Let’s Get Ready To Rumble!

by GrathiusXR:

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Ah, wrestling.  At one point in our lives, many of us may well have been glued to our television screen writhing in agony as we watch our favourite wrestler defend the title belt in a thrilling match full of high risk moves and more sweat that you can find on a footy field in summer heat.

However, after awhile the sport gets stale and story-lines get a tad predictable and boring- which is sort of what the Smackdown vs Raw franchise has been the last couple of years.

That isn’t the case with the latest in the franchise, Smackdown vs Raw 2010, and our good friends over at THQ decided to throw a little costume launch event to celebrate not only the release of the game, but also allow us to appreciate it, for the latest in the franchise finally rises above the rest and shows it can still perform.

On a warm Wednesday night competition winners from the Gamespot and PALGN forums ate and drank with fellow staff from THQ’s PR as well as various website writers from IGN AU and Gamespot AU and of course OXCGN.

With Playstation 3s set up running the latest title in the wrestling franchise Smackdown vs Raw 2010 and many wrestlers of old and new showing their faces as well, the night was filled with laughs and high risk maneuvers all round.

Note that when I mean wrestlers old and new I really mean attendees dressed up as their favorite wrestler.

We had Mankind, Carlito, Yokozuna as well as some originals, Mr. Australia, and many more.

The facepaint was also in full ‘slip, slop, slap’ with myself getting some glorious blue/orange on my face in imitation of Jeff Hardy, Adam Johnson getting some Blue Steel happening, Golddust making some commotion and we even had The Joker spoil the party for a while.

As a prize for going through the effort to make a costume and/or get some facepaint everyone was treated courtesy of THQ to a free copy of Smackdown vs Raw 2010 the night before release as well as some excellent Limited Edition Tin covered items which goes nice with my fellow Collector Editions and a copy of the Smackdown 10th Year anniversary DVD, which is covered in 3 DVDs and features some of the greatest moment in Smackdown history over the past decade.

It was a great little initiative and a kind gesture by THQ giving everyone these nice little presents for attending the launch costume party. Not only did every one manage to nab a copy for themselves both the overall costume winner and facepaint winners nabbed something a little special as well courtesy of Sony- a Playstation 3 Slim.

Mr. Australia took out best costume and won a PS3 Slim and a gaming monitor LCD, whilst the best face paint Adam “Blue Steel” Johnson took home a nice PS3 slim also.

I just missed out to Blue Steel in the facepaint competition but I wasn’t worried. Why? Because I got to play SvsR2010 ahead of its release, got to enjoy dressing up and putting on facepaint and have a chat with the guys over at IGN AU, Gamespot AU and some of the promo girls that were wandering around on the night.

It was great to see almost everyone getting into the spirit of the sport and dressing up and just getting involved in the night’s festivities.I would like to give a big thanks to THQ AU for inviting OXCGN to the costume party, as well as giving away the free gifts and also to Sony for getting involved and providing the 2 PS3 Slims as prizes.

It’s great to see Sony do some more for the community and getting involved in doing a bit more promotional work for supporting the console here in Australia.  Again a big thanks to everyone involved in making this happen and I hope to see more events like these promoting the games.

Now that I’ve got my copy of Smackdown vs Raw 2010, I can see many sleepless Saturday nights staying in and having amazing competitions with my mates in Triple Threat matches, Fatl 4-Way and Championship Scrambles matches.

Stay tuned to OXCGN in the following days for our review on the latest and greatest game in the franchise!

[ED: A big shout-out to Paul and Candice at THQ, and especially the girls at Mango, Annabelle and Katlin for making us feel like we're part of the family when attending these events. They know how to work the room, deal with the events and make sure everything flows according to plan, yet still have a fun time doing so. Hats off a warm welcome also to Katlin, great to see you in the 'big-smoke', great stuff and enjoy the gaming industry]

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Blogbanter, Console gaming, Editorial, Events, Game Industry News, GameBanter, Industry News, New Game Information, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | Blue Steel, Carlito, Championship Scrambles, Collector Editions, Fatl 4-Way, Golddust, Jeff Hardy, Mango, Mankind, Mr. Australia, Smackdown 10th Year anniversary DVD, Smackdown v's RAW 2010 reviews, Smacksown v's RAW 2010, The Joker, THQ, Triple Threat matches, Yokozuna