THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
#26
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Screenshots and synopsis of the game along with the trailer:
http://www.legendsofwrestlemania.com...er.php?terr=us
http://www.legendsofwrestlemania.com...er.php?terr=us
#27
DVD Talk Hero
Mick Foley had an interview in the Opie and Anthony show where he states that as consequence of leaving WWE for TNA, he has been yanked from the Wrestlemania Legends game. So there will be no Rock & Sock connection or any of the Foley characters.
This got me thinking: What is holding back THQ from making dowloading patches for roster and moves updates in their futire games? I remember Marvel Ultimate Alliance for X-Box 360 having a patch where you could download new characters like Hulk and Venom. I suppose that THQ and Midway could do the same for their respective wrestling games. Even EA sports does the same for the games. NBA Live updates the rosters and include new rookies and recent team additions.
This got me thinking: What is holding back THQ from making dowloading patches for roster and moves updates in their futire games? I remember Marvel Ultimate Alliance for X-Box 360 having a patch where you could download new characters like Hulk and Venom. I suppose that THQ and Midway could do the same for their respective wrestling games. Even EA sports does the same for the games. NBA Live updates the rosters and include new rookies and recent team additions.
Anyway, the same things that prevent other sports franchises from just endlessly updating rosters on old games: they want you to buy the newest ones. I believe the TNA game already has some downloadable wrestlers. The thing is that I'm not sure they could add things like new moves and signature styles and titantron entrances... they could certainly do a download for already-existing wrestlers who's moves are coded in (I know a lot of the older games, you could create CAWs of a lot of different wrestlers who weren't officially in the game...).
So the more likely scenario is that they knowingly withhold wrestlers who should already be in the game, as downloadable content.
#29
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
WWE showed a trailer for the game tonight at the Royal Rumble and the biggest surprise is that the Ultimate Warrior is in the game. Other people shown were Hogan, Andre, Piper, The Rock and Austin.
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Piper has been in a handful of SvR games in the past. It's nice to see Warrior confirmed, even though he had been rumored for a while now.
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
I wouldn't think so, since the deal is really with Jakks, who have put out like 12 action figures of him in the last few years. Also, I don't think the WWE, THQ, Jakks and anyone else involved would go down that road again, after what happened with the Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain game, without making damn sure everything with Jim "Crazier Than a Shithouse Rat" Hellwig was good to go.
Last edited by SexualPudding; 01-26-09 at 12:53 PM.
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Until they change things up, no purchaes for me.
Have not liked any wrestling game since the N64
Have not liked any wrestling game since the N64
#36
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
I wouldn't think so, since the deal is really with Jakks, who have put out like 12 action figures of him in the last few years. Also, I don't think the WWE, THQ, Jakks and anyone else involved would go down that road again, after what happened with the Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain game, without making damn sure everything with Jim "Crazier Than a Shithouse Rat" Hellwig was good to go.
1- The roster
2- The supposed compatibility and transferring allowed with SvR 09.
I still want the idiots at THQ to go back to simple grappling system that the N64 games had. That is why many non-wrestling fans loved those games. The current system is so complicated and frustrating that it is turning off wrestling fans everywhere.
#37
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Apparently controls have been simplified, which is good news to me.
http://www.videogamer.com/ps3/wwe_le...view-1476.html
WWE Legends of WrestleMania Hands-on Preview
By Wesley Yin-Poole - 02/02/2009 - 12:53pm GMT
Wesley Yin-Poole
We like the smell of what THQ is cooking
We like the smell of what THQ is cookingWe like the smell of what THQ is cooking
Nostalgia. Everyone loves it. Down the pub, over a few beers - Transformers, Super Mario Bros., Michael Jackson, Back to the Future, big hair, curtains, Nirvana, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter II - it makes us laugh, cry, cringe, and feel all warm inside. Back then all that mattered was surviving school, running home, watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, and doing it all over again tomorrow. That, and WWF.
Not the World Wide Fund for Nature, but the World Wrestling Federation, as it was known back in the day. Back, dare we say it, when it was good. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jimmy Hart and Bret Hart - remember them? Good. Game publisher THQ certainly hopes you do, too. Why? Because it's readying the launch of WWE Legends of WrestleMania, a virtual trip down memory lane for those of you who used to love wrestling in the 80s and 90s.
Advertisement
The game, in development for the 360 and PS3, is being developed by Yuke's, the same Japanese developer behind the annual WWE SmackDown VS. Raw games. There are undoubted similarities - the graphics, the wrestler movement, the structure - but it's really a very different game. That's mainly down to the simplified controls and the new combo system. The complexity of the SDvR games has been completely stripped away in favour of an old school arcade control system that rekindles memories of the classic NES WWF games.
The left thumb stick or d-pad are used for wrestler movement, and the face buttons are used for wrestler actions. On the 360 pad, Y is for guard, X is for strike, A is for grapple and B performs actions, like getting in and out of the ring. That's it, for all intents and purposes.
At the top of the screen a yellow bar displays your wrestler's overall health, a red bar underneath shows momentum, and underneath that sits a three-tiered, fighting game-esque super bar. Doing damage to your opponent will reduce his health bar, as you'd expect, but it'll also build up your momentum bar. When that fills up, one tier of your super bar will activate, opening up new moves and abilities. Get your super bar to level three and you'll be able to perform a trademark finishing move.
The somewhat complicated SDvsR control scheme has been ditchedThe somewhat complicated SDvsR control scheme has been ditched
There's a new taunt system, too. Each fighter has four taunts, triggered by pressing Y and B and a direction. They eat up half your momentum bar, but provide a useful temporary buff to your wrestler, like a speed boost. Submissions trigger quick time events for escapes, getting out of pins involves mashing the face buttons until a circle bar fills up before the three count is up, and you can counter with a well-timed press of the Y button.
It all combines to give Legends a very arcadey feel, much more so than the hard to pick up and play SDvR games. It is a stripped down experience. Some though, might say it's more fun, more immediately satisfying, and, crucially from THQ's perspective, more accessible.
The super bar comes more into play in the Relive, Rewrite and Redefine game modes, which supplement the standard exhibition mode. Relive allows you to, well, relive classic WrestleMania matches exactly as they really happened, Rewrite allows the real life loser to become the virtual victor, and Redefine allows you to mix things up by adding variables, like different rule types and weapons.
When you select to play one of the 15 matches that have been taken from the first 15 WrestleManias, you're treated to a montage of real archived footage, a first for the series, that sets up the bout. Take the famous Andre the Giant versus Hulk Hogan fight from WrestleMania III, for example. You see clips showing Andre's turn to the dark side, and Hulk's distress at seeing his mentor and hero turn against him, before the virtual action begins. It's all professionally put together and is sure to please those of you who remember watching it as a kid.
In Relive mode each match challenges you to complete a number of point-awarding objectives. These objectives are tied into moves and events that were performed in the actual matches, like Hulk throwing Andre to the ground. But you'll only be able to complete them by filling up your super meter - the different tiers unlock the abilities you need to do so. Hulk can't body slam the much bigger Andre the Giant until level two is obtained, for example. If he tries beforehand he'll give up, his face in excruciating pain and hand pressed against his twisted spine.
The arcadey feel permeates through more than the controls. The wrestlers themselves are heavily stylised - Hulk Hogan's torso is ridiculously huge, and he's much taller in comparison with Andre the Giant than he was in real life. The menus have been made to look like the WWE Hall of Fame vaults. The point is this: Legends' aim is not to appeal exclusively to current wrestling fans who buy the SDvR games year after year, who continue to watch WWE on Sky Sports and maybe even see the action live. Legends' aim is to also appeal to those in their late 20s or 30s, perhaps, who watched and enjoyed wrestling back in the 80s and 90s but fell out of love with it when they grew up. It's as much of a nostalgia trip as it is a fun, arcadey fighting game.
Legends is shaping up to be great fun for lapsed wrestling fansLegends is shaping up to be great fun for lapsed wrestling fans
Bar that, confirmed features include online play and create modes, essential really, given the last SDvR game included both, and, get this, you'll be able to import superstars from SDvR09 into Legends and play with them. We're not sure exactly how this is going to work, but fans are sure to love it - John Cena versus Bret Hart? You got it.
The archive clips and arcadey controls will hopefully make Legends of WrestleMania perfect fodder for lapsed wrestling fans, fuelling laughs and shocks as all those memories come flooding back. Assuming it achieves this goal, it'll be job well done from THQ's point of view. Now... who fancies watching The Rock videos on YouTube?
WWE Legends of WrestleMania is due out on Xbox 360 and PS3 in late March.
By Wesley Yin-Poole - 02/02/2009 - 12:53pm GMT
Wesley Yin-Poole
We like the smell of what THQ is cooking
We like the smell of what THQ is cookingWe like the smell of what THQ is cooking
Nostalgia. Everyone loves it. Down the pub, over a few beers - Transformers, Super Mario Bros., Michael Jackson, Back to the Future, big hair, curtains, Nirvana, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter II - it makes us laugh, cry, cringe, and feel all warm inside. Back then all that mattered was surviving school, running home, watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, and doing it all over again tomorrow. That, and WWF.
Not the World Wide Fund for Nature, but the World Wrestling Federation, as it was known back in the day. Back, dare we say it, when it was good. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jimmy Hart and Bret Hart - remember them? Good. Game publisher THQ certainly hopes you do, too. Why? Because it's readying the launch of WWE Legends of WrestleMania, a virtual trip down memory lane for those of you who used to love wrestling in the 80s and 90s.
Advertisement
The game, in development for the 360 and PS3, is being developed by Yuke's, the same Japanese developer behind the annual WWE SmackDown VS. Raw games. There are undoubted similarities - the graphics, the wrestler movement, the structure - but it's really a very different game. That's mainly down to the simplified controls and the new combo system. The complexity of the SDvR games has been completely stripped away in favour of an old school arcade control system that rekindles memories of the classic NES WWF games.
The left thumb stick or d-pad are used for wrestler movement, and the face buttons are used for wrestler actions. On the 360 pad, Y is for guard, X is for strike, A is for grapple and B performs actions, like getting in and out of the ring. That's it, for all intents and purposes.
At the top of the screen a yellow bar displays your wrestler's overall health, a red bar underneath shows momentum, and underneath that sits a three-tiered, fighting game-esque super bar. Doing damage to your opponent will reduce his health bar, as you'd expect, but it'll also build up your momentum bar. When that fills up, one tier of your super bar will activate, opening up new moves and abilities. Get your super bar to level three and you'll be able to perform a trademark finishing move.
The somewhat complicated SDvsR control scheme has been ditchedThe somewhat complicated SDvsR control scheme has been ditched
There's a new taunt system, too. Each fighter has four taunts, triggered by pressing Y and B and a direction. They eat up half your momentum bar, but provide a useful temporary buff to your wrestler, like a speed boost. Submissions trigger quick time events for escapes, getting out of pins involves mashing the face buttons until a circle bar fills up before the three count is up, and you can counter with a well-timed press of the Y button.
It all combines to give Legends a very arcadey feel, much more so than the hard to pick up and play SDvR games. It is a stripped down experience. Some though, might say it's more fun, more immediately satisfying, and, crucially from THQ's perspective, more accessible.
The super bar comes more into play in the Relive, Rewrite and Redefine game modes, which supplement the standard exhibition mode. Relive allows you to, well, relive classic WrestleMania matches exactly as they really happened, Rewrite allows the real life loser to become the virtual victor, and Redefine allows you to mix things up by adding variables, like different rule types and weapons.
When you select to play one of the 15 matches that have been taken from the first 15 WrestleManias, you're treated to a montage of real archived footage, a first for the series, that sets up the bout. Take the famous Andre the Giant versus Hulk Hogan fight from WrestleMania III, for example. You see clips showing Andre's turn to the dark side, and Hulk's distress at seeing his mentor and hero turn against him, before the virtual action begins. It's all professionally put together and is sure to please those of you who remember watching it as a kid.
In Relive mode each match challenges you to complete a number of point-awarding objectives. These objectives are tied into moves and events that were performed in the actual matches, like Hulk throwing Andre to the ground. But you'll only be able to complete them by filling up your super meter - the different tiers unlock the abilities you need to do so. Hulk can't body slam the much bigger Andre the Giant until level two is obtained, for example. If he tries beforehand he'll give up, his face in excruciating pain and hand pressed against his twisted spine.
The arcadey feel permeates through more than the controls. The wrestlers themselves are heavily stylised - Hulk Hogan's torso is ridiculously huge, and he's much taller in comparison with Andre the Giant than he was in real life. The menus have been made to look like the WWE Hall of Fame vaults. The point is this: Legends' aim is not to appeal exclusively to current wrestling fans who buy the SDvR games year after year, who continue to watch WWE on Sky Sports and maybe even see the action live. Legends' aim is to also appeal to those in their late 20s or 30s, perhaps, who watched and enjoyed wrestling back in the 80s and 90s but fell out of love with it when they grew up. It's as much of a nostalgia trip as it is a fun, arcadey fighting game.
Legends is shaping up to be great fun for lapsed wrestling fansLegends is shaping up to be great fun for lapsed wrestling fans
Bar that, confirmed features include online play and create modes, essential really, given the last SDvR game included both, and, get this, you'll be able to import superstars from SDvR09 into Legends and play with them. We're not sure exactly how this is going to work, but fans are sure to love it - John Cena versus Bret Hart? You got it.
The archive clips and arcadey controls will hopefully make Legends of WrestleMania perfect fodder for lapsed wrestling fans, fuelling laughs and shocks as all those memories come flooding back. Assuming it achieves this goal, it'll be job well done from THQ's point of view. Now... who fancies watching The Rock videos on YouTube?
WWE Legends of WrestleMania is due out on Xbox 360 and PS3 in late March.
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
IGN just posted their first roster announcement video. Included were:
-Hogan
-Andre
-Bobby Heenan
-Brutus Beefcake
-Dusty Rhodes
-Shawn Michaels
-Sgt. Slaughter
-Iron Sheik
-Junkyard Dog
-Big John Studd
-Bam Bam Bigelow
They also showed Austin and Bret Hart in clips, both of whom we already knew were in the game (along with Hogan and Andre). They're supposed to announce more on Monday.
-Hogan
-Andre
-Bobby Heenan
-Brutus Beefcake
-Dusty Rhodes
-Shawn Michaels
-Sgt. Slaughter
-Iron Sheik
-Junkyard Dog
-Big John Studd
-Bam Bam Bigelow
They also showed Austin and Bret Hart in clips, both of whom we already knew were in the game (along with Hogan and Andre). They're supposed to announce more on Monday.
#39
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
I haven't kept up with wrestling in years, but this sounds like fun. Especially with simplified controls, as I don't care for complicated moves.
Here's the video listings -
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/952/952310p1.html
Here's the video listings -
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/952/952310p1.html
#40
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Looks really cool! Some the arenas they seem to have down design wise, WM3,4,5 and 6
are pretty accurate, and 9 is perfect. But some of the others are generic looking, especially Madison Square Garden's unique layout. Hopefully some of these will change before the game is finalized. Something that would be cool, is a bonus level or hidden feature of the arena layout for WrestleMania 7 at the L.A. Coliseum which didn't happen because of "threats".
are pretty accurate, and 9 is perfect. But some of the others are generic looking, especially Madison Square Garden's unique layout. Hopefully some of these will change before the game is finalized. Something that would be cool, is a bonus level or hidden feature of the arena layout for WrestleMania 7 at the L.A. Coliseum which didn't happen because of "threats".
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Yeah until THQ pairs up with Aki again to recreate the games from the N64 I don't see myself ever playing another wrestling game. We played those constantly and have yet to find a replacement game.
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
I haven't played a THQ wrestling game hardcore since Here Comes the Pain. I'll see what kind of reviews it's getting and may pick it up. Anyone hoping for someone in particular to be on the roster? I think pretty much all of the other legends that have been on previous Smackdown games will be included. It would be nice if Macho Man is in but I'm not holding my breath.
#43
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Thread Starter
Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
IGN just posted their first roster announcement video. Included were:
-Hogan
-Andre
-Bobby Heenan
-Brutus Beefcake
-Dusty Rhodes
-Shawn Michaels
-Sgt. Slaughter
-Iron Sheik
-Junkyard Dog
-Big John Studd
-Bam Bam Bigelow
They also showed Austin and Bret Hart in clips, both of whom we already knew were in the game (along with Hogan and Andre). They're supposed to announce more on Monday.
-Hogan
-Andre
-Bobby Heenan
-Brutus Beefcake
-Dusty Rhodes
-Shawn Michaels
-Sgt. Slaughter
-Iron Sheik
-Junkyard Dog
-Big John Studd
-Bam Bam Bigelow
They also showed Austin and Bret Hart in clips, both of whom we already knew were in the game (along with Hogan and Andre). They're supposed to announce more on Monday.
#45
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
I'm aware of that. I only listed those who were "announced" in the video, or shown in clips, on purpose. Oh, and apparently there was also a very small and brief glimpse of Arn Anderson during the entrance they showed for Bam Bam Bigelow. I have no idea why he would be in this game, but never the less, it appears he is.
#46
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Reading this thread has me sorely tempted to pick up my first wresting game since my Gamecube days. I've rented one of the Smackdown games for the 360, but like others have said, the damn control system was so complex that I lost interest very quickly.
And a quick hell yeah to getting 'The Enforcer' in the game, if that's true. Now to bring Tully in as well for a Brainbusters reunion!
And a quick hell yeah to getting 'The Enforcer' in the game, if that's true. Now to bring Tully in as well for a Brainbusters reunion!
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Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
If this game has Shawn Michaels, then it better have Marty Jannetty too! I want to play as the ROCKERS!
#48
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#49
Re: THQ to release WWE -Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009
Reading this thread has me sorely tempted to pick up my first wresting game since my Gamecube days. I've rented one of the Smackdown games for the 360, but like others have said, the damn control system was so complex that I lost interest very quickly.
And a quick hell yeah to getting 'The Enforcer' in the game, if that's true. Now to bring Tully in as well for a Brainbusters reunion!
And a quick hell yeah to getting 'The Enforcer' in the game, if that's true. Now to bring Tully in as well for a Brainbusters reunion!
My only request is Cactus Jack.