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CW Network going all-HD next season, including WWE in January
We worried that The CW Network wouldn't be able to broadcast HD every night when it was originally announced, but it recently revealed that all of its dramas and comedies for the upcoming 2007-2008 season will be produced in high definition with surround sound. Unfortunately wrestling fans were left out of the party, but no longer, as PW Insider is reporting that SmackDown is finally going 1080i in January, following tests of HD technology by WWE over the last few months.[Thanks, delldude360] Read - WWE Going HD this January Read - CW 2007-2008 Premiere Dates
THQ profits show power of licensing
Publisher THQ has posted net sales of more than $1 billion in their 2007 fiscal year, reportedly their 12th consecutive year of revenue growth. According to their annual financial report (PDF file), the company also managed to ship eight titles that exceeded one million units in sales. Their secret to success? Licensed titles.The annual report revealed that THQ's focus was 80% licensed intellectual property and 20% owned IP -- a 4-to-1 ratio. Key achievements include shipping 8 million units of Disney/Pixar's Cars, 4 million units of WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 and 4 million units combined of Nickelodeon franchises.THQ did establish two franchises this fiscal year, Saint's Row and Company of Heroes, and this upcoming fiscal year, THQ intends to increase its focus on owned IPs to a 33% share on the pie graph -- that's now only a 2-to-1 ratio of licensed-to-owned IP.Sure, licensed games may not be the most anticipated titles (or even the ones to receive the most coverage from the gaming press), but they do wonders to a publisher's bottom line.
Dude, Get Your Own campaign expands to television
Sony has unveiled more details on its ambitious "Dude, Get Your Own" advertising campaign for PSP. The promotion will focus on PSP's ability to play games and multimedia and should proudly showcase PSP's new, lower price. According to Sony, a television commercial will be airing now through the end of May on a variety of shows targeted specifically to teens. PSP fans will want to tune in to shows such as King of the Hill (FOX), South Park (Comedy Central), Adult Swim (Cartoon Network), the NBA Playoffs (TNT), Saturday Night Live (NBC), and WWE Smackdown (CW) to catch the new ads.Online ads can also be found on IGN.com, Gamespot.com, ESPN.com and Maxim.com. Additionally, Sony plans to send promotional materials through direct mail. Later this week, Sony will be launching a new "Dude, Get Your Own" website, which will go into further detail about PSP's capabilities. (Hopefully, they'll create a new educational video, unlike the one featured here.)This aggressive stance from Sony is certainly appreciated. There are too many myths about our handheld that must be dispelled: hopefully, this advertising campaign will make others experience the system and join the PSP Fanboy ranks.
Yuke's chats up improvements in next Smackdown!
Knowing the number of WWE fans that read PSP Fanboy, I'd feel wrong not sharing some details from Gamespot's recent interview with Yuke's. Here's what fans can expect in Smackdown! vs Raw 2008: A big focus this year is making more differentiated, and complex fighting styles A vastly improved and more realistic animation system, with more animations than ever before, and a motion blending system The motion blending system also allows for better controls of your wrestlers ECW's inclusion means lots more weapons in the game 24/7 mode will allow the gamer to experience the ECW invasion and as always work their way through the ranks to become WWE champ Yuke's wants Smackdown! to be one of the premier fighting games on all the systems. We'll have to wait for the title's release to see how they do.
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 first screens
THQ recently announced their latest entry into the never-ending realm of man v. man dramatic fighting known as wrestling. This one, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, is set to release on practically every console known to man, but we've got a good handful of screenshots for you to enjoy. Speaking of wrestling, which of the "fighting" style games do you find most enjoyable? Are you the wrestling nut? If so, what... ah... subgenre of wrestling is your pie? Prefer boxing? Or are you the classic martial arts fighter, finding the most joy in tossing out a hadoken (forgive the spelling if incorrect) and slamming your opponent with a shoryuken (again, sorry)? We asked how people felt about different racing game styles, so now we're asking you, the battling enthusiasts!
Fans get their wish: ECW coming to SmackDown vs Raw 2008
A while back, I asked what readers wanted to see from SmackDown vs Raw 2008. One of the most requested additions was that of ECW wrestlers. Well, either someone was listening or they think just like PSP Fanboy readers. THQ is saying ECW will have a "significant" presence in this year's wrestler. ECW superstars, arenas and luckily weapons will be in the game. On the gameplay front, THQ said "realism and strategy are at the forefront". There will be a new submission system, new rosters, more interaction areas, more outside the ring action, new online community additions, and finally a combined season and general manager mode. Sounds like this will be the best WWE game yet! [Via Gamespot]
Smackdown vs Raw 2008 screens are slammin!
THQ just released a few screenshots for their latest wrestling installment WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008. Xboxygen posted all fifteen newly released screenshots and to be honest ... they are very pretty. The character models are highly detailed, accurately representing their real-life wrestlers without the facial scanning oddities. Seriously, these models are very good. We'll have to see if the environments are equally gorgeous and how gameplay works out, but these shots are promising. Anyone a huge wrestling fan and looking forward to a little WWE wrestling?
Smackdown vs Raw 2008 Announced
THQ announced to investors today that it would release WWE titles for every platform imaginable. That means the PSP will be getting its third WWE wrestling game in so many years. No real details were announced for the 2008 edition, but to anyone that has followed wrestling games, it should be painfully obvious that features will be added and the roster of wrestlers will be updated. And one can only hope that ECW will be incorporated fully. [Via IGN]
Memorable Smackdown! fantasy fights
Ronald McDonald versus Hamburglar.Strider versus Spider-Man.Jill Valentine versus Nemesis.Jason versus Freddy.These dream fights have been created in WWE Smackdown's extensive character creation mode, and can be seen in their full glory at Siliconera. For those of you with the game, have you been able to create any truly special characters?
WWE's Kane loves his 360
In an interview with Yahoo!, WWE superstar and See No Evil star Kane admitted that he is a huge fan of the Xbox 360. After receiving it for Christmas last year, Kane has been playing Gears of War and COD 3 non stop as first person shooters are his drug of choice. Now he has turned to the dark side leaving PC gaming for good saying, "I can't even play on a computer any more because I can't get used to the keyboard and mouse after using the control pad for so long". Good for you big guy, console gaming is where all the cool kids are at and you my friend are one cool kid. Do you know of any moderately famous people who have publicly admitted to being video game lovers?[Thanks, Retrofied]
WWE star Kane professes love of PSP
WWE wrestling superstar Kane loves the PSP ... and so should you. When traveling on his cross-country flights, the celebrity can be often seen playing a match of WWE Smackdown on Sony's portable. "The PSP is a pretty popular system because it doesn't take up a lot of room," said Kane. "It has the Wi-Fi connections so the guys can play each other. We've had some long trips overseas and the guys will actually get some games going on the PSPs. One of the best time-passes I've ever had on a transatlantic flight was a three-way tables, ladders and chairs match with me playing as myself and then the other two guys were playing as Shelton Benjamin and the 80s Hulk Hogan. We had like an hour-long match. With the portability, you don't lose much in gameplay and graphics because it's such an awesome little machine."The wrestler admits that he has a bias for wrestling games, but that's not all he likes in the PSP library. "I've played the PSP version of the game and it's probably the best game on the PSP, and that's saying a lot because the PSP has a lot of good games on it," he notes. You could choose to disagree with him, but then, he'd probably just kill you.[Via Yahoo!]
THQ forms evil plan to net 1 BILLION dollars
Gamespot is reporting that the portable heavy publisher THQ plans to make one billion dollars in its fiscal 2007 year. it The forecast is due to incredibly strong sales of games like WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007, Cars, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.Brian Farrell, President and CEO of THQ, said, "THQ's platform strategy served us very well this holiday...This performance combined with our successful original property launches exclusively for next-generation systems have positioned THQ to achieve the significant milestone of $1 billion in sales for fiscal 2007." He then made plans to buy the Caspian Sea and rename it Bikini Bottom.
Smackdown returns, do the load times still suck?
Smackdown is out today. I was originally going to do a Metareview for this game, but I decided: why not focus on the one crucial flaw of last year's game? The load times. As you may remember, WWE SmackDown! 2006 got smacked down by the gaming community by having quite possibly the worst load times of any game in recent memory. Is this year's iteration of the popular wrestling franchise any better? Let's find out: Gamespot (79/100) - "Load times are still a big issue, as well, though not quite as humongous an issue as they were last year. Prematch load times are still long and annoying, especially when you have entrances set to on; menu transitions, especially in season mode, take longer than they ought to; and creating a wrestler can still be a time-consuming process, thanks to the loading. Again, Yuke's did improve this aspect somewhat this year, but load times continue to get in the way of the game." Games Radar (80/100) - "The developers remembered this, too; they made a focused effort to drastically reduce loading. And it worked: the loads aren't lightning quick, but they are far faster, now measuring in double-digit seconds instead of minutes." GameZone (85/100) - "On to the bad news, the game suffers from heavy lag that just doesn't pertain to the Ad Hoc multiplayer mode but throughout the single-player mode as well. This, of course, is a major annoyance that often leads to missed punches or choke slams. Secondly, the long load times are back, although - on a lighter note -they're not as frequent as the first game." The critics say the load times have improved, but are they tolerable yet? I'm placing an open challenge to all readers: if you own this game, please make a similar video, for PSP Fanboy fame, and maybe even a little swag, or something.
Smackdown wrestlers' intro videos
It only feels like yesterday when we were making fun of WWE Smackdown (it was, in fact, two days ago). So, maybe, we'll be a little bit nicer this time. A new year means the developers have a chance to get things right. Get rid of the load times. GamesRadar has been nice enough to grab all the wrestler intro videos from the upcoming Smackdown game, and convert it into iPod PSP format. Simply download their files, and dump it into your 2.80 PSP's VIDEO folder. The new year of Smackdown hits stores November 1st.
WWE SmackDown 2006 to frustrate even more players at new budget price
A press release from THQ today proudly proclaimed that their wrestling title, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2006, is now available in the low-budget Greatest Hits lineup. According to the press release the game "includes updated fighting and stamina systems, impressive graphics, integrated motion capture technology and authentic SuperStar voiceovers, bringing game play to life with unprecedented levels of realism and strategy during matches." They forgot to mention that the game also features some of the worst load times... ever. Those of you with great patience may want to give this a shot, though. If you can ignore horrendous load times, you'll see that $20 will net you a pretty solid wrestling game. [Via PSP World]
SmackDown series to miss PS3 launch, making next-gen debut on Xbox 360
Following rumors that the PlayStation 3 version of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 has been cancelled, THQ confirmed that its perennial wrasslin' series will not boost the PS3 launch lineup this holiday. Instead, SmackDown 2007 will ship for PS2 and PSP, and more importantly, will make its 'next-gen' debut exclusively on Xbox 360. THQ did add that the SmackDown franchise would eventually make it onto PS3, but not until holiday 2007.
WWE to get even more realistic thanks to high-def
The World Wresting Entertainment is about to get right in your face thanks to high-def programming. They have been trying to launch a high-def service for sometime now according to WestleMag.com and should launch tests real soon. There isn't a firm launch date yet but we can't wait to see those body drops and flying elbows. They look so real in standard definition that we are sure they will look great when the resolution is doubled. This new high-def programming should be available via their new On-Demand service and on their normal shows.
Pics of sweaty men [update 1]
Pro-G has posted some new screen shots of WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2007. Wrestling is decidedly not my thing, but the shots look pretty nice. Developed by Yuke's and published by THQ, the game is set to feature online play with in game voice chat as well as a new grappling system. Expect to see the game by Christmas. Be sure to check out the screens if rippled, oily menfolk tickle your fancy (or you could always look at this instead). [Via Evil Avatar] Update: The game should be out this Christmas, not Christmas 2007.
WWE champ JBL: Apple stock a buy
Here's an article we didn't expect to find this morning. WWE superstar JBL writes about the stock market for The Street. No, seriously. In last Saturday's article, he had some nice things to say about Apple (and AAPL). Having just read iCon, the unauthorized bio of Steve Jobs, JBL stated his admiration for Apple's leader, and said this about Apple stock:"Apple is a dream company. No debt, and over $10 per share in cash. Add to that the fact it is still a growth story and you have a stock that is cheap."If JBL tells you to buy a stock, buy it. You don't want a steel chair to the back of the head, do you?
New WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2007 screens
Coming to you like a flying sidekick are these fresh new screens for WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2007. Whether you're a fan of the piledriver or not, the aesthetics for this head-crunching title are undeniably appealing. THQ is saying it has "more realistic fighting" also, so maybe it'll reach out to other gamers who might not vibe with men in tight pants and funny masks.
