We're taking who those characters are and we're taking it more to a video game level. Instead, we're taking the characterizations of the guys. We're not taking the characters as seriously as the program does currently. WWE All-Stars is trying to achieve a different type of gameplay. We're making a game that is very different than "Smackdown" which is our sim juggernaut. Sal DiVita: "WWE All Stars" is a new brand in THQ's lineup of WWE video games. Jon Robinson: Can you break down what "WWE All Stars" is all about? THQCena gets some serious height on his suplex. Think legends versus current superstars in a fast-paced, finger-blitzing brawl and you get the concept as the E3 demo is set to showcase matches between "The People's Champ," The Rock, and current poster boy for the promotion, John Cena.Īfter reminiscing about his days with Yokozuna, DiVita took time out of his crazy schedule to give me the rundown on his new game, set to hit stores in early 2011. These days, DiVita is back making wrestling games, working at THQ's San Diego studio where he is heading up the team behind a new title, WWE All Stars. "It was all part of the initiation process, and I understand that, but it was still a lot of fun." "I ended up waking up next to a dumpster in an alley, facedown in a puddle of my own vomit," DiVita says. Turns out, as the tequila flowed, DiVita continued to take shots while unbeknownst to him, Yokozuna was dumping his tequila out behind him. "Needless to say, that didn't go too well." So I go out to dinner with them, then Yoko challenged me to a drinking contest with tequila. This turned into like a half hour ordeal, but to make it up to me, they tell me that they're going to take me to dinner.
Fuji grabs me and starts stretching my neck out and decompressing my spine with this towel while Yoko was pulling my feet. "But I was totally stunned," DiVita continues. Then I almost broke my neck, and of course, we have it all on video. "Shawn made it look so easy, so I decided to do it. "So Yoko said, 'You do one first, then I will do one.' Then he asked me if I could do it, and I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, of course.' But I had never done one before in my life."īut DiVita, summoning his old Nightwolf courage, didn't let that stop him from trying. "Shawn Michaels was just in a couple of days earlier, and he had done a backflip for us, so I was laughing and I asked Yoko if he could do one," DiVita explains. That's right, while doing video-capture for the game (these were the days before motion-capture), DiVita asked the 500-pound wrestler if he could perform a backflip. "That's when I asked Yokozuna to do a backflip," DiVita says with a laugh. The video game veteran has helped create some of the classics throughout the years, working on franchises from "NBA Jam" to "NFL Blitz," not to mention playing the roles of Nightwolf, Cyrax, Smoke, and Sektor in the "Mortal Kombat" series.īut it was his work on fan favorite "WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game" that provided one of his most memorable moments in the industry. You might not know the name Sal DiVita, but you know his games. THQJohn Cena smells what The Rock is cooking.