WWE Day of Reckoning Interview

• by Syriel
• March 18, 2004 00:00 AM PST

We sit down and talk to Nicholas M. Wlodyka, producer of the latest WWE franchise.

GamePro: How long have you been working on the WWE franchise?

Nicholas Wlodyka: I've now been working on the series just over a year. I came in near the tail end of "Shut Your Mouth on the PS2 version. Smackdown: Here comes the Pain was my first product. I oversee the whole WWE franchise now -- the Xbox, PS2 and GameCube products. I spent 8 years on FIFA prior to coming to THQ.

GP: Why multiple versions?

NM: There's a couple reasons. Smackdown and No Mercy were two very successful wrestling titles for THQ since the start of the PSone and N64 generation. So that was an approach that very much worked. The second thing is that WWE fans are hardcore fans and they will buy multiple products if the games are good and they offer a completely different experience. Since a lot of fans own more than one platform it makes sense that we offer a different experience for those fans.

GP: With developers seemingly abandoning the GameCube why stick with it?

NM: The numbers still make sense for us.

GP: What sets Day of Reckoning apart from last year's title?

NM: There are two fundamental changes that consumers are going to notice. The first one is the graphics. From the moment you pop the game in you'll be like "Wow this game looks so much better." The second one, and maybe the biggest one from last years product, is single player mode. This year we're giving fans everything they want in a single player mode product. Starting with living the life of a WWE superstar -- taking him from nothing and turning him into a bona fide superstar. In doing so, you have the opportunity to compete for the various WWE titles, but equally important, you have a chance to play through all the turns, twists, and double-crossing that makes the WWE so exciting to fans. Not only do we offer the TV drama that you've become accustomed to seeing, but we give fans the opportunity to take a character through all of that.

GP: Any plans for an online mode in any of the WWE games?

NM: There's no online community for the GameCube so it doesn't make sense for us to go there. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to say anything about PS2 or Xbox, as much as I want to -- but we recognize the importance of online and how much fans are relly asking for it, so it's something we are taking under serious consideration. We'll leave it at that.

GP: What kind of role does music play in Day of Reckoning?

NM: Entrance music is really, really important. Even though you don't watch an entrance every time you play a game, the first thing people will notice is if we don't have the right entrance music. So there have been licensing issues in the past, which is why this has come up, but we're doing everything we can to assure that we have 100% authentic entrance music. The second point is that on the GameCube product we don't have commentary -- and that's not because we don't want to have it or don't know how to do it -- the only reason is there's no space on the disc for the speech data. The videos that play on the big Titantrons during the entrances take up a lot of space. Since we don't have commentary, the in-game music that plays in the background while you are fighting is that much more important. So for this year, for the first time, we are spending a significant amount of time and money to acquire licensed music that fits the style of the product.

GP: The pacing of the WWE games has always been a bit slow and deliberate. Any reason why THQ hasn't tinkered with this?

NM: We spent a lot of time focus testing the gameplay experience with our core consumer and the resounding answer has been they love the pacing of the game -- they love the core gameplay engine of the weak and strong grapples. So we have the fundamental basis of the gameplay engine in place; now it's about adding all the pieces that will make it a complete gameplay experience, like the submission meter and location specific damage.

GP: Both the submission meter and location specific damage are new to the series. What was the reason for adding them?

NM: We took a look at wrestling as a whole and we identified the core elements that make up the wrestling experience. Our end goal is to give the user control over every aspect of that experience and in order to do so we needed to add elements like those. From a difficultly standpoint, these aren't technically difficult things to implement, the key is nailing the balance. Balancing all these different elements into a fun overall experience is very difficult.

GP: The team over at THQ is obviously full of wrestling fans. Who are your favorites?

NM: I think everybody sort of has one or two. I tend to have one in each of the different categories. As a power wrestler I'm a big fan of Brock Lesnar. As a technical wrrestler Chris Benoit is my favorite. And as somebody who's exciting to watch Rey Mysterio -- the High Flyer we call him. Then we all have our favorite old school characters, mine is Andre the Giant -- hint, hint, wink, wink -- as to what legends may appear in the game. I'm not confirming or denying that we are going to put him in, but he is my favorite.

GP: Can you tell us a bit more about the different modes and wrestling legends? Will they all be available from the start or will some be locked?

NM: We'll probably do a combination, with a few that are available from the get-go and some others that are available as unlockables. But in terms of match types all the usual stuff you'd expect to have such as: cage, hell in a cell, tables ladders and chairs, royal rumble and all the different permutations: one on one, two on two, three on three, three on one -- pretty much anything you could possibly want is in there.

GP: The Bra and Panties match isn't new to series but it is new to GameCube. Was there any trouble getting it approved by Nintendo?

NM: You know, it wasn't bad. The big thing was just making sure we did it tastefully. That's the biggest element. As long as it doesn't seem overly sexual or two much exposure -- as long as it's done in a tasteful way, it's ok. Our approach to this match type is just as much about fun gameplay as it is about removing clothes -- that's why we implemented the little meter system when you pull off clothes -- to make it a little game within a game.

GP: Is there anything we haven't talked about?

NM: The only other thing I would like to touch on that is also important for the product is the presentation aspect of the game. Gameplay is the most important of course, however WWE does a great job in terms of the way they present things. Video games give us the ability to use camera cuts, camera positions, that aren't possible in real life. So we're really excited this year about creating a much more cinematic feel, putting users right in the action...and to further that, an overall WWE style graphic polish to the product, that we haven't had in the past.

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