SmackDown! vs RAW 2007: Exclusive interview
We get the full SmackDown! lowdown as the classic grapple game goes next-gen
How does the fighting within the crowd aspect work?
There's no wandering through the crowd or anything like that but you can clothesline people over the barrier. Once you're in this area, there are all sorts of different things you can do.
The crowd members actually hand you weapons, whether it's a title belt a fan brought to the event, an umbrella, a walking stick or a crutch. And fans will be patting you on the back, popcorn will go flying, there's a lot of cool stuff like that.
We also have other areas where you can climb and do some crazy ECW-style moves. You can even break fluorescent light bulbs over people's heads, things that have never been seen in a WWE game before.
Which "legends" will be included in the game?
We're not revealing that just yet, although we'll have an all-new legends roster. Personally, I'm a big fan of Hulk Hogan. He's been in the past games, so, of course, I'd like to see him back. I'm also a big fan of Bret Hart, he's had some really good matches in the past. And also the Hart Foundation would be really cool as well, so it'd be great to have Jim Neidhart in there as well.
It's the eighth game in the series. Do you find it increasingly hard each year to think of new ideas?
Absolutely not. It's so funny because we have an enormous wish list. Whenever anyone on the creative team thinks of something, we just put it on the list. We maybe get to include 5% or 10% from the wish list in each new game and they just carry over. So if we can't do something this year, we try and do it the next year. It sounds funny but that's the one thing we don't struggle with - we never have a shortage of ideas.
So you've already got plans for what you'd like to include in SmackDown! vs RAW 2008?
Oh yes, most definitely.
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