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Ex-WWE wrestler Kurt Angle has laid the smackdown on THQ’s wrestling games, saying that it will only take a month for upcoming wrestling game TNA Impact! to crush its bitter rival.
Speaking in an interview with VideoGamer.com at the launch of Midway’s new licensed wrestling game, TNA Impact!, Angle slammed Smackdown vs. Raw for its “lack of effort and lack of ideas”.
He said: “Smackdown’s game is going to look like all the other games in the past. I’ve been there. I know how much effort they put behind it. For each wrestler they usually take about two-and-a-half minutes and that’s it. They (Midway) have actually spent hours with wrestlers to make this happen with TNA Impact! You’re going to see it’s so much more authentic. It’s a no brainer. We’re going to win the war definitely.”
TNA, which broadcasts in the UK on cable channel Bravo, is the WWE’s closest rival in the TV ratings. It has accumulated a number of famous wrestlers from the WWE itself, including Kurt Angle. Publisher Midway is clearly hoping to slice a piece of the extremely lucrative wrestling game pie when TNA Impact! releases this summer.
When asked if he was confident gamers would pick up TNA Impact! over WWE Smackdown vs. Raw, Angle replied: “No I’m not confident that will happen. I believe in the long run we will end up selling more than they will. But I believe the fans will pick Smackdown first, they will try it out and then they’ll go back and they will pick TNA Impact! up and they’ll try it and say “wow I shouldn’t have bought Smackdown”. What’s going to happen is after the first round of people buy they’re going to call their friends and say TNA Impact! is so much better than Smackdown, get that.
“During the first week I don’t think we’re going to win the war. I think within a month we’re going to be crushing them in the war. So it’s just going to take a couple of weeks for everybody to realise that we have the better game. It’s just that right now WWE is slightly beating us in the TV ratings and they are going to have the advantage because they’ve had experience. This is our first video game. This is big for us, this is huge. A lot of people are going to be curious but at the same time they’re so used to buying WWE stuff they are probably going to do the old fashioned “let me see how Smackdown’s doing” and then they’ll say “let me see how Impact’s doing”.
Confident fellow isn’t he? Check out the full video interview with Kurt Angle to see for yourself, then head over to our hands-on impressions of TNA Impact! to find out if we think Angle’s confidence is justified.
TNA Impact! Is due for release in summer 2008 on PS3, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.
Is Kurt Angle right or is he talking a load of balls? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
