ruin the entire overall experience, I for one surely hope we don’t see anything like that happening again come October 30th.
_______________________________________________________
These are the main issues that immediately come to mind when I think about the future of WWE Games with WWE ’13 and beyond. While there are several other small things they can do to help improve upon the product going forward, those will be covered in future entrees.
I’m curious to hear what you all in the WWE Games community think about what needs to be done to help improve WWE ’13. What’s your wish list? Sound off in the comments section below and allow your voice to be heard, until next time…
These have been the words of the Show!
