WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 video game designer discusses enhancements in the new game, Royal Rumble now available for online play, downloadable character possibilities

Monday Night Mayhem with Bryan Williams of THQ
Hosts: The Big Mosh and "The Chairman of the Board," Todd Vincent
Report by Paterson from N.J.
Airs every Monday at 6:00 P.M. (CT)
Show available at MondayNightMayhem.com.

The changes and improvements that THQ made from last year's game (SmackDown vs. RAW 2010) to this year's game (SmackDown vs. RAW 2011) and why the Hell in a Cell Match, from a game designer's perspective, was focused on the most: "Where do you start? We've added so much new content to 2011, which is a major feat, because SmackDown vs. RAW 2010 had a wealth of content as well. We added dynamic physics into the game for the first time and added it to all the objects in the game: tables, chairs, and all the objects that reside under the wrestling ring.

"It makes all the matches, like TLC or Chairs Match, or any match involving weapons that much more lifelike and representative of what you see on Pay-Per-View or weekly television. We also revamped the Hell in the Cell Match. Fans have been asking us for years to update that experience and for good reason. It was the match that needed the most attention. We enlarged the cell and made it more of the scope of the structure."

Taking the Royal Rumble Match online for the first time ever: "We redid the Royal Rumble match in 2010, and this year we brought it online. You could have up to 12 human players in the match, and I gotta tell you, it's fun as hell. Even if you get eliminated, you'll still be able to control a Superstar coming in from the 30, so you never have that feeling like you're just watching the match and waiting to play."

The feedback THQ has received from SmackDown vs. RAW 2011 thus far from the WWE superstars and which ones in particular will go as far to play the game as themselves: "Yes, they play as themselves. That's why they get so upset when their attributes are on the lower side of things. There's a couple of guys that I know for a fact play the game, Kofi Kingston plays the game a bit, Dolph Ziggler plays the game, Evan Bourne plays it. Those are the guys I know for a fact plays the game, and Kofi is pretty good at it."

Which potential additions could be made as part of the DLC (downloadable content) for SmackDown vs. RAW 2011, in addition to what's being released later this fall and which one superstar he would love to see sooner vs. later into the game itself: "I can't really say. There has been some talks about maybe doing another one, but a decision hasn't been made one way or another. I think what we're gonna do is take a wait and see approach and see how the first couple of packs do, and if there's success, and we get a lot of people downloading the DLC's, I think that will definitely help and urge us to do a fourth pack. I would like to do another so we could get Daniel Bryan in the game, but all these decisions are not mine to make. I could only voice my decisions and hope and pray."

Much more is included in Bryan's highly-anticipated Mayhem return, including his thoughts on the game's all-new "WWE Universe" mode, what fans can expect in this year's "Road to WrestleMania" mode, the creation upgrades from SmackDown vs. RAW 2010, plus much more! Follow The Mayhem right now on Twitter (at www.Twitter.com/FeelTheMayhem), as one lucky Mayhem follower/listener will score a copy of the game for the Nintendo Wii this coming weekend! Eight more giveaway copies are coming your way throughout the rest of the "MNM Fall Tour '10" leading through our "2010: Year In Review" special on December 27th. Log on to the official website of SmackDown vs. RAW 2011 (located at community.smackdownvsraw.com), and be sure to follow the "SD vs. RAW" franchise on Facebook and on Twitter right now (located respectively at www.Facebook.com/WWEGames and www.Twitter.com/WWEGames).