Over the Lag / Limit

I'm extremely in to what Jack Swagger is doing on WWE programming as of late -- he's truly a refreshing heel that the fans consistently boo. I do wonder however, what his match will be like with Big Show on Sunday's "Over the Limit" PPV... Speaking of the PPV, have we seen the last of Batista? Only time will tell. I bet the match of the night will be CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio though -- watch!

This week was a rough one. I've never been off of this continent before, so I really didn't know how my trip to Japan last week would truly effect me. Well, I found out, and I'm just NOW feeling normal again (says the guy who is up at 1AM...). The game is really starting to come together. Working with an external developer is unlike any experience I've ever had, so it was important for me to go over to Japan to see the other side of things as I get acclimated to this new environment. I figured out the THQ side of things, but I really didn't get everything as a whole until I went over to Yuke's. Now I'm pretty happy with the knowledge I received while I was out there.

I know a lot of you want to know information about SvR '11, but please be patient. In this business, there are such things as timelines. We, the dev team, have no control over this. We're a public company, that has a ton of stakeholders, it's a much bigger thing than myself, so I'm never at liberty to spill the beans on things until I'm allowed. What I can do is take suggestions, and you guys have really given us a TON this year -- thanks for that.

We got our E3 schedule today, and I'm going to refrain from doing interviews this year. I'm happy with this, considering I came on late in the project, and the rest of the team would do the game more justice. I will be at E3 though, and I'm very serious about that community meetup. We just hired our new Community Manager, and I'm EXTREMELY excited about him coming on board. He's incredibly experienced, and shares the same passion for community engagement like I do. BTW -- I'm watching Smackdown (recorded) at the moment, and Kelly Kelly has really stepped it up a notch in the wrestling department (don't laugh at me).

Before I stop this random, late night post, I wanted to address something that I'm seeing pop up in the community a lot. Expectations. I can't say this enough, but apparently some out there are still not under the impression that we make a game every single year. I'm not saying this as an excuse, so please don't ASSUME that. What I'm saying is do the math. Your suggestions are ALL valid, we have a limited time from one game to the next to do things. Take a look at SvR '10 for instance. Before I got here I was AMAZED at the amount of "stuff" they were able to fit in the game. My experience with annual sports titles is pretty vast, and I can say that annual titles NEVER get as much in as SvR '10 did. But seriously, manage your expectations. Help us make a great game from year to year by giving us constructive suggestions, and understand what we can and can't do. We want to do EVERYTHING, but it will just take longer than a lot of you would expect -- no worries, we'll get there! I can't say enough how talented our design team is. We all share a huge passion for the wrestling genre, and strive to make nothing but ultimate wrestling game every single year.

Guys, I'm being open and honest to all of you. Don't take my words and scramble them please. The only reason why I say that is because I've seen it happen on boards.

I'm pretty excited for this weekend. I've got Red Dead Redemption to play (it's so dope guys), UEFA Champions League final, then a night out with my wife on Saturday night, then a LA Galaxy game on Sunday followed by the recording of "Over the Limit".

Enjoy your weekend everyone, and let me know what you think of "Over the Limit"!

Long Time, I Know!

I know it's been far too long since I've posted here, so let me take you through the last three weeks of my life...

THQ has been fantastic so far. My first day was about three weeks ago, and the team has accepted me with open arms. They're really passionate about what they do, and are complete wrestling fanatics (which should really make alot of you feel good)!

The first couple of days at the office were like run together for me. There was the getting to and from, which equals traffic, and to avoid it, I found myself leaving at around 7 AM every day, and leaving at 6:30 -- which made the driving pretty tolerable.

I've been thrown right into it at THQ -- and I'm also trying to impact other parts of the company as well, in particular, their community efforts. As most of you know, THQ has a co-developer, Yukes working on the SvR franchise. Working with them has been quite a learning experience, but a welcome one. I love the respect the Japanese developer shows, and their knowledge and passion for a 10+ year franchise is pretty clear.

My wife and I are LOVING the food here. We're vegetarians, and LA really offers us alot of options. Abbots pizza, Mao's Chinese Kitchen, Seed, and the traditional Chipotle have been recent stops for us.

We also found a place, and are now living in Venice, CA which is our type of neighborhood. We really dig the laid back vibe here.

The cable company came, and hooked up our TV -- FINALLY I get my TV again, which I've missed since we've been in temporary housing. I was disappointed that our new place didn't allow DirecTV, because I really wanted the NFL Sunday Ticket so I could watch my Dallas Cowboys. Instead, I have the MLB Extra Innings package, and have my first DVR -- what an experience.

I'm finding myself really getting in to the Dodgers here. I'm a huge baseball fan, and I don't feel like I'm cheating on my Indians since the Dodgers are a NL team.

What do you guys thing of wrestling on the tube so far? I loved the way HBK retired, and will remember it forever. I'm glad NXT is getting around to telling us, the viewers, how the competition plays out, and Smackdown continues to have excellent matches! TNA had a great ladder match last week between Angle and Anderson, and Orlando Jordan has been one of the most confusing characters I've ever seen in wrestling.

I can't comment too much on the game at this point, but we're taking a trip to Japan in May to spend some quality time with Yukes. This will be my first trip out off of the continent, but my wife is going with me, so it makes me feel good about it.

Are any of you going to E3? I keep forgetting it's in my backyard now, so I hope to see alot of you there -- we have some good stuff to show!

Anyway, I'll be posting more often, because we got a brand new laptop -- our first Mac!

Thanks for the patience, and you should see me on the different boards very soon!