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Wrestling101 readers, hang your heads in black burning shame. After my pleas last month for some Easter Eggs, I was shocked…No…DISGUSTED to find that not one person thought enough of me to send me some chocolate. I provide all this fantastic wrestling game news for your every month of the year, and you can’t even be bothered to put in the effort to send me one measly little Cadbury’s Cream Egg? Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother. Oh wait, yes I do. The big fat pay checks from Kam.
Is it really May already? Of course it is, my 50p Cliff Richard calendar would never lie to me. That means that there’s a whole lotta movin’ and shakin’ going on, wrestling game wise. So hey, let’s no beat about the bush any longer, and get right to the news.
Without a doubt, the biggest piece of news in the past month has to do with the launch of Total Extreme Warfare, Adam Ryland’s newest wrestling sim. Of course, long time readers will know that shockwaves were sent around the wrestling game community when Adam announced that we would need to pay for the game, compared to his previous work which was all available for free download. Anyway, the game was launched last month (as I correctly reported in the April Update. If you want your news accurate, this is the place to be folks) and in a recent interview with The Interactive Interview, Adam Ryland claimed that sales “have been very good”. He also stated in the course of the interview that as of right now, no one had been able to successfully “crack” the game and play the full version without paying for it. Another juicy bit of news arose from the interview when Adam claimed that he wanted to make a follow up game to TEW, but would leave it at least a year so that everyone who bought Total Extreme Warfare gets their money’s worth. Aaw, bless him.
Of course, it’s not all plain sailing for Adam. Once TEW was released, his job wasn’t finished. Early version of the game featured numerous problems, which prompted a patch to fix it. Then another patch. Then another. And another. And five more patches. Yes, so far Total Extreme Warfare has nine patches to correct bugs, errors and all kinds of niggles that prevent the game from being completely playable. I just wonder how much sales will be hurt due to the release of the nine patches, because it doesn’t exactly win you with confidence to find out that there are that many mistakes in the game.
Anyway, I’ll make the assumption that you’re puzzled by the fact that the good people here at Wrestling101 haven’t reviewed the game yet. Well, when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of you and “umption”. Or something like that. Well, the truth is that Adam’s colleagues at .400 Software Studios have gotten in touch with yours truly, and are looking to hook me up with a copy of the game to review. Due to the fact that I’m so poor than Romanian kids tease me, I don’t have the finances to splash out of a game I can’t return (It makes me long for GAME’s 10 Day Return policy) so I’ll need to wait patiently to see if Adam’s buddies get back in touch. Don’t worry folks, sooner or later there will be a TEW review here, and until then, you can try the game out for yourselves for the delightful cost of nothing. .400 Software Studios have a free 24 hour trial version of Total Extreme Warfare to download, so give it a test drive and see if you like it. The trial can be downloaded from 400softwarestudios.com.
For PS2 owners, a very interesting situation developed in April. Many retailers in America proclaimed that they were taking pre-orders for a new title with the name “Smackdown! World Life”, which happens to be the catchphrase of WWE superstar John Cena. Needless to say, the Internet went crazy. Super duper crazy. People declared the game officially announced, and the rumours were flying around like nobody’s business. That is, until THQ made a statement dispelling these rumours. Apparently, even the staff at THQ are just referring to the game as Smackdown!6, and the title “Word Life” was almost definitely made up by shops so that they could start taking pre-orders. There was a whole lot confusion over the ordeal, and if there’s anyone still in the dark, let me clear things up for you: The sixth Smackdown! game has not been confirmed as being called Smackdown! Word Life. Thank you. You can expect the game to hit stores in late 2004, but even that’s not confirmed, it’s just an educated guess.
Remember Def Jam Vendetta? It was the wrestling game that used rappers as playable characters. While it wasn’t the best use of the much-loved AKI engine, it was a fun little title, albeit with zero replayability. So it was interesting to see that EA have announced that Def Jam Vendetta II: Fight For New York will be comin’ atchya some time in the future. I’ll give you a minute here to take out your frustrations when you realise that this means I’ll be making all kinds of wacky jokes about how rap music is one of my least favourite genres, and rap slang throughout the review of the game. Anyway, the most surprising thing about DJV2 has to be the fact that it’s no longer a wrestling game, but a mixed martial arts game. It’ll be based more on street fighting (and by that I don’t mean that there’s going to be Dragon Punches and Sonic Booms) than wrestling, and for the second time, EA have decided to scrap the actual ring from their game, after the “success” that was WCW Backstage Assault. Some members of the roster have already been announced, and rap fans will be dancing in their Fubu Gear (it’s begun…) to know that household names such as Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and Carmen Elektra are included. The game is due out towards the end of the year, although this may change.
Unfortunatly, there’s not much more to tell you about Showdown: Legends Of Wrestling, WWE Day Of Reckoning or WWX: Rumble Rose. With the exception of LOW, which must be very close to completion by now, the other titles still have a while before they’re due for release, so expect more gossip to appear closer to their launch.
Anyway, it’s a welcome return for the release schedule! Here it is, try not to get too excited:
- Showdown: Legends Of Wrestling (PS2, Xbox)- 22/6/04
- Def Jam Vendetta II: Fight For New York (PS2)- 30/10/04
- WWE Day Of Reckoning (Gamecube)- ??/09/04
- WWX: Rumble Rose (PS2)- 23/11/04
And remember, buying your wrestling games from the Wrestling101 Video Games Store is what women look for in a man. Don’t rob yourself of a whole lot of lovin’, get over to the store pronto.
That’s us for another month, and boy oh boy, would you look at that update? It’s HUGE! That’s what we like, isn’t it? The Winter dead time is over, and the news is coming thick and fast. So you’d be a complete and utter idiot not to keep checking Wrestling101’s Video Game section over the next month. I’ll see you next time in June, where the weather will be so hot that I might just do the next monthly update column in the nude. That’s something to keep on your mind next time you visit W101. Toodles.
Russ