THQ recently released an FAQ on the upcoming WWE ’12 answers a lot of questions and gives a bit of new information.
[quote]Q: When does the game release?
A: Novermeber 22nd
Q: What platforms will the game be on?
A: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii
Q: Will WWE ’12 have “Exit Themes?”
A: Yes, WWE ’12 will have exit themes for all Superstars/Divas who have them.
Q: Are the championships their realistic size this year?
A: Yes, all championships are scaled to their actual size in WWE ’12.
Q: Will WWE ’12 have curvetrons, sidetrons, and minitrons for all entrances in WWE ’12?
A: We’re doing our best to ensure that we have all proper “trons” in WWE ’12!
Q: Will we be able to struggle towards the ropes while we’re locked in a submission?
A: Yes! The new Breaking Point submission moves allow you to crawl towards the ropes in order to get a rope break call from the referee. You can crawl towards the ropes using the Left Analog Stick while in the middle of the submission. If you get into close proximity of the ropes, the referee will stop the hold and call for the rope break. You will be able to crawl towards the rope at the same time you are mashing buttons to break the hold manually. The defender does not have the ability to pull you away from the ropes while you are crawling. Also, it’s important to note that only Breaking Point submission moves that qualify for crawling will utilize the crawl functionality. Other Breaking Point Submission moves will simply be focused only on using the new Breaking Point mash meter.
Q: Can you use the Steel Cage door as a weapon this year?
A: This is a cool idea and one that we will entertain for the future of the Steel Cage match. We’ve spent a lot of time tuning the Steel Cage match when it comes to the competitiveness of the match such as balancing how long you stay down on the mat after attacks and how long it takes to climb the cage. We feel that this year’s Steel Cage match is a lot more competitive and fun because of these tweaks to the system we’ve made. As for new weapons, we’ll have to look into that for the future. Thanks for the feedback!
Q: Will there be Triple Threat Tag matches in WWE ’12? (2 vs 2 vs 2)
A: Unfortunately we do not have Triple Threat Tag matches this year. We’ve seen this feedback from a number of fans and we will continue to put this on our giant wishlist of new match types and features in the future. Thank you for bringing it up and letting us know how important it is to have this match type. We continue to analyze what match types our consumers are playing. Sometimes we may choose to eliminate certain match types because no one is playing them and the time spent to create it could be spent improving a different match type. We also continue to poll the community to find out which new match types you would like to see added next. We rely on you guys a great deal for this information and we can’t thank you enough for your dedication to the franchise and feedback you give us.
Q: Will there be Environmental Finishers this year? (i.e. Spear thru the ropes, AA in the Crowd, etc)
A: I would love to introduce some of these examples of environmental finishers in the future. We have a long list of new gameplay additions we want to add to the game each year and this is definitely one that is already on our list. We currently don’t support environment finishers in WWE ’12. The majority of our animation budget went to improving core gameplay, adding new moves, and supporting new Superstars on the roster. We think that budget was spent in the right places this year and we know you’ll feel the same way once you check out the game. But just know that we would love to explore adding some of these cool moments to future games. Thanks for the feedback.
Q: Will Tag team Double team moves be able to be interrupted like normal moves in WWE ’12?
A: Yes! In WWE ’12 an outside Superstar or Diva will be able to interrupt single moves (2 person moves) and double-team moves (3 person moves).
Q: Did you guys add any Shining Wizards back into the game this year?
A: When it comes to the addition of new moves our priority, first and foremost, is to capture/update the moves that are performed by the current WWE Superstars. If we have time and/or budget left to pick up other moves, moves performed by non-WWE professional wrestlers, we do so. Unfortunately, we were unable to capture any new Shining Wizards in WWE ’12. We are aware of the Shining Wizards popularity so we’ll do our best to bring this move back.
Q: Can you confirm that Divas can perform “Gut kicks” this year?
A: Yes, I can confirm that the Divas perform gut kicks. I tried this myself the other day just to make sure and I was able to successfully execute gut kicks by using diagonal directions on the Left Analog Stick and the strike buttons to pull these off.
Q: Will there be Weight Detection in WWE ’12? If not, any future plans to do so?
A: This is always a hot topic and frequently asked question. What we currently have in WWE ’12 is a weight detection system that will play different animation variations depending on the size of the offensive and defensive Superstar. For example, if a small Superstar is trying to lift a large Superstar, the animation that will play out for the move will be one where the small Superstar has a much slower lift animation and a faster drop animation to simulate the gravity of the larger Superstar and the effort it takes to lift him. And on the opposite spectrum, when a large Superstar lifts a small Superstar, the lift animation will play very fast and the drop animation will either be a fast or medium speed animation to simulate the ease of picking that Superstar up. These animation variations play by automatically detecting the size of the Superstars involved in the move and playing the appropriate animation. It’s important to note that these animation variations will only be found for lifting motions and not every type of animation seen in the game. This addition of variations in animations helps create a more life-like and realistic look to the game. The question we get often is whether or not we limit or put some sort of restriction on certain moves being performed from a small Superstar onto a large Superstar. And the answer to that is we don’t have this restriction in WWE ’12. We are trying to find a balance between realism and total freedom. Obviously it’s not realistic if a small Superstar can lift up a large Superstar, but we also don’t want to completely strip lifting moves out of a smaller Superstar’s moveset or completely cripple the funfactor of the game by playing failed lift animations all match. We have and will continue to explore other weight detection gameplay systems such as Day of Reckoning’s system in the future. This is a topic that we continue to explore and investigate what we believe will be the most fun approach to gameplay. We want to avoid adding too many mini-games and button mashing into combat, so we will continue to look for more elegant approaches that make the game feel realistic but at the same time not stripping away functionality and freedom.
Q: Have you improved the A.I. Of Managers?
A: Yes, work is currently being done to improve manager and interferer AI. In addition making tuning adjustments, we are working hard to fix a lot of the more bothersome AI related bugs that were included in the previous game.
Q: Did you add the ability to fight backstage, on the stage, interact with it, in Falls Count Anywhere Matches?
A: Unfortunately free roaming arenas will not make its return in WWE ’12. We’ve heard the numerous requests for this to make a comeback. We are continuing to explore the best design for this feature. We are very eager to introduce it again sometime in the very near future.
Q: Has the ladder sound glitch from last year been fixed? (the loud repeated ladder clash sounds)
A: Yes, our audio engineer identified the issue and has fixed this bug.
Q: Will Tables matches update with the right rules (if I counter a move through a table, my opp. Loses)
A: The Table match rules in WWE ’12 conform to those used in the actual WWE. The match is won by using an offensive maneuver to put your opponent through a table.
Q: Have Tag team moves added selling or been revamped this year?
A: Tag team moves can now broken up/interrupted by a third party opponent. As far as selling is concerned, yes, the defender on the receiving end of a double team move should sell the effects of it.
Q: Will WWE’12 Have different pin break-up animations besides just the one last year?
A: New break-up animations have not been implemented. This is one of those situations where we have to weigh the cost (work) against its impact on the game. We could most definitely include new pin break-up animations but doing so could potentially cost us the implementation of a new move. We therefore need to make a decision about what’s will offer the most bang for your buck: the addition of new moves or the implementation of new break-up animations? In this particular situation, we felt that the inclusion of new moves would be more appreciated by the fans.
Q: Are Replays still in WWE ’12?
A: Yes, replays are still in for WWE ’12. Not only can you pause the match at anytime to replay your last high spot, but the game also creates a montage of the top match moments via replay after the match is over. You can then choose to save any and all of these moments to later create a WWE Highlight Reel or use that footage for your own WWE Entrance Video.
Q: Will WWE ’12 have the SmackDown custom nameplates?
A: Unfortunately WWE ’12 will not have the custom Superstar nameplates for SmackDown. We didn’t have enough time to include these in the game this year. However, we will throw it on the list of presentation improvements for next year.
Q: Will referees, fans and announcers have new models this year similar to the superstars?
A: We have indeed created a new referee model and some new textures for the crowd models. You should be able to see a nice improvement to the way the crowd looks this year in WWE ’12. We’ve also updated the referee model and made him shorter so that he wasn’t as tall as the Superstars. As far as the announcers go, we continue to make sure they look accurate to what you see on WWE television. We were able to introduce Alberto Del Rio’s ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez this year and as far as the other announcers go, we only signficantly update them if it’s warranted by a major change to their look. Otherwise that modeling time is taken away from working on other cool models such as entrance attires and unlockable costumes. I think our fans would prefer us investing that modeling time into more exciting attires and models.
Q: Is the blood option still in the game?
A: Yes, blood is still in WWE ’12. It currently is an option you can turn On and Off. We also still support the First Blood option in Match Creator so you can create your own First Blood Match variations in the game. Although blood is not common on WWE television, we still push to make sure this can be an auxiliary option for gamers to enjoy if they wish to do so.
Q: Can we get Face Scan for our CAS (PS3 Eye Camera)?
A: Face Scan technology will not be in WWE ’12, however, we continue to entertain this idea each year. Currently it is a rather costly feature and we haven’t been able to get the quality level of the face scan that we think our fans will find suitable. We’ve conducted a number of tests in the past and we haven’t been happy with the results just yet. Before investing signifcant resources into this technology and feature, we want to make sure that the quality level is worth the investment. We also don’t believe a large number of consumers own cameras for their consoles, so supporting this costly feature would be an investment towards a much smaller audience. We understand that there are other faces to do face scaning by simply importing images, but it’s additional cost for a feature that hasn’t had a huge demand yet. But the bottomline is we think this will be a cool addition one year, we’re just not sure which year it will be introduced because of what challenges we currently face.
Q: Can the RKO be hit from any position, countering a diving moves, etc a la WWE All Stars?
A: This is a very cool, entertaining, and exciting part of WWE All-Stars. So much so, that the team is investigating the possibility of having this functionality in the future. So, unfortunately this is not possible in WWE ’12, but we are excited about the possibility of adding this type of functionality in future WWE games.
Q: If you get the Gameplay as you want it this year, will it remain unchanged with added features next year?
A: This is a difficult question to answer. We are always looking to make substantial improvements to gameplay. Now that we have new technology in the game, we have a lot more opportunities to push the limits of what we can do in gameplay. The team has a long list of improvements we want to make ranging from animation quality improvements, to new gameplay functionality, and implementating new gameplay strategies. So the short answer to this question is ‘no’. We are always going to look to build upon what was fun and what work while also looking to add new gameplay features that make the WWE experience as authentic and, most importantly, fun as possible.
Q: How is the hit detection this year?
A:The hit detection is much improved this year. We’ve spent a good amount of time fine tuning individual moves that were having hit detection issues in the past. We’ve also adjusted the rate at which the striking Superstars rotates towards the opposing Superstars when they are not facing each other exactly. This gives you better range and cuts down on the amount of missed strike attacks. Lastly, we’ve also adjusted the diving attack hit detection quite a bit as well. We have some new technology in the game for diving attacks so that the attacks look a bit more natural and sync up better when the two Superstars collide. While hit detection is always a work in progress and almost impossible to get perfect, we believe this year will see some substantial improvements.
Q: Will stats determine Grapple lunge speed again this year?
A: Attribute levels do not determine Grapple Reach speed in WWE ’12. Instead this speed is determined by the weight class of the Superstars. Each weight class has a corresponding Grapple Reach speed. As an example, Cruiserweights will have a faster reach speed than Heavyweights.
Q: Will we have the option to mute music playing during the menus as previous to ’11?
A: Yes, music can always be muted in the Options Menu.
Q: Can you make the Championship belts one default size, so they’re the same regardless of champ?
A: Yes, championship titles will be one default size so they are the same regardless of who holds it.
Q: Will there be a Commentary team for Smackdown this year? Cole, Mathews, Booker T?
A: The commentary team for WWE ’12 is Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler.
Q: Will there be new cutscenes in Universe Mode 2.0?
A: Yes! We’ve added new cut-scenes into Universe Mode 2.0 for better story-telling and more content. We will be detailing more information about the new additions and enhancements in Universe Mode 2.0 closer to WWE ’12 launch.
Q: Will there be new arenas in WWE ’12?
A: Yes, there will be new arenas in WWE ’12. Not only we will obviously update many of the arenas to match the WWE’s PPV schedule, but we are also introducing some new, never before seen arenas that will be unlockable in Road To WrestleMania.
Q: Will The Wii have Superstar threads in WWE ’12?
A: Unfortunately the Superstar Threads feature is not on the Wii version of WWE ’12. We will continue to look for ways to overcome technical hurdles and challenges to deliver the popular game features fans want on all consoles.
Q: Can you add a feature been added to alphabetize our CAWs?
A: This is a good idea.We will investigate doing this for next year’s product.
Q: Is the Skin Color Hue wheel back for CAWs or do we still have preset colors only?
A: Unfortunately the Skin Color Hue wheel is not back for Create-A-Superstar. We will address this feedback next year. We apologize for not being able to address this feedback for WWE ’12.
Q: Did you add new animations for Create an Entrance in WWE ’12?
A: Yes, new animations will be included in Create An Entrance.
Q: Do we still have Gender restrictions in WWE ’12?
A: Yes, WWE ’12 still uses gender restrictions to match what you seen on WWE television. This is a requirement for us to have in the game. Although we see several requests to lift this restriction from the game, this is not in our control. We apologize that we are unable to address this feedback.[/quote]
