Polygon highlights new details from 2k producer

[UnderTaker1784]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/12/5802590/wwe-2k15-preview-e3-2014

new details here... can someome copy and paste the entire arcticle here as im on a tablet and its a pain in the wahhhh zoooo zoooo..... !!!!!!!!

[gbx3]

"When 2K Sports does motion capture for its WWE game, it does so with a full, regulation, touring ring provided by the wrestling circuit. Turnbuckles, ropes, steps, even those dastardly kendo sticks hidden underneath. The WWE sends an official ring setter-upper to make sure it’s all regulation whenever they’re filming.

Yes, Mark Little, WWE 2K15's executive producer, has jumped off of the top rope.

"It hurts like a —" Little said, catching himself before saying what I figured to be a 12-letter word. "I jumped off onto one of our thin crash pads and still hurt myself. It hurts. It really hurts."

Motion capture is just one realm in which 2K Sports is promising a much more polished gem when this game arrives in late October. Last year, the explosion of Planet THQ sent everything it owned hurtling through space; the team at Visual Concepts, 2K Sports' in-house studio, woke up one morning with a huge asteroid called WWE in its back yard, wondering what to do with it.

So last year wasn't really the time for overhauls. Work already had begun on the 2013 edition of the game when THQ cratered in January. After acquiring the license and the game, 2K's influence was seen mostly in its marketing, built largely by Yuke's Future Media Creators, which has made WWE video games going back to 2000.

"Obviously we were all very happy to be able to get the license, be a part of the WWE universe, bring on a new team, and still get a game done in the midst of what was an absolute disaster," Little said. "So the fact we were able to get WWE 2K14 done is a testament to everybody who was involved in that project."

But it was still a game that showed a lot of age and a lack of polish in its core gameplay and visuals, and commentary. This is where Visual Concepts comes in. In its first full year managing the game — and the series' debut on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One — Yuke's still is a full partner in development, but Little vows that WWE 2K15 will show the polish and attention to detail that have made the NBA 2K series so highly regarded.

That's where the wrestling ring comes in. Little says WWE 2K15 will feature at least five times the animations of any previous WWE title and while that's something developers across all sports titles like to tout, its benefit should be recognizable in this one. WWE 2K has suffered from a lot of popping in and out of animations, some rather brutal transitory movements, and very long animations that instead of being interruptible by the player, appear to be sped up.

It should be noted here I did not see any gameplay in what was basically a table-setting discussion at E3 2014 with Little. These are his assurances, not my impressions. Still, 2K's basketball title is well known for having animations upon animations that make its brand of basketball fluid and balletic, and give players a greater sense of control over the players. That's what WWE 2K15 is going for.

Supporting that will be full head and body scans for basically every wrestler, and I was shown comparisons of John Cena in WWE 2K14 and what he looks like after the scan. Straight away I noticed Cena now has creased lower eyelids, which does a lot for how you judge the realism of his look. I was shown some new facial expressions, also taken with the head scan — so this was Cena himself making the faces. The lighting systems used on the NBA 2K series also will help out, removing the plastic sheen bare skin had in the past. Little said the new lighting and rendering systems will be a part of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions as well as the next-generation version.

In gameplay, Little didn't get into specifics but laid down the game's new goal: "We're not a fighting game featuring WWE superstars." Visual Concepts wants matches to have a pacing similar to that of a real WWE event. Little concedes the basic impossibility of replicating something scripted, but has it as a goal anyway, just to give matches less of a free-for-all tone.Bodies also will be better proportioned — Little showed me Cameron, one of the Divas and a star of their reality show. Cameron was based on a more generic female body type inWWE 2K14; her curves are more accurate in the latest modeling. Clothing and other textures also are improved under better lighting, especially Cena's trademark jorts.

"At no point do I think we'll get it to be quite the same as a broadcast, just because of the scripted nature of the event, especially between two humans," he said. "The choreogrpahy that goes on in a match in the WWE is a very different thing than what we'll be able to replicate. But what we will be able to bring to life is that opportunity to have that experience. So if you want to use the ring psychology of a wrestler, the match will play out like a normal wrestling match should."

I asked if this meant the toolkit players have used to construct rivalries, storylines, run-ins and other staples of televised pro wrestling also would get an overhaul. The toolset is very deep, but users are thrown into its deep end with a balky tutorial and a laborious assembly process. Little wasn't commenting on that feature today, but said, "I think you should expect us to build upon what's been there. Some of it's going to be rethought, specifically inside the context of a match, we're going to rethink of a lot."

The roster reveal is a huge marketing campaign for 2K Sports, so there was no way I was getting much more than a peek at E3. However, Bray Wyatt will make his debut in this series (though the man who portrays him appeared as Husky Harris in WWE '12, and be joined by mainstays like Cena and Hulk Hogan, as well as another star on the rise, Roman Reigns.

Finally, Visual Concepts is going to bring its best-in-class commentary to bear on WWE. No other sports studio does presentation like Visual Concepts, so when they say they're improving the presentation, it rates plenty of trust that they are. Announcers Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler have now spent about 35 hours in the booth recording new lines — most of them together. I heard an introductory clip in which they bantered about The Undertaker and it sounded a lot more natural. Lawler, recorded separately, had a tendency to overact as himself and here he is what he's supposed to be on the show — the analyst, chiming in with his take on whatever Cole has just described.

My sense of it is that Visual Concepts is very much in charge of this project, with Yuke's still very much needed to implement the polish and the changes and improvements 2K is feeding them. "It's a partnership between the two of us," Little said. "In a lot of areas in the game, yes, we're the one fronting that up. But it's still very much a partnership.

"Yuke's has a very long history of making this game, and some people would tell you it's good and bad, but they have a lot of expertise and knowledge about making WWE wrestling games," he said. "My job is to find a way to pull the best out of both groups.""

Source: http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/12/5802590/wwe-2k15-preview-e3-2014

Here you go

[UnderTaker1784]

Ok yep thanks.... what are your thoughts on everything so far from each article.....?

[Yin Yang Bought In]

That sounds pretty good. I'm a fan of NBA 2k and if they can get a wwe game that has the same presentation and fluidness I'm all in.

[the King Lives]

yeah i agree it's sounding like the game is definitely in the right direction.  I gave 2k14 a pass since 2k didn't want to release it in the first place anyway.  WWE Pressured them to do it..

[UndertakerWLF]

This is lookng like it is going in the right direction

[best in the world]

From what I can surmise, WWE 2K15 will be everything we fans hoped 2K14 was going to be.  This looks very promising for the future of 2K and specifically the WWE game franchise.  The new title will be 2K's first full year of development and they are already implementing very big changes, which is great.  I'm glad that graphics and announcing were the two major overhauls because WWE games have needed those two upgrades the most.  The gameplay is already very solid and if it is expanded upon, could quite possibly be the best WWE game to date.  After seeing all of these bits of released information, I am actually excited for how WWE 2K15 will turn out.  I also hope another big priority will be fixing all of the glitches and freezing throughout the game especially in WWE Universe mode.  If they can work out the mechanics of the game and fix all of the glitches, this will no doubt be the best WWE game in quite awhile.....

Edited June 13, 2014 by best in the world

[the King Lives]

^yeah not to mention 2K never wanted to release 2k14 anyway.  I'd be willing to bet if it was 2k's choice we wouldn't have ended up with a 30 years of mania mode either.  I don't really see that as 2K's style to over shadow the franchise with a plethora of legends.  They were nice and all but i prefer the game be up to standards, as much as they can get within a year.

[best in the world]

@jeffsdomain:  Yeah, WWE are greedy and cash poor these days which is why 2K14 was released.  Imagine how great WWE 2K15 would have been if 2K14 had not been released and 2K had all of that time to concentrate on this year's game!  I actually thought one of the saving graces for 2K14 was 30 Years of WrestleMania mode.  I'll admit, the first time I saw that in-game graphics promo with the Macho Man from WrestleMania 5 I marked out!  I liked 30 Years of WrestleMania simply because we got to re-live and play all the big matches.  I'm just wondering what else 2K can do to top that?  I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.....

[the King Lives]

yeah same here when i saw the razor/hbk promo lol

[AgeofSandow]

Liked the mode too, but they got so many attired wrong. That WM 28 Jericho one LMAO

[the King Lives]

^Oh god.. what the hell were they thinking? And that cm punk entrance i absolutely hated lol

[best in the world]

I also hated how HBK had the wrong look for his WM XIX match against Jericho.  He still had the Attitude Era look with longer hair which was off for his WM 19 match.  Hopefully those are all details that 2K will be paying attention to when doing a new mode in 2K15.

[the King Lives]

I just saw a new post by jared2k the new community manager regarding models being updated even the ones that were spot on.  And that both Current and next gen is getting an update.  I don't know why but for some reason i can't paste or quote messages on here but i posted it in the revealed superstars thread

[best in the world]

It looks like 2K must be trying to go out all the way this year.  Which is cool, because THQ kept taking the lazy way out each year.  I can't wait to see what the first screens and videos look like......

[the King Lives]

@Bestintheworld yeah.. and thanks for not being like #RavenTurnsHeel on the 2k forums and saying "Oh 360/ps3 is going to hold the series back because it was horrible because THQ ruined it and even though 2K has the license i still think THQ is going to ruin it" LOL The guy is such a joke.. i mean he's saying that the game should exclusively be on next gen just because he thinks its going to be a repeat of last gen vs PS2.. The thing is, even if i had a PS4 which i won't have until around 2016, I still wouldn't buy 2k15 for next gen basically because i feel that they only put out the xb1/ps4 because people kept pestering for a new system.  I really don't see anything wrong with the current/last gen or whatever you call it of systems.  Games still look good to me and newer isn't always better.  Alot of people tend to forget about the RROD/YLOD issues on the PS3/360 lol and that's one main reason i don't plan on upgrading any time soon.. Okay Rant over.. but yeah i def think that 2K is going way out and doing the right thing

[AgeofSandow]

@Bestintheworld yeah.. and thanks for not being like #RavenTurnsHeel on the 2k forums and saying "Oh 360/ps3 is going to hold the series back because it was horrible because THQ ruined it and even though 2K has the license i still think THQ is going to ruin it" LOL The guy is such a joke.. i mean he's saying that the game should exclusively be on next gen just because he thinks its going to be a repeat of last gen vs PS2.. The thing is, even if i had a PS4 which i won't have until around 2016, I still wouldn't buy 2k15 for next gen basically because i feel that they only put out the xb1/ps4 because people kept pestering for a new system.  I really don't see anything wrong with the current/last gen or whatever you call it of systems.  Games still look good to me and newer isn't always better.  Alot of people tend to forget about the RROD/YLOD issues on the PS3/360 lol and that's one main reason i don't plan on upgrading any time soon.. Okay Rant over.. but yeah i def think that 2K is going way out and doing the right thing

I hate that Sony sold out and forced people to pay to play online. That was really why I chose PS3, and Sony tried hiding it at e3(I think you remember). Won't switch for a while. Plus, current gens have, as you said, plenty of power.

[best in the world]

@jeffsdomain:  Why would a game being on older consoles hold the series back?  That doesn't even make sense!  I have the mindset to never buy the newer consoles until the bugs are worked out of them.  PS4 & Xbox One have their issues and buying 2K15 on the new systems would be quite pointless especially if the PS3/360 versions are equally as good.  Most likely I will wait until the PS4 has all the issues worked out and Sony releases a newer PS4 slim update to even buy a next gen system.  I tried Xbox 360 and didn't like it especially when you are forced to buy an Xbox Gold account just to be able to stream TV services or play online.  Sony is more fan friendly than Microsoft, which is why I am a Sony gamer.

 

@AgeofSandow:  Is that with the PS4?  I have the PS3 Super Slim and I've never paid for any online gaming.  Except for the 2K14 online pass since I bought a used copy of it @ Game Stop.  I hope Sony sticks with their current setup because the biggest reason I buy Playstations as opposed to Xboxs is because you don't have to have a paid account to play online.....

[AgeofSandow]

@jeffsdomain:  Why would a game being on older consoles hold the series back?  That doesn't even make sense!  I have the mindset to never buy the newer consoles until the bugs are worked out of them.  PS4 & Xbox One have their issues and buying 2K15 on the new systems would be quite pointless especially if the PS3/360 versions are equally as good.  Most likely I will wait until the PS4 has all the issues worked out and Sony releases a newer PS4 slim update to even buy a next gen system.  I tried Xbox 360 and didn't like it especially when you are forced to buy an Xbox Gold account just to be able to stream TV services or play online.  Sony is more fan friendly than Microsoft, which is why I am a Sony gamer.

 

@AgeofSandow:  Is that with the PS4?  I have the PS3 Super Slim and I've never paid for any online gaming.  Except for the 2K14 online pass since I bought a used copy of it @ Game Stop.  I hope Sony sticks with their current setup because the biggest reason I buy Playstations as opposed to Xboxs is because you don't have to have a paid account to play online.....

yeah it is ps4, which is why I'm not willing to buy it

[best in the world]

@AgeofSandow:  If both Xbox One and PS4 are making you pay for online gaming accounts, it is simply a case of which one is the lesser of the two evils.  So far, I've had two defective Xbox 360s.  The first was the initial launch Xbox 360 which was white and it got the RROD.  The most recent 360 was the super slim which was black.  The newer 360 was better, but still had issues and very low memory.  Microsoft's products cannot stream online even on the level of a Sony system, so that's a deal breaker to me as a gamer.  I'd rather pay for a PS4 online account and know I'm getting a quality streaming and online console than to buy an Xbox One and risk getting yet another defective Microsoft product......

[AgeofSandow]

@AgeofSandow:  If both Xbox One and PS4 are making you pay for online gaming accounts, it is simply a case of which one is the lesser of the two evils.  So far, I've had two defective Xbox 360s.  The first was the initial launch Xbox 360 which was white and it got the RROD.  The most recent 360 was the super slim which was black.  The newer 360 was better, but still had issues and very low memory.  Microsoft's products cannot stream online even on the level of a Sony system, so that's a deal breaker to me as a gamer.  I'd rather pay for a PS4 online account and know I'm getting a quality streaming and online console than to buy an Xbox One and risk getting yet another defective Microsoft product......

ps4s are selling more than Xboxes this year, so something's gotta be right

[the King Lives]

Yeah guys, that's why i looked at raven like he was an idiot and what's even more hilarious is he's talking about how he wants the game on next gen only but doesn't even own a next gen system.  That's what really made me second guess his post at first.  Yeah i'm not at all interested in a ps4 right now mainly because there aren't enough games that interest me and i'm not big on exclusives. heck the svr11 excusive preorder bonus crap pissed me off so bad lol

[AgeofSandow]

Yeah guys, that's why i looked at raven like he was an idiot and what's even more hilarious is he's talking about how he wants the game on next gen only but doesn't even own a next gen system.  That's what really made me second guess his post at first.  Yeah i'm not at all interested in a ps4 right now mainly because there aren't enough games that interest me and i'm not big on exclusives. heck the svr11 excusive preorder bonus crap pissed me off so bad lol

I mean, do companies really expect people to buy a console, a bunch of games, and THEN buy another expensive console, games and online subscriptions quickly? Money doesn't fall from the sky

[the King Lives]

 

Yeah guys, that's why i looked at raven like he was an idiot and what's even more hilarious is he's talking about how he wants the game on next gen only but doesn't even own a next gen system.  That's what really made me second guess his post at first.  Yeah i'm not at all interested in a ps4 right now mainly because there aren't enough games that interest me and i'm not big on exclusives. heck the svr11 excusive preorder bonus crap pissed me off so bad lol

I mean, do companies really expect people to buy a console, a bunch of games, and THEN buy another expensive console, games and online subscriptions quickly? Money doesn't fall from the sky

 

Exactly! like I said this whole next generation thing was nothing but a way to try and get more money.  And these companies are always monkey see monkey do... If Microsoft went for next gen, sony just had to follow suit.  I just think it was way too soon since I got my 360 in 2009.. that's 4 years after the 360 released and I went the ps3 route for wwe13 because I didn't want to pay for live but after all the issues that was the only reason I went back to 360 lol and lord and behold all the issues were mostly on the 360 for 2k14 LOL

[AgeofSandow]

 

 

Yeah guys, that's why i looked at raven like he was an idiot and what's even more hilarious is he's talking about how he wants the game on next gen only but doesn't even own a next gen system.  That's what really made me second guess his post at first.  Yeah i'm not at all interested in a ps4 right now mainly because there aren't enough games that interest me and i'm not big on exclusives. heck the svr11 excusive preorder bonus crap pissed me off so bad lol

I mean, do companies really expect people to buy a console, a bunch of games, and THEN buy another expensive console, games and online subscriptions quickly? Money doesn't fall from the sky

 

Exactly! like I said this whole next generation thing was nothing but a way to try and get more money.  And these companies are always monkey see monkey do... If Microsoft went for next gen, sony just had to follow suit.  I just think it was way too soon since I got my 360 in 2009.. that's 4 years after the 360 released and I went the ps3 route for wwe13 because I didn't want to pay for live but after all the issues that was the only reason I went back to 360 lol and lord and behold all the issues were mostly on the 360 for 2k14 LOL

 

PS3 is generally cleaner except for the little kids with mics that find their way online from time to time.