WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2009 (PS3)
For longevity, user-generated content is king.
When you say “entertainment,” nothing comes bigger and with more flair than the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) organization. Taking on the video game IP for such a powerful brand has its fair share of scrutiny and pressure, and it takes strong, confident decisions to do it justice.
With over 38 million units shipped since the start of the WWE Smackdown vs RAW franchise, publishing house THQ takes no breaks and pulls no punches when it comes to the next installment. Bringing in the latest graphics technologies for photorealism and life-like motion, THQ has delivered a worthy, WWE-style video game experience to over 1.3 million households less than half a year after release. But graphics alone can’t keep the masses hooked for long, and THQ reached out to GameSpy to help power a system that brings gamers back again and again.
Boredom on the Ropes
The WWE experience doesn’t stop at the end of a match in Smackdown vs Raw. With the Highlight Reel system, amateurs and pros alike are placed behind the cameras as they trim and edit their greatest moments from within the game. With features that allow total control, it’s not hard to see how players can sometimes spend more time tweaking and fine-tuning highlight reels than actually playing the game. That’s because with WWE Smackdown vs RAW, making a highlight reel is only the beginning.
Using GameSpy’s Sake remote data storage and ratings technology, WWE Smackdown vs RAW players can upload their highlight reels to a global leaderboard where other users can download and rate their videos. The higher the rating and more often a video is rated, the faster it will climb to the top of the Highlight Reels Leaderboard.
And when you combine a fantastic game with such a system, videos of finishing moves are only the beginning. A quick scan of the top of the leaderboard reveals a video of President Obama and Sen. McCain’s greatest “hits” (literally) and a dance-off between two, several-hundred pound WWE stars. With hundreds of thousands of uploads and ratings in only a few short months, GameSpy’s Sake storage and ratings technology proves its effectiveness at creating a world of user-generated content.
The Next Generation of Stars
One of the challenges of building a franchise is the consistent pressure to outshine the previous installment year after year. Nothing informs the important decision-making process on game features and mechanics better than detailed game usage metrics. THQ implemented GameSpy’s ATLAS statistics tracking and processing technology to follow every step of a user’s interaction with WWE Smackdown vs RAW’s game play features.
The detailed information provided by ATLAS allows developers to hone in on the game mechanics users find the most engaging and rewarding, while quietly phasing out or improving less popular features. This type of approach to game design also allows developers to become more efficient with resource allocation by focusing on the experiences that have the greatest “fun factor” for players, and improving the ones that cause the greatest pain.
Tag Team: We’ve Got Your Back
GameSpy’s technology services allow developers to remain at the top of their game. With THQ’s WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2009 title, GameSpy’s Sake technology powers the features that keep players coming back for more. And with GameSpy’s ATLAS services, THQ can start working on their next title with all the usage information they can handle.
Want to make GameSpy a part of your tag team? Click below to see what GameSpy can do for you!
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