WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 is this year's take on Vince McMahon's wrestling franchise, and the first to take its popular creation tools online, allowing players to share custom wrestlers, logos, finishers, and even complete storylines with the world. While fan fiction has traditionally been dominated by those who love genre fiction (or furries), now there's a place to tell interactive tales of oiled-up, steroid-enhanced grapplers, silicone-enhanced divas, and all their thrilling backstage battles.

If you've ever dreamed of penning the ultimate Ric Flair promo, or felt like you could do a better job than the WWE in-house writing team, now's your shot. With SmackDown vs. Raw 2010's Story Designer you can choose your own actors and locations, feed them their lines, and even do some basic camera work and sound editing. It's your chance to take the reins behind the biggest brand in sports-entertainment.

I created the GameSpy logo with SvR's new paint tool. Watch the video to see how.

I decided that the best way to explore SmackDown vs. Raw 2010's new community initiative (according to the advertising, "it's your world now!") was to dive headfirst into crafting the greatest player-created storyline the online wrestling world would ever know. I went through quite a few options that didn't make the cut, for whatever reason:
  • Chef Gordon Ramsey vs. Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai in a battle of the greatest television chefs
  • Mixed Tag storyline pitting Jon and Kate (minus eight) vs. "What Not to Wear's" Stacy London and Clinton Kelly
  • Myself and the other GameSpy editors (this was just a bad idea)
This would have to be a story for the ages, the sort of effort that would prove to the writing team at WWE (or THQ, perhaps) that I should be recruited immediately for the good of the galaxy -- my very own "Last Starfighter" moment. I needed to create a new wrestling superstar for the in-game roster, one that would be recognized the world over, one with an epic story to tell -- a story of bravery, of service, maybe even of love. A story of surviving against all odds and doing one's part to make the world a better place. What I needed was a hero. What I needed... was Dog the Bounty Hunter.


If this was an old-school WCW game, then Dog the Bounty Hunter would have been the easiest guy in the world to make. He is, after all, a genetic clone of Diamond Dallas Page. That, or they were separated at birth. Instead I had to do the best I could with SmackDown vs. Raw's character creator, to bring A&E's greatest contribution to modern civilization to life.

When first creating a superstar or diva, you can choose to either modify one of the existing templates or start "from scratch." It began with choosing from just over a dozen different starter faces and building from there. I knew that my Duane Chapman character was going to be wearing dark sunglasses, so getting his face just right wasn't really a priority. You can see an example of this approach to character design throughout videogames: Mario was recognizable even in 8-bit form because he had a mustache, and the Dog will look somewhat accurate as long as he's wearing those shades and has a black leather vest on. While I couldn't get the smaller details right, I'd be alright as long as I could capture his slightly balding head with that long, straw-blond hair, and his left-out-in-the-sun-for-so-many-years-that-his-skin-turned-to-leather skin tone.

One thing I found disappointing was trying to work within the create-a-wrestler's item budget. Every piece you add tacks on extra points towards your budget, and for some reason I could not have both a jacket and proper pants without going over. I could do pants and a bare chest, or a leather vest and long wrestling tights, but no jeans and jacket. It's not like I was trying to stick logos over every part of his body, my Duane Chapman didn't even have any tattoos yet! This was frustrating, and likely a limitation that will infuriate to no end those interested in the creation tools. Despite that, the Dog ended up looking just fine with the long tights, which were close enough to pants that it wasn't worth continuing to stress out over it.