Smackdown next-gen plans revealed

Source:Gamesradar

The mastermind behind the WWE Smackdown series has revealed that the enhancement of artificial intelligence and physics will be the key areas in which he expects next-gen wrestling games to improve on their current-gen counterparts.

While Smackdown creative director Nick Wlodyka, speaking exclusively to gamesradar.com, wouldn’t specifically divulge what we can expect from the game’s PS3 debut, he did offer some compelling clues.
“All the major franchises are going to be on next-gen and anybody who’s developing for next-gen better have started developing now or they’re going to be in a world of trouble. So, based on that, you can assume what we’re doing right now,” he told us.

“Next-gen’s going to be a really interesting time. A lot of developers are going to be surprised that people aren’t going to respond well to a PS3 game that just happens to be like a PS2 game. That’s the really tricky thing to work on: given the short amount of time that we have to get the product to next-gen, how do we use what we’ve done in the past but also create a brand new experience?”

To that end, Wlodyka suggests that more realistic AI and physics – on top of the inevitable graphical enhancements – could be the answer.
“I’ve thought about this a lot over the past few months and I think AI and physics will be the biggest changes that apply to wrestling.

“In our current generation of wrestling games, there are a lot of problems with even simple things like, if you get pinned by the ropes, you can’t detect where the ropes are to put somebody’s foot on them. So creating an AI that feels like you’re playing your friends will be really interesting.”

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006 will be released for PS2 and PSP in November. A release date for Smackdown’s PS3 debut has yet to be announced

Source:Gamesradar

The mastermind behind the WWE Smackdown series has revealed that the enhancement of artificial intelligence and physics will be the key areas in which he expects next-gen wrestling games to improve on their current-gen counterparts.

While Smackdown creative director Nick Wlodyka, speaking exclusively to gamesradar.com, wouldn’t specifically divulge what we can expect from the game’s PS3 debut, he did offer some compelling clues.
“All the major franchises are going to be on next-gen and anybody who’s developing for next-gen better have started developing now or they’re going to be in a world of trouble. So, based on that, you can assume what we’re doing right now,” he told us.

“Next-gen’s going to be a really interesting time. A lot of developers are going to be surprised that people aren’t going to respond well to a PS3 game that just happens to be like a PS2 game. That’s the really tricky thing to work on: given the short amount of time that we have to get the product to next-gen, how do we use what we’ve done in the past but also create a brand new experience?”

To that end, Wlodyka suggests that more realistic AI and physics – on top of the inevitable graphical enhancements – could be the answer.
“I’ve thought about this a lot over the past few months and I think AI and physics will be the biggest changes that apply to wrestling.

“In our current generation of wrestling games, there are a lot of problems with even simple things like, if you get pinned by the ropes, you can’t detect where the ropes are to put somebody’s foot on them. So creating an AI that feels like you’re playing your friends will be really interesting.”

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006 will be released for PS2 and PSP in November. A release date for Smackdown’s PS3 debut has yet to be announced