WWE ON Wii!!!!!!!!!

WWE on Wii! Mar 30, 2007
WWE steps back into the Nintendo ring with WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 on Wii and DS.


WrestleMania 23—held this Sunday, April 1 at Ford Field in Detroit—is considered by many WWE fans to be the biggest wrestling event of the year. WWE Champion John Cena will defend his title against Shawn Michaels, World Heavyweight Champion Batista will battle the Undertaker, and ECW Champion Bobby Lashley will square off against Umaga to decide which unlikable billionaire (Donald Trump or WWE owner Vince McMahon) will get his head shaved. But the true wrestling event of the year will be this fall, when THQ brings WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 to Wii and Nintendo DS. While the SmackDown vs. Raw series has appeared on other systems in years past, the 2008 version is the first that will appear on Nintendo systems, and will offer several features to set itself aside from its predecessors. The idea behind the Wii version is to give players ultimate control over their favorite grapplers. Though the controls are still under development, when designers from Yuke's (the game's creators) demonstrated the game on Wii, they could actually make a punching motion with the Wii remote to punch, a lifting motion to lift an opponent up by the throat, and then a downward movement to chokeslam him to the mat. A demonstrator even mimicked DX's infamous crotch-chop with the nunchuk and remote to make his character, Triple H, perform the taunt in-game. "We are tailoring the controls exclusively to the Nintendo Wii," says creative manager Cory Ledesma. "We want you to feel like when we're talking about ultimate control, you're feeling ultimate control. We really want to tailor to the casual gamers for this product. We want players to pick it right up and play. We want to have it almost as easy as some of these Wii Sports titles." In addition to intuitive motion-based controls, THQ hopes to make the game accessible to the broadest number of users possible with faster, more arcade-like gameplay, and less emphasis on simulation-style elements (for example, there will be no stamina meter). But that's not to say the game won't have a deep feature set. Building upon previous versions of SmackDown vs. Raw, the Wii version will include eight different fighting styles: Technical, Submission Artist, Showman, Powerhouse, High Flyer, Hardcore, Dirty, and Brawler. The fighting styles won't only allow the wrestlers to behave more like their real-life counterparts, but will give them unique special moves available only to their style. Powerhouses, for example, can mightily kick out of any pin if they have a finishing move stored in reserve, and Dirty wrestlers can push the referee at opponents. The designers are also implementing a new WWE 24/7 mode (sort of a combination between a career mode and a general manager mode) in which you try to become a WWE legend, and an active submission system, which allows players to control the amount of strength used both offensively and defensively during submission holds. Additionally, the game will feature more than 50 superstars including the "extremists" of ECW. Although THQ wouldn't give out the full roster, they mentioned or demonstrated numerous top stars in action, including Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H, Kane, the Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, and Bobby Lashley. Plus mid-carder Chris Masters, for those who care. The DS version—THQ's first wrestling game on a Nintendo handheld in three years, and the first to feature 3-D visuals—promises its own distinct take on pro wrestling with touch-screen-based moves. Developed by Amaze, the game will feature 20 grapplers from Raw, SmackDown, and ECW (including Triple H, Kane, and Chris Benoit), plus more than 80 holds, and a complete season mode with multiple storylines. WrestleMania may only be one day a year, but come this fall, players should be enjoying the action and theatrics of WWE on Wii and DS for a long, long time. Stay tuned to Nintendo.com and Nintendo Power magazine for the latest information and images of the game as they become available.