Post by #HEEL Dark Lord on May 17, 2008 20:00:39 GMT -5
April 18, 2008 - Here at IGN, we get the chance to play a lot of celebrities in videogames, but it's rare that we play a celebrity who is actually good at videogames. TNA's Black Machismo -- also known as Jay Lethal -- is one of those rare ones.
"I'm only 22," he said sitting in front of the 360 where he had just owned TNA World Champion Samoa Joe at TNA iMPACT!, the company's debut wrestling videogame from Midway. "So, videogames are still a very big deal to me."
Lethal, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley were all on hand last night at Midway Gamers' Day in Las Vegas to help educate the masses as to what TNA iMPACT! is all about on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. After goofing around on the mic for awhile and showing off the Ultimate X trailer you saw exclusively on IGN Tuesday, the brawlers adjourned to a series of flat screens where they played the press and each other.
Still high on his victory over Samoa Joe, Lethal had no idea he was about to get pwned by IGN.
Sure, Jay had ben practicing all day, but the skills of an IGN editor are second to none. As I sat down and reacquainted myself with TNA's controls -- shoulder buttons for strong moves, running and reversals; face buttons for grabbing, kicking, punching and grapples -- Jay began to lay it on the line. He's a hardcore gamer, owns all the current systems, doesn't play the Wii that much, and is on Xbox Live a lot but sees Samoa Joe on there more.
He says it's a dream come true to be in a videogame.
"That still hasn't hit me yet," Lethal said with a grin. "I don't have to create myself in the game."
Two arenas were open for business at last night's event -- the iMPACT! Zone in Orlando and a theater-looking venue in England. Lethal would choose his home turf, but I'd get to play some of the England hexagon later and find its red ropes, yellow turnbuckles and British flag mat rather charming. Lethal played as himself, and I played as Christian Cage. At first things went south for me as I tried to find my iMPACT legs again and Jay beat me with a barrage of punches and kicks that made the mat snap with that sound only true wrestling fans can appreciate. However, the tides changed when Cage had the virtual Lethal from behind, Lethal reversed, Cage reversed and hit Black Machismo with a Death Valley Driver.
Jay Lethal was not shirtless when IGN wailed on him.As our battle raged on and we both filled out iMPACT! meters -- the power behind your finishers -- I began to take note of the numbers flashing onscreen. I'd hit Jay with a snap suplex and "+4,000" would flash under my HUD. I'd end a grapple with a few punches in the 22-year-old's face, and I'd get "+3,000." It turns out that these Style Points are constantly being tallied by the game so that you can then take them and use them as currency in the create-a-player mode. When you start a new wrestler, you'll have something like 20 different categories to assign moves to. As you play the game, you'll get points and be able to buy different moves in the categories for your brawler.
Someone should buy Jay a new move. Shortly after I filled my iMPACT! meter, Lethal had to try and one-up me by filling his iMPACT meter and hitting me with his finisher three times in a row. Now, clearly this bored the fans at Gamers' Day because suddenly the power went out before Jay could score a pinfall -- which I would've easily kicked out of by rocking my joystick side to side.
Because there was no final bell, you might ask how I could chalk that up as a win for myself, and I think the answer is obvious -- Jay saw that three finishers couldn't keep Christian Cage down and radioed to one of his cronies to blow the fuse.
That's cheating. That's a DQ. IGN rules. Jay Lethal sucks.
"I'm only 22," he said sitting in front of the 360 where he had just owned TNA World Champion Samoa Joe at TNA iMPACT!, the company's debut wrestling videogame from Midway. "So, videogames are still a very big deal to me."
Lethal, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley were all on hand last night at Midway Gamers' Day in Las Vegas to help educate the masses as to what TNA iMPACT! is all about on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. After goofing around on the mic for awhile and showing off the Ultimate X trailer you saw exclusively on IGN Tuesday, the brawlers adjourned to a series of flat screens where they played the press and each other.
Still high on his victory over Samoa Joe, Lethal had no idea he was about to get pwned by IGN.
Sure, Jay had ben practicing all day, but the skills of an IGN editor are second to none. As I sat down and reacquainted myself with TNA's controls -- shoulder buttons for strong moves, running and reversals; face buttons for grabbing, kicking, punching and grapples -- Jay began to lay it on the line. He's a hardcore gamer, owns all the current systems, doesn't play the Wii that much, and is on Xbox Live a lot but sees Samoa Joe on there more.
He says it's a dream come true to be in a videogame.
"That still hasn't hit me yet," Lethal said with a grin. "I don't have to create myself in the game."
Two arenas were open for business at last night's event -- the iMPACT! Zone in Orlando and a theater-looking venue in England. Lethal would choose his home turf, but I'd get to play some of the England hexagon later and find its red ropes, yellow turnbuckles and British flag mat rather charming. Lethal played as himself, and I played as Christian Cage. At first things went south for me as I tried to find my iMPACT legs again and Jay beat me with a barrage of punches and kicks that made the mat snap with that sound only true wrestling fans can appreciate. However, the tides changed when Cage had the virtual Lethal from behind, Lethal reversed, Cage reversed and hit Black Machismo with a Death Valley Driver.
Jay Lethal was not shirtless when IGN wailed on him.As our battle raged on and we both filled out iMPACT! meters -- the power behind your finishers -- I began to take note of the numbers flashing onscreen. I'd hit Jay with a snap suplex and "+4,000" would flash under my HUD. I'd end a grapple with a few punches in the 22-year-old's face, and I'd get "+3,000." It turns out that these Style Points are constantly being tallied by the game so that you can then take them and use them as currency in the create-a-player mode. When you start a new wrestler, you'll have something like 20 different categories to assign moves to. As you play the game, you'll get points and be able to buy different moves in the categories for your brawler.
Someone should buy Jay a new move. Shortly after I filled my iMPACT! meter, Lethal had to try and one-up me by filling his iMPACT meter and hitting me with his finisher three times in a row. Now, clearly this bored the fans at Gamers' Day because suddenly the power went out before Jay could score a pinfall -- which I would've easily kicked out of by rocking my joystick side to side.
Because there was no final bell, you might ask how I could chalk that up as a win for myself, and I think the answer is obvious -- Jay saw that three finishers couldn't keep Christian Cage down and radioed to one of his cronies to blow the fuse.
That's cheating. That's a DQ. IGN rules. Jay Lethal sucks.
