Friday, September 17, 2010

Lesson for Next Year = Focus on Divas

Hey everyone, I know the information that's coming out from all of the different outlets is extremely difficult to decipher, and I apologize for that. The thing with me is that when I came here, it was pretty (actually very)late in the process. I was overseeing a mode of the game this year, but it was pretty complete by the time I got on board. Because of that, I didn't design the game during it's inception and I wasn't able to follow along with all of the mode's progress to get a 100% great feel for everything that is in our game this year. THIS is the single biggest reason why it is hard for me to answer the really detailed stuff, and why I often second-guess myself. Because the game doesn't feel like second-nature to me.

I'm very much excited to be on GamingRing.com's GR8 podcast tonight. I'll have the game right in front of me, so as long as you can wait while I'm searching, be prepared to get a lot of your questions answered.

Divas...what can I say? You guys clearly want our game to have a bigger Divas influence. I've expressed this to our team, and we'll see where it comes out in the future. Thanks for your interest in this subject matter, that's what the power of community can do for the development process of a game. You guys shouted from the rooftops about Divas, so it's going to force us to take a look and see what we can do.

It's a bit concerning me that some of you think I'm just a mouthpiece for THQ. Now, I've been around the block and know the tactics that are used to bait people, but c'mon -- it's getting a bit ridiculous. If I haven't proven to you that I'm doing this off my own time, then you'll never learn and it's a waste of my time to talk to you personally because you'll believe anything you want yourself to believe.

I hope everyone has a great weekend -- and enjoy the podcast tonight!

38 comments:

  1. I believe in you and while I was sadden to learn that no 6-divas this year, it is still great to know that someone is finally listening to us and voicing our diva concerns to the higher ups. Don't let Diva haters stop you guys from adding at least some focus to the divas for next year's game. I'm glad you guys are listening to us and can't wait to see what comes from this! :D!

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  2. So sad about there being no 6-Diva tag matches... Atleast next year you'll be focusing on them more, hopefully.

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  3. Hey Marcus ,thanks for the add on facebook,the thing is that the ones that think your a mouth piece are the ones that are children or teens ,not to many adults, Im out of that loop im 25 and I understand that everyone at thq is working hard to bring forward the best title possible in svr ,I appreciate what your doing here ,And Yes Im The Voice Of The SmackdownVsRaw community lol

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  4. I don't know, if there should be a renewed focus on divas; I, like a lot of people, were just disappointed to see Layla & Jillian (former Women's champions who were featured in SVR '09) missing in action from this year's game. It's the same disappointment as the Great Khali being left off. It's not like I'm going to play as him often, but having a more complete roster would be nice anyway.

    I would like to see Mickie James, Trish Stratus and Lita show up in future games as Diva alumni. Trish and Lita especially should be like The Rock and Stone Cold, staple characters we see every year on the roster.

    I appreciate the time you put into answering Twitter questions and doing podcasts. Lord knows I wouldn't be torturing myself like that, lol.

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  5. Don't let the loudest voices in the room (the pervs that get off on video game divas) sway you from making a quality game focused on traditional wrestling. When THQ heard the cry for more Diva action, we got bra/panties and the pillow fight matches like in 2k6. What resulted was an atrocious gaming experience appealing to the lowest common denominator.

    6-diva match? Sure. But let's not go crazy making next year's game focused largely on Divas. You'll lose more sales from the silent majority this way. Think of the best wrestling games of all time... were they Diva-fests? Hardly.

    Sure, it could use some tweaking, but I'd hate to see the game lose it's direction because of a contingent of internet people who have teenage crushes on Divas.

    That said, more legends. There are never enough legends. :)

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  6. OMG TY TY!!!!and please, please, please throw diva tag entrances in, IDK why there r none. hell throwin create a tag team entrance and not just mixed tag entrances but diva tag entrances as well... thx!!!

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  7. YES, PLZ FOCUS ON DIVAS MORE AND THX 4 ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE FOR US SO FAR.

    AS JAMES BROWN WOYLD SAY: "This is a man's world, this is a man's world
    But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl"

    -from the hit song its a man's man's world

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  8. Divas should be able to compete in all match-ups besides First Blood. No six-woman tags seems silly just like the lack of other match variations (Triple Threat tag team matches, 4-on-1, 5-on-1, 4-on-2, etc. etc.)

    Even if they don't occur as often or even exist in some cases, MORE match types/variations are always welcome!

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  9. thank you. me as well as a lot of people i know, get the svr games and solely use the divas, only forcing themselves to play as the men when an achievement/trophy calls for it. of course, on the flipside, i'm sure there are also many that never play as the divas, but all i'm after for is i guess "virtual equal rights"! six diva tags.. a diva rtwm.. maybe even a 10diva royal rumble in future?

    mouthpiece or not, it's great that there's somebody out there giving out information, answering questions, etc. 2011 isn't even out yet and i'm already looking forward to 2012.

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  10. Note to Marcus: Include a NXT obstacle course mini-game in SVR 2012. LOL!

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  11. Divas 2012?? jeeeeezzzz. I'd imagine many many people are going to skip SvR 2012 as a result.

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  12. Why focus on Divas instead of Legends especially since THQ gave legend fans a poor & rushed WWE LOW. Divas my ass!!!!

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  13. Ummm Marcus pal,buddy,amigo :P what the heck?:P Don't ruin everythin by focusin on divas,pleaaaaaaaaaase I know some ppl want more focus on divas BUT that's the minority and well as much as it's cool of u to address this situation,THE MAJORITY doesn't care abt divas heck i never played a divas match in my life,not even a pillow fight match!:P So what I'm basically sayin if u wanna focus on divas it's fine as long as u really focus on other aspects of SVR 12

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  14. I am glad that this is happening in the future.

    The diva roster has been very good overall for the past 3 years but it could always be better.

    Trish as a legend diva last year was amazing but Lita deserves the same thing one of these years. Like someone said, Trish and Lita should be the diva legends since they are the female Stone Cold and The Rock and if they get in every year they have legends then let the two most known divas in wwe history the respect they deserve.

    Again I am very glad that the makers are working to better the overall product. Please don't listen to the haters. :)

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  15. to the people above, without an education, there's a difference between focusing on divas (ya know, actually paying attention to them) and turning the game into a female fighting game - which will never happen and what diva fans don't want. all is wanted is equality.

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  16. Sure Marcus focus on divas if you like, but don't let the rest of the game suffer as a result.

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  17. i would probably enjoy these games even more if divas were removed completely

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  18. As some people already said, please don't think that all the wrestling community is interested in divas. I, for one, couldn't care less if they would be scrapped from entirely the game in favor of more legends or just more time spent in improving gameplay.

    As Kaledrina just said, equality is good, but PLEASE don't put too much effort in divas in spite of other areas of the game. I'll take a good weight detection system over the entire diva roster any day, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

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  19. Thanks Marcus. That gives me hope that next year Divas will get equal treatment. As long as I can remember, I've always created female and male CAWs. Not having the ability to use them in 3on3 matches really do hurt but I am glad they are able to do more different match types.

    2010 may have brought upon the loss of Intergender matches, it did give us Extreme Rules, Ladder, and Cage matches. With 2011 giving us Hell in the Cell, I am definitely looking forward to 2012 and hoping we do get the ability to use the women in every match type possible.

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  20. Children need to get a grip.

    Nobody (sensible) wants Smackdown vs Raw: Diva Edition. What the people clamoring for the Diva focus want (including me) is for them to not be constantly and arbitrarily given the short end of the stick when it comes to gameplay. It is RIDICULOUS that it was acceptable for someone to have decided in the game's development that Graphics > Gameplay Options and rule the Divas out of 6-person matches, especially since a) That's all they ever seem to do these days in WWE and b) when we, apparently, have such a large part of the player base that doesn't care either way/vehemently opposes even including the women. All this does is needlessly handicap the people that DO care and do play with them, whether they be the ready-made Divas or female CAWs.

    And, because people are asking for them to be given the option to play in match types that are ALREADY THERE, it's NOT taking anything away from anything else! And if you don't care, it doesn't even affect you, why be negative? It probably takes more work to EXCLUDE them.

    Marcus, thank you for the explanation and I hope next year sees some real progress. I'm still excited about this year's game.

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  21. You guys have to realize there are a lot of girls who play SvR so please no sexist remarks.And please include Diva Tag Titles next year for us people who keep all diva rosters in the game.

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  22. Please no!!! Unless you put in Puroresu TRUE Womens Wrestlers. Not those Softcore Porn sticks. No true wrestling fans take them seriously. Please focus on something important, like improving gameplay. Not wasting your time on those Anorexic Sticks. Not sexist, as there are many great Women Wrestlers. Just one in WWE. Natalya.

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  23. Yeah! Thank you Marcus! I hope you guys work a lot of the divas! Sometimes, I wish there would be a game only on the divas, cause I only buy the games to play the divas. I hope 6 man matches would be in since I love playing them. And mayble add an exclusive divas match.

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  24. I would love for divas to be completely eliminated from the SvR. Thanks Marcus, I know you will listen since you say THQ listens to the fans. :)

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  25. I too think that the loudest voice is sounding like the majority when that is not the case. I am wondering if you have the same tools as EA Sports to actually see what people are using in their game. They are able to say "Only 23% of people use this feature". Can you do that?

    My theory is that the people crying about divas will make up a very small amount of the people actually playing this game. I have had every SVR game since the very first one and before that I have owned every WWF/E game ever made as well as all of the WCW and most Japanese imports. In my over 20 years of playing wrestling games, I have never played a diva vs diva match unless it was part of a career mode and I was forced to do it. I have also never seen any friend or relative play a diva match. I would much rather see you focus on managers than divas. I am really hoping you are smart enough to know that you are hearing from a disproportionate amount of fans who like divas. People who don't care about divas aren't going to waste their chance to speak to a dev by telling them "Hey by the way, I could care less about divas".

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  26. To the above commenters nobody is asking for an-all Divas edition of the game, we just want better focus on the women. I think you'll find all us Diva fans want really are just little things

    Thankyou Marcus for listening to us Diva fans! I think mainly what I want for the Divas next year is for 6-person matches to be fixed so we can play as Divas in those matches - this is a must in my opinion! And also to be able to play 6 person mixed tags such as male/male/female vs male/male/female and female/female/male vs female/female/male and a Divas Royal Rumble match would be great too.

    I'd also like to see a larger Divas roster and a Diva DLC pack for Divas that don't make the game, and alternate attire. And another pack for Diva legends (Trish Stratus, Lita, Chyna (long-shot I know but that would be awesome), Sable, Madusa/Alundra Blayze, Sherri Martel could be possibilities). I also like the idea I read on a forum recently about putting in a Divas tag team title in the game, obviously it won't be representative of real life as that title doesn't exist but neither does the Champion of Champions title. It would give us Diva fans more than just the Unified Women's title to work with next year

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  27. Marcus please don't listen to these Diva haters. Just because they are not used by the majority does not mean Divas are not used at all. Us diva fans want to use the divas and It's not fair that they get the short end of the stick every single game! We are not asking THQ to make an all Diva game or DIVAS to be the main focus of the game. We are asking them to give the divas MORE focus than what they get.

    It's ridiculos that *like someone said above me* the game is focusing on Graphics > Gameplay. Divas deserve to be in every match type *except first blood* -- It's pretty unfair that people like the poster above thinks that THQ shouldn't focus on divas.

    AGAIN we are not asking for a full focus on divas or the game to suffer for it. We just want the divas to have somewhat equal ground as the superstars do. It's all. Not an all diva game.

    So please Marcus don't let these people guide you away from giving the divas more focus.

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  28. Just remember that the people giving you guys the most crap are, as someone else mentioned, probably not even adults.

    I've been a critic of THQ (and the industry in general in recent years) for a lack of responsiveness to their hard core customer base in the past, but you guys are doing an INSANELY good job this year, and I will tell anyone who asks that.

    I think it's great development will look at Divas for 2012. Not just because it's a relavant aspect of the game, but also because I'm sure there are plenty of female gamers who buy these games and don't feel like their experience is as feature complete or rich as male players.

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  29. Divas.......LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!

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  30. The poster above me must be from /wooo/.
    Anywhoo, I care about the Divas and I don't want them to suck anymore, so yay. :^}

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  31. Divas, what a waste of space unless it's the likes of Wendi Richter, Sensational Sherri, Jumping Bomb Angels, Luna Vachon, Elizabeth etc.

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  32. Please don't listen to the vocal minority. 90% of people don't use divas. At all. Focus on something important.

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  33. Again the haters are just sad..

    They just don't want any aspect of the game to be improved if it helps the divas. It makes no sense since it wouldn't take hardly any effort to just tweak some things. And for the harder stuff then too bad the divas only get like < 5% of the focus which is horrible. How about you give them like 10% of the focus which would for sure greatly increase the divas in the game.

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  34. Please don't listen to these Divas haters. Please put 6 divas match and lumberjack match. I would also love to see Trish and Lita in the next video game as WWE Alumni. Another things that I want in the next game is BACKSTAGE INTERCONNECTIVITY with THE RING ARENA, EXIT THEME. And make sure every diva wear their WRESTLING ATTIRE. I'm very dissapointed with The Bellas' costume this year. Thanks.

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  35. All I want for divas are:
    - A decent roster, including current stars which arn't necessarily pushed in the company, but are popular none the less
    - Decent attires - ACTUAL WRESTLING ATTIRES and no heels!
    - CORRECT entrances - don't recycle the old entrances
    - A few Alumni/Legends - I don't seem to be able to get rid of them, so us Diva fans may as well get something out of this roster section too
    - The ability for women to compete in all matches. not having first blood isn't much to me - But the intergender thing it. Maybe a few matches should be compatable with intergender rules? Rather than mixed tag :). Say the basic ones such as Singles, Tag, Triple Threat & Fatal 4way (after all, the rules are editable

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  36. I wouldn't care if a single Diva made the final roster. I don't watch WWE for them, so I don't want a major focus on them in my games.

    I'll use them only if a few acheivements are related. I can't believe how much whinging there has been this year becuase people like Layla and Jillian missed the roster.

    I know the SvR community can be a picky bunch, but to care this much about this Divas is a waste of everybodys time invloved.

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  37. No No! Focus on the actual gameplay and match types you retards! Look on smackdownvsraw.com/forums. Look for a topic started by theittalianbull. He has the best ideas I've seen. Realistic ones too.

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