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Newsletter 40
Welcome to the Wrestling Gamers United newsletter #40!
In this issue
1) Why fantasy wrestlers?
2) Happy Holidays!
1) Why fantasy wrestlers?
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As most of you probably know by now, the creative team and I have been
working hard creating a roster of fictional wrestlers for Pro Wrestling
X
and some of you have already asked why we aren't just taking advantage
of all the eager indy talent and using real wrestlers instead. Well,
there are a few reasons that I'm sure will make sense and possibly even
get you excited about our essentially "fake" wrestlers.
The first reason may no longer necessarily apply but it probably seems
obvious to you--we HAD to create our own roster if we weren't going to
get
(or actually want) a WWE license. But not after we made the decision to
draw up our own creations we came to a positive realization--we really
enjoy this stuff! Seriously, how many of you think to yourselves that
you
could easily come up with better characters and gimmicks than Vince,
Bischoff, or Russo? That's why we whip up our own precious caws for all
our
favorite wrestling games, right? So it ended up being that Alek,
Jessica, Mel,
and I are truly excited about creating a fantasy roster complete with
biographical histories of each wrestler and the federations they worked
in.
I swear to God by the time we're done we'll have a book written we'll
have
done so much work on this roster.
Will most gamers care? Probably not. I'm sure a lot of you will just
scroll
through the roster a few times for kicks and then sit down for a few
days
making all your caws. I would too. But if you give us a chance I think
you'll
get a kick out of the ideas and effort we're putting into the roster.
We've
got a wide range of wrestlers including everything from late 80's
gimmicks
(albino twins?) to third generation puro guys in plain black trunks.
We're having
a hell of a lot of fun with these guys and girls and I'm just getting a
huge
kick out of creating a federation the way I think we all really want to
see it
done. Then again, you guys will probably just tear the roster apart to
make
room for you caws and that's cool. But our's will be in the box art ;)
Another reason for spending so much time creating a believable roster
is
the need for a strong career mode. In order to sustain a sufficient
level
of drama in the career mode there needs to be a good deal of drama
surrounding
the characters themselves. For example, Dre may look like a tough bitch
but
only when you learn about her history in the indie scene and her
microphone
tirade during a show in Texas will you truly get a sense of her agenda
and
reason for doing what she does. The same level of dedication towards
every
member of the PWX roster will show through and hopefully inspire a lot
of great matches when you get the game. I know I'm looking forward to
scrolling
through menu and instead of just seeing Tirador and thinking, "cool
mask"
I'll be saying to myself, "there's that smug son of a bitch."
Back to the indie wrestlers in real life. Are there a lot of talented
workers who would add to the value of PW-X? Absolutely. But would having
a roster consisting purely of top level indie guys be worth the time and
trouble it would take to create? Probably not. Look at it from our point
of view. To do just one wrestler justice we would want to first
perfectly
create his likeness. This would cost a good chunk of money in labor
costs and
I have to ask, is it really worth it when fans like you will be busting
open
Photoshop and creating the guys you want anyway? The same goes for the
move lists of each wrestler. Now I'm a big fan of a lot of indie guys,
don't
get me wrong, but can I honestly say we can afford to research every
single
wrestler to ensure his move list is 100% accurate especially when each
wrestler
could have over a hundred of moves given the amount of unique
situations?
Probably not. Again, I beleive the fans will do a better job than we
could
given their dedication to accurately creating their favorite indie guys.
Add
that to the fact that caws will be traded by the hundreds within weeks
of PW-X's
release and I think you'll agree that we could be spending our resources
better on other features fans won't be able to do for themselves like
match
types and move animations.
Now let's consider the marketing value of signing indie guys to the
PW-X
project. Let's pretend we sign NWA champ Ron "The Truth" Killings to use
his likeness in the game. Would that be cool? Sure would. But the truth
of
the matter is that any kid who's going to by PW-X because Killings is in
the
game is ALREADY going to buy the game because of the gameplay and
features.
Do you see what I mean? Even the best and brightest indie stars would
fail
to generate any interest outside of the indie wrestling scene and I
beleive
we can reach those fans, and have done so already to a respectable
degree, on
our own. Remember what I've been saying since day one, gameplay over
everything else. Just take a look at our message board and you'll see
this
philosophy holding true. There have been endless debates on damage and
submission systems, class structure, special move mechanics, and barely
a
blip about who should be in the game if we could get them. I think it's
safe
to say that PW-X supporters would rather see good targeted submissions
in
the game than the entire WWE roster since the beginning of time. Am I
wrong?
Now let me completely contradict myself.
We are going after indie wrestlers for a reason. There is something we
can
offer each other that no other game but PW-X can provide. Sadly, the
exact
plan for indie wrestlers falls into the catagory of things I spoke about
inthe last newsletter and I can't share any details with you just yet.
But
just like I promised last week, all suprises will be good ones.
Before I put the roster issue to rest I need to thank the L.A.
creative
team for the work they've done and will do in the future to help bring
our fantasy roster to life. Jessica's attention to detail and historical
accuracy is enviable and thanks to her the wrestlers on the PW-X roster
will shine with Jessica-ness. Also in need of some well earned respect
is Alek, who's dedication to treating PW-X fans as intelligent human
beings who can spot bullshit a mile away and not brain dead consumers
means
reading about the world of PW-X and it's characters will be almost as
fun as playing the game. Almost :)
2) Happy Holidays
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The crew and I wish every one of you a kick ass holiday season and
I hope Santa leaves a rich investor under every tree!
In the meantime and in-between time, that's it. Another edition of
Wrestling Gamers United.
Thank you all,
Dave Wishnowski
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