WWE ’12 Coming November

THQ have today announced details of the next WWE title. This time dropping the Smackdown Vs Raw title and keeping with a simpler WWE 2012. Creative director Cory Ledesma has had this to say about the name change, “I’ve just felt for a couple of years now that the franchise has been getting stale and in need of a reboot, not just with the name but also with the game experience.”

Cory continues, “The name of the franchise evolved a couple of times over the years, and it has gotten to the point where the name doesn’t really mean anything. WWE currently doesn’t have brand wars, and the shows themselves are rarely competing against each other, so SmackDown vs Raw as a name doesn’t really have a meaning.”

Speaking about the changes WWE 12 hopes to bring to the table, Ledesma had this to say, “We’ve been quietly investing in and eagerly waiting for the right opportunity to introduce this new animation technology into the franchise. It’s actually something we’ve been working on for two years now. Being the annual franchise that we are, it’s difficult to bring in new, significant technology without halting the project entirely. I compare it to trying to change the tire of a car driving 80 mph: not easy to do!”

“The new animation technology and tools have allowed us to do things in gameplay that were not possible with the previous technology. We hit a ceiling on the old tech, and now with our new tech, we have plenty of more years to build it out and deliver a fun, responsive and visually impressive game. It will be exciting the next few years as we see what our new technology is fully capable of delivering.”

The screens we have seen so far do look promising and to bring all these changes in technology to the plate should make for the most realistic wrestling game to date. We shall have more news on the title during E3 when hopefully gameplay trailers will surface and show off the developers hard work over the last two years. The game is due out in time for Christmas around November on all three home consoles. For now, check out the screenshots below.