You can tell Yuke's, developer of the massively successful WWE videogame franchise SmackDown Versus Raw, has been looking forward to this. We're sitting in a packed press conference in Detroit ahead of this year's Wrestlemania 23, as THQ announces its continuation of the franchise with Raw '08, due for release in November across seven formats.
Under the watchful gaze of Director Yoshio Togiya and Lead Programmer Takashi Takezawa, two team members stride to the stage, flexing muscles with Hulk Hogan-grandeur. The reason for the theatrics is the small console under the massive projector screen in front of them; the game will be presented in playable form for the first time on Wii.
Despite the earliness of the code - rough polygons on the wrestlers and an audience that play the role of silent placeholders rather than a baying crowd - the ensuing sparring match gave us a good indication as to how the game plays.
The control set up focuses on the motion control of the combined Nunchuk and Remote, mapping your chosen wrestler's left and right arms to each respectively.
Punching consists of thrusting either controller forward, while swinging left or right results in a slap or chop with your spread hand. Alternatively you can point both skyward and rotate them to taunt your opponent.
It might have been out of character to make Triple H stick his arms in the air and wave them around like he just didn't care, but the message was clear; smack-talk is out but smack-posing is clearly in.
Activating grapples is a result of pushing both controllers straight forward. Once you've caught your opponent in your grip, you can select your chosen grapple by twisting the controllers simultaneously in any direction.
Expect even the most complex of manoeuvres to be simplified into a combination of twists or shakes of the two controllers.
It makes great viewing and both the assembled journalists and players were enjoying the spectacle. However, once the tussle was over and the conference resumed, we were slowly left wondering what else the game will have to offer over other versions other than the motion-sensitive controls.
Again, it's perhaps because of the early code that anyone is reluctant to confirm anything else for the Wii version other than the appearance of a Career mode to bulk out the single player. But with an abundance of content announced for the Xbox 360 and PS2 versions at the same conference, the lack of information regarding Nintendo's part in the future of the WWE videogame franchise was disconcerting.
What we did hear was that the developer wanted the game to be closer to an arcade-style experience rather than a realistic one, placing the emphasis on 'pick up and play' game mechanics that could be enjoyed by anyone.
But while the immediacy of gameplay should be compelling for anyone wanting to pick up a wrestling title for the first time, we'd like to see a packed single-player mode that'll body slam the queries of longevity into submission and have us whipping on the spandex long after our friends have gone home for the night.
