I wasn't planning to make another wrestling game this year and you certainly weren't expecting to play one, but the encouraging developments of Reach have re-written the script for both of us! Everything from the polished visuals to the refined gameplay has been crying out to fulfil its potential in a different kind of ring, and it would be foolhardy to ignore the call of my most enduring creation. It comes at a testing time though. Aside from making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, wrestling is once again suffering from a dip in form - and the demand for it is the lowest it's been since I've been contributing to the genre. However, that's my cue to turn a negative into a positive by offering THE contribution that turns it all around...

31st December 2007
An intensive weekend of content creation has edged the game a little closer to completion. The masks and painted faces have developed yet further - featuring dedicated new designs for Road Warrior Animal and Demolition's Smash, so that they no longer have to make do with existing faces. As promised, the costumes are there alongside them too - featuring an updated version of Demolition's studded leather, a dedicated brown Mankind costume, and some red-trimmed items that come in handy for The Legion Of Doom and Vader. Meanwhile, plenty of classics are in there and better than ever - such as Mr Perfect's black & blue "V" leotard, and all manner of colourful leggings such as those used above for my Edge caricature. I've had to make absolutely every possibility because variable colours no longer work under the game's new graphical system, but the upside to that extra work is that they all look exactly as they should! And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The real work of the weekend has been in churning out a good 3 moves per day instead of one or two. The latest ones being a decent "Drop Toe Hold", a more energetic "Samoan Drop", a beautiful "Snapmare", a painful looking "Neckbreaker", and a much improved "Death Valley Driver" and "DDT" - both of which benefit from sending the victim hurtling forwards on a sore neck like the Swanton Bomb! But it's not all graphical. Back on the programming side of things, a new way of editing relationships has had to be implemented. Since each character has a unique setting for every other character in the game, you now do it by accessing a special character selection process where you click on whoever you want and highlight them either red or green (or nothing at all) - representing enemies and friends respectively. In that manner, you can carefully set up a realistic network of who each wrestler is and isn't friendly with - and there's even a randomization option if you can't be bothered!

28th December 2007
The game has reached that rare benchmark of 100 screenshots, and what an encouraging screenshot it is! After a lazy week of festivities, I've eased the game back into production with some solid work on masks and painted faces. As you can see, the painted faces now have as much character as any other kind of face - not to mention all the usual details that come with high resolution. It meant they were twice as hard to put together, but the results are there to be enjoyed in the editor - featuring the best Sting, Goldust, and Great Muta caricatures yet. The masked creations aren't quite as revelatory, and simply tidy up what we had before instead of replacing it. The Mankind contraption, however, does benefit from wrapping all over the head like the Vader mask - so you no longer have to hide it behind thick hair. By the time you read this, a healthy dose of new costumes should have joined these faces to complete the characterization. That's what's holding me back right now. I've got 200 characters to make, and yet I can't make a single one until every item of clothing is in place and every move is there to be picked (otherwise I'd only have to make them again). Thankfully, the project is reaching the point where I'll soon have entire days to spend on just that...

21st December 2007
The moves continue to impress. The above silky smooth new "German Suplex" is now available, and it benefits from sending the victim hurtling head over heels Japanese style! The move can't be held, so it might as well do that. A much improved "Back Suplex" is also in there, and benefits from having more of a dropping motion than the stiff old one. I was rather hoping a new "Atomic Drop" would follow suit, but it hasn't been too faithful to what I made in 3D Studio MAX and looks merely adequate. The impact is sold better though - as the victim cradles their rear-end and sinks to the ground! Meanwhile, the rest of my time has been spent crunching numbers for the career mode. The Top 10 lists have made a triumphant return in their own right - allowing you to study more information in a more palatable way than the character selection rankings can muster. Stat fiends will also be pleased to know that there are more categories than ever. For a start, as in Reach, all of the other wrestlers have career records like yours - so it's possible to compare the experience and win rates of everybody as with any other statistic. And there's even a handful of dedicated lists for you - which chart your experience, success, and title reigns across every promotion you've worked for! Best of all, the title histories from Booking Encore are an official part of this game from the start - and they go even further by offering histories of EVERY title (including the lineage of bookers and cup winners!). You could spend all day browsing those pages once you're deep into an illustrious career. Speaking of statistics, a similar feature is that the career mode now has a "learning" system - whereby you slowly unlock moves, attacks, taunts, costumes, and even theme songs by encountering them in the ring! Upon creating your character you can choose whatever you want, but from then on you're stuck with those settings until you get out into the real world and see wrestlers living their lives differently. You're then reminded of what you've acquired in the weekly news ("You've learnt XX new moves since last week..."), and can take that as a prompt to go and update your move set. As restrictive as it sounds, I suspect the realism of evolving as an athlete will make it all worthwhile...

18th December 2007
The game is finally starting to look as good as it plays - as the arrival of some recognizable characters gives the action a familiar feel. As you can see, Hulk Hogan's red & yellow outfit is back and looking better than ever with its advanced detail. His face is even provided at a darker complexion if you'd prefer (although I think it's a tanning session too far myself!). Speaking of which, a dedicated Rock face is in there too - although the hairstyle still lets the caricature down. That's becoming true of a lot of characters. As good as the hairstyles are within themselves, very few of them are 100% faithful to what these guys require. One thing Rock fans can rejoice about, though, is a much improved "Rock Bottom" move animation! It does for him what the great new Stunner does for Austin, and gives a major character a major move to be proud of. Other costume revelations include the best Dusty Rhodes "polka dots" design yet and a more ambiguous Ultimate Warrior costume that replaces the eye patterns with inoffensive stars (which will probably extend to the face paint too). In case you're not aware, our intense friend is extremely litigious and I don't want too many lawsuits thrown my way when this becomes one of the most popular wrestling games of all time! Elsewhere, the range of attacks has pretty much caught up with Wrestling Encore thanks to all manner of kicks. There are a great new side kicks and high kicks in the standard attacks - as well as the best "Shuffle Kick", "Big Boot", and "Spinning Kick" power attacks yet. All of which make good use of the game's inch-perfect collision detection. And I'll leave you with news that the prospect of a character's portrait appearing on the video screen is now handled better than ever. For a start, whenever they appear the character's height is taken into consideration to make sure it's the cleanest crop possible. Plus the "pixelated" overlay actually makes it look like a video image rather than a plain one. Above all else, they now actually have a use beyond memorial shows because the screens occasionally show the portraits of the wrestlers involved in a match - especially during entrances and after victories...

15th December 2007
I appear to have invented a time machine. Whenever I look up from animating a move an entire morning has passed, and whenever I look up from programming a few storylines an entire afternoon has passed! I'd normally be thrilled at the ability to bend time and space, but it's not ideal when I'm racing to get this thing finished before the end of the year. The good news is that the work being done is of a very high quality. Yet more great moves have flooded into the game - the latest being a much improved "Inverted Atomic Drop", a regular "Backbreaker", and a superb "Stone Cold Stunner" (at last!). I studied AKI's fantastic version of that and pulled out all the stops to get mine looking similar. Unfortunately, a static shot doesn't do it justice so you'll have to hold out for some video. There's a steady flow of other attacks to pad out the possibilities too. A kicking version of the stomp is back in there, along with a quick double-axe handle ground attack for wrestlers that insist on using their hands for everything! There's also a much improved "Big Splash" at ground level. Meanwhile, there's a feminine slap and a great chest chop for attacking upstairs - both of which benefit from the more precise collision detection. Speaking of moves and attacks, another little twist which I'm pleased about is that the unusual things such as spitting and dust throwing are now available as grapple moves as well as stand alone attacks. That means you can squeeze them into someone's arsenal without them being used quite so often. In other news, the career side of things has been dominated by inter-promotional issues - and there are yet more advances there. For a start, it's now possible to have an industry-wide inter-promotional contest rather than a battle between 2 specific companies. In that situation, the one-on-one matches become 6-way brawls featuring representatives from each promotion (usually the champions). To top it off, there's even a great new promo which introduces them as such - complete with the camera turning to each participant and making them taunt when their name is announced! Some other inter-promotional issues also have more in common with Booking Encore than the original Wrestling Encore. For instance, foreign invasions can now lead to an inter-promotional as they did in that game - and it's also possible to take part in a 4-on-4 war after your solo match is over. Oh, and I forgot that the whole purpose of this post was to talk about yet more great new costumes - such as the star-spangled red & blue leotard that the Kurt Angle inspired character is wearing in the shot...

11th December 2007
Speaking of which, the first release of 2008 continues to shape up well. As you can see, a modified new pink & black Bret Hart costume is the latest to look better in high resolution. It comes in all pink and all black variations now as well, so you can mix and match to recreate your favourite of the 4 possibilities. Meanwhile, the steady flow of new moves includes a decent "Arm Bar" submission hold at the head, a much improved "Ankle Lock" at the legs, and a new "Side Slam" and "Side Backbreaker" amongst the standing moves - neither of which are perfect, but they are considerably better than what we had before. In other news, the backstage possibilities continue to catch up with Wrestling Encore. Team formation (and break-up) issues are in there now, along with similar conversations about management. The opportunity to play secondary roles also makes a welcome return, as you assess offers to assist at ringside, serve as referee, or work a second match that night. An interesting new twist there is that it's no good saying no to the booker when you haven't got creative control! This version's so realistic it'll make you cry...

8th December 2007
As you can see, yet another double-team move has been added. This "Double Lift" is triggered when wrestlers are standing on either side of a victim, and brings the possibilities to a healthy total of 5. Not bad considering there were ZERO in the original game! Elsewhere, the ground moves are almost up to speed with Wrestling Encore. A nice Crossface Clutch and a perfunctory "Bow & Arrow Hold" give you two more possibilities at the head. As you can tell from the shot, the costume possibilities are also starting to emulate the original games. A sharper version of Jushin Liger's red & white gear (all the better for being high resolution) is in there, and there's a similarly improved black & red kimono for The Great Sasuke. These masked characters once again have access to horns as headwear too, which helps to create the illusion of a mask. As for the career mode, the big news is that the countless meetings are slowly being added. All manner of "missions" are already in there (although they're more in tune with Reach than any previous wrestling game). Various opportunities to change your allegiance have also got the ball rolling when it comes to talking to your peers. The sophisticated new network of relationships really comes into play there. Every pleasant exchange with a character puts a friendship on file, whereas every disagreement creates another of many potential enemies. The days of having one preset friend and one preset enemy have given way to something amusingly complicated...

5th December 2007
The game continues to make strides in several key areas as the finished product finally starts to take shape. One such feature that I'm pleased to have out of the way is the new-look health meters. As you can see, it's the same old story of a name line and photo accompanying a green meter - but the presentation is a notch sharper this time. It's hard to do anything more ambitious when there could be anywhere between 2 and 10 such meters to display! However, the game is coping with the unpredictability surprisingly well. A sophisticated new system now sifts through the characters and only displays the ones that are relevant to you - removing those that have been eliminated or adding those that have just joined the action. And it constantly rearranges the layout upon doing so to ensure things always look their best. A nice new highlighting system is even used in tag matches to indicate the legal man. There's even an option setting for these meters which allows you to tone it down to "discreet" for large matches - thereby sticking strictly to the top row. In other news, the all-important promos have finally started to appear in the career mode. At the moment it's a direct import of what we had in Wrestling Encore, but new promos and new ways of incorporating them will follow in due time. I must say I'm not particularly inspired on that front though, so if there are any storylines you want to see please do request them. So far all I've got is a few new ones about tournaments! And I'll leave you the obligatory good news about moves. A much improved "Back Body Drop" and a great new "Spinebuster" are the latest ones to be added. The latter, in particular, benefits from turning automatically like a Powerslam rather than stiffly falling forwards like the old version...