Unfortunately for Mr. Spielberg, he also noted how busy he is, which we’re sure cuts into any gaming time he may have once had. In any case, I’m going to go ahead and call the video below conclusive scientific evidence that video games enhance players’ creativity. I can do that, right?

Click here to view the embedded video.

I had a chance to talk to step away from the bustle of the event with Senior PR Manager Brandon Cox, where we spoke about what players can expect from Downpour when it arrives next March. Listen below.

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I stopped for an impromptu interview about the game (forgive the audio quality) following a short play session, and was able to gain a little insight into Prototype 2 from a member of the development team. The game’s April 2012 release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC is still a long way off, but what Radical has already put together is certainly exciting.

Take a listen just below to hear Mike and Seth discuss quad-wielding, abilities, The Brotherhood and their desire to tear The Darkness from Jackie, the game’s connection (or lack thereof) to the comics, and more.

Mike Murphy, GamerNode: Hey everybody! This is Mike Murphy, News Director for GamerNode.com and I am with the former WWE Champion Sheamus, who is here to promote WWE ‘12. Sheamus, how are you doing today?

Sheamus: Oh, fantastic fella! I’m just very excited. WWE ‘12: the launch of a brand-new massive game from THQ. And as you saw earlier on I’m featured in one of the career modes, three storyline modes – Road to WrestleMania – so I couldn’t be happier.

GN: Speaking of Road to WrestleMania mode, you’re one of only two people with Triple H, which anytime you’re with Triple H as you well know by yourself is a pretty big deal. And Road to WrestleMania has been a big feature of [the] WWE game series for a couple of years. So how does it feel to be in Road to WrestleMania and when you first found out what was your reaction?

S: It was incredible. I didn’t find out until too long ago. I knew that Randy Orton was on the cover and I saw the trailer for it so I was very excited about it. But I haven’t found out too long ago. It was a couple of weeks ago and fella I couldn’t be more excited. This is literally my third THQ game – third WWE game, what I’m saying – and it’s just amazing. I still can’t get used to the fact that I’m in a video game.

Everything is spot on in this one. I mean trunks – everything – gear, laoch on the whole deal. Has the cool gold, black, and green tights too. So yeah man, everything is spot on and as I said I’m very excited about it.

GN: You said this is your third WWE SmackDown! game-

S: Including All-Stars. WWE All-Stars.

GN: Ah, yes. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2011, All-Stars, and this.

S: Yeah.

GN: When you first went in to do – you said you did motion capture earlier for FCW for these games and you also did voice work. When you first walked in to do voice work and you knew you were going to be in a video game, there was going to be a digitized version of you on the screen that people were going to be playing, how did you feel from that having just come up from FCW just a couple of years prior and coming all the way from Ireland?

S: I hadn’t really seen much, I just went in the studio. I knew that going in there I wanted to put on the -make sure the voice and everything was spot on. I didn’t want anything to seem different from what you would see on television, so I wanted to make sure that that was solid. And that was very important to me too because everything else about this game is…so classic and so spot on to what you see on TV. I mean the graphics are off the charts, the sound, from the way the cameras are rolling through the arenas, the way RAW starts, the way SmackDown! starts, it’s the same thing.

So I wanted to make sure the character, the voice, the verbiage I used for my character in the storylines was perfect the way I say. That’s why I was saying that I use my own brogue and my own sayings and stuff when I was talking. And the producers were very happy with me to do that, so that worked out really well. As I said, watching that back on the screen today is just a testament to how much work has gone into it and how great it is.

GN: Now, you guys are on the road a lot. It’s really grueling. You guys have very limited downtime. Do you happen to have any time to play games while you’re resting up or on the road and are there any in particular that you like to play?

S: I do. I have a bit of time, some time. I do have a PSP that I bring on the road. Some of the guys, like Mark Henry will bring his Xbox with him and stuff like that, or a PlayStation 3. I have a PlayStation 3 at home.

I try to play as much as I can but when we get home sometimes all we want to do is either sleep, do laundry, or catch up paying bills or just get out of the house and stuff. But I’ve definitely been fond of games. Ever since I was a kid with a Commodore 64, Omega 600, Mega Drives, PlayStation 1, [PlayStation] 2, and as I said I’ll definitely make sure I play this game because it’s a lot of fun. Playing it yourself or playing with guys you see on a daily basis. And the great thing about it is I’m at the show all the time and everything about the visuals of this game and the movement of the moves and everything, just so much work has gone into making sure that everything is 100 percent spot on.

GN: There are a lot of Legends and former Superstars in WWE ‘12. Among them [is Stone Cold Steve] Austin, [The] Rock’s a pre-order bonus, there’s also… [Brock] Lesnar just got introduced, there’s Eddie Guerrero, both the Road Warriors, Vader, Kevin Nash. I’m going to go out and ask the typical fan question right now. Out of all those Legends that are going to be in the game that I just named, is there any of them you would most love to have a match with?

S: Brock Lesnar, actually. Brock would be great; big ginger-haired fellow like meself. And he was another big brawler, big brute…the amateur background and stuff. He was always rag-dolling people around like meself, so me and Brock would be a fun match to have.

GN: Yeah. Well, Sheamus, thank you very much for your time.

S: Thank you very much.

GN: And [we] can’t wait to see you in WWE ‘12 in Road to WrestleMania.

S: I appreciate it. Thank you.

Mike Murphy, GamerNode: This is Mike Murphy here for GamerNode.com and I am here with Cory Ledesma, who is the creative director for WWE ‘12. Cory, how are you doing?

Cory Ledesma: We’re doing great. We’re really excited because we’re about a month away from the game’s launch, so this is when our game designers are kind of in a frenzy. We’re just excited and in anticipation to find out just what gamers think of our game. We’ve put so many blood, sweat, and tears into it, so it’s good to finally see it to the end here.

GN: That’s great. The first question I have to ask you is in the new Create-An-Entrance mode you have…new TitanTron (entrance) movies with live-action [scenes] on there. Is that going to be in addition to the Create-A-Highlight? Is that still going to be available? Where you can create a highlight, put that together, and make that your own ‘Tron?

CL: You can still do the Highlight Reel. You can still use that as a tool to create your entrance video, and we like that tool. It’s a little bit – I shouldn’t say a little bit – it’s a lot more work to create a video in that method, so this is a lot easier. Basically, we have a drop-down menu that allows you to select a couple of different key things. You can select which theme you want to use, in the theme you can change text that will be displayed…in this new create-an-entrance video, you can also import custom logos that you have displayed in the video as well; so it gives you a lot of options and you can basically just hit “encode” and the video will encode for you and you’re done.

It actually takes elements from your created character and automatically splices them in there, so if you’re character’s got a finisher, anything in particular that you assign to him, it will take that finisher and it will display in the movie your character using that finisher. So it really customizes it towards your character to really have that maximum personality.

GN: Yeah, make it a lot more easy and more accessible for the player?

CL: That’s right and very easy. Just a couple of items, push that button, and you’re good to go.

GN: Cool. I saw on the presentation on one of the slides for Universe mode that you had “Title Match Freedom” on there. Could you explain exactly what that means?

CL: Yeah. Last year in Universe we tried to build up these dramatic moments where the title matches could only be held at the pay-per-view, which isn’t necessarily what you would call authentic WWE programming because they can have title matches whenever they want. But we thought as a game mechanic it really made sense for you to build up there.

But after spending a bunch of time talking to our community and our fans we found that there’s another way to really build up that drama and still allow you to have title matches whenever you want, so we’ve actually opened up that freedom to be able to support that anywhere. If you want to have a title match on a show like RAW or SmackDown! or whatever you want, you can go ahead and do that, and it still works within the storylines within the mode.

GN: For [Create-a-Show] mode you had the option of picking from a certain amount of belts. Does that also mean that there might be a return of the Create-A-Belt mode that used to be in SmackDown! vs. RAW and if not, is that something you guys are thinking about doing maybe in WWE ‘13?

CL: Create-A-Belt isn’t in WWE ‘12 just to be clear. It’s a mode that was in the franchise a long long time ago and I remember the mode very well. Of course we’ll always continue to look at different create modes. We have 10 different creation modes in WWE ‘12, so that’s really a lot, and the more we add the more pressure is on us to support each year with new parts and things. So it can be a little overwhelming for us and we want to make sure that whenever we do bring a create mode or any kind of mode that’s in the game that it’s done to the highest level of quality and that it’s 100 percent.

We don’t want to bring in a mode and only do 50 percent of it, so it’s really important that if we do choose to make a decision like that, we go full force with it. This year we felt we did that with Create-An-Arena, so we can introduce that mode and it’s something the fans have never seen in the franchise, so that was exciting. But you never know with Create-A-Title, maybe that can make it back in the franchise.

GN: Another thing I had: Will the Universe mode have a – this is another create-a-mode question – will there possibly be an introduction of a Create-A-Promo mode in the future? Where you can create a segment where somebody is cutting a promo in the back or is cutting a promo in the ring before or after a match. Also, for the storylines that are in Universe mode will there be any scripted promos for [the mode]?

CL: Universe mode isn’t very voice-over heavy because we really leave a lot of that presentation to Road to WrestleMania. So in Universe we focus more just on quantity of stories since it’s a never-ending experience and there’s so many ways you can go you want to make sure that you’re always seeing new and different things. So we don’t focus so much on voice-over, so promos wouldn’t necessarily work so well in that. But you could do text and I think in the future – we have a great tool and [story] designer that allows you to create promos – and [to use] that as a tool in a future deal to create your own custom cutscenes for the mode, that would be something that we’d absolutely love to do.

GN: Last year with SmackDown! vs. RAW 2011 you guys did DLC updates throughout the year to add WWE Superstars who came in too late into the game’s development. Are you looking to keep that going with WWE ‘12?

CL: Yeah. We loved having DLC last year like you mentioned. The opportunity for us to freshen up the game after a shift, introduce some characters that we didn’t get a chance to get in to the final product. So we definitely are going to repeat that this year since it was such a big success last year. We’re really excited about that. We have some really great plans that we are going to be detailing out at the end of October and early November about which Superstars made it in there and what the content is. Fans are going to be blown away by who is in the DLC, I guarantee it.

GN: Okay. Brock Lesnar is the mystery Superstar in the game. How exactly did you guys get Brock Lesnar? Was it a solely THQ thing or did you have help with WWE? What was the process of getting Lesnar in WWE ‘12?

CL: The process was definitely a collaboration not only with WWE because obviously it’s their product – we want to make sure they’re on board with that – but also with Brock and Brock’s people and also with THQ. Just a collaboration and we thought that Brock would be a great addition to the game. We haven’t had him in there in a long time and somehow the idea just popped up and we thought, “Hey, let’s see if we can actually make this happen.” And the stars aligned and matched up perfectly and he was willing to be in the game. Not only willing, but really excited to be in the product.

So I think it just made perfect sense and I think it was a great way to really kick off the rebranding of this franchise. To have a big name Superstar like that to be brought back into the game was kind of a perfect complement to rebranding the franchise with WWE ‘12.

GN: That’s awesome. The last question that I’m going to have here is: You mention that there is going to be multiplayer available in Universe mode.

CL: Right.

GN: Could you go into detail about that and possibly, I also want to ask, have there been any updates to the sharing feature from SmackDown! vs. RAW and the matchmaking modes?

CL: Sure. With…Sorry what was your first question?

GN: Universe multiplayer.

CL: Multiplayer, right. With Universe multiplayer we wanted to make sure that was a mode that you could have a lot of fun with your friends playing. So not only could you just play that solo by yourself, you can also introduce multiplayer in there so you can bring your friends in to play the matches and you can all decide that on the fly as you’re going in. Even when you’re loading in a match we have a screen that pops up and says, “Hey…Which character do you want to select? How many controllers do you want to bring in?” That whole thing, so it allows you to do that on the fly as well. It really allows you to load up matches that no one’s playing. You can have user interference, interfere in a CPU match as well.

We really wanted to support all different aspects of that so you can play the way you want to play. It’s a perfect mode to be able to support multiplayer mode just like any other sports franchise because maybe you’re a fan of CM Punk and I’m a fan of Randy Orton and we want to play and see how our fates cross and match up. And we can do that in Universe and you can do that in other sports games, so it kinda makes sense to support that multiplayer in Universe.

GN: Okay.

CL: And your other question was on the…

GN: On have you ever made any updates or enhancements to sharing online and the matchmaking online?

CL: Right. Online Community Creations is back. What we’ve done is we’ve just made some small improvements to the search functionality in general. The items load a lot faster, we made some tech improvements to make that experience a lot better. We also allow you to post your Create-An-Arenas as well. Now people can share that. Those are probably the bigger improvements we’ve made to that mode.

GN: Okay. Cory, thank you very much.

CL: Absolutely Mike.

GN: And [we're] looking forward to WWE ‘12 when it releases this November.

CL: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Have a listen as the two discuss game mechanics, in-game characters, the virtual Arkham City itself, and the studio’s plans for the future, among other things.

With so many AAA competitive games, a thriving community, and packed Pro Circuit events, it’s safe to say Major League Gaming has solidified e-sports as a valuable niche in gaming culture. To elaborate on the success, MLG’s Senior Vice President of League Operations and Productions, Adam Apicella, spoke with GamerNode and answered a few questions regarding the company’s promising future.

GN: Major League Gaming has had a loyal following for years. How has it recently continued its growth trend? And have the announcements of Modern Warfare 3 and Halo 4 made a difference?

AA: MLG has grown exponentially since our inaugural season in 2003. The 2011 MLG Pro Circuit season has been record breaking with the largest prize purse to date, the most epic crowds, and millions tuning in from around the globe to watch the competition LIVE online. Live streaming of the recent Raleigh Pro Circuit (August 26-28) resulted in an all-time high 138,000 peak concurrent online stream viewers. Fans from 173 countries watched the LIVE streams and more than 3 million hours of video were consumed throughout the weekend. While we have seen growth in the number of overall MLG brand fans, we’ve also seen large growth among vertical communities due to the addition of specific game titles. Strong franchises such as Halo, Call of Duty, and StarCraft have contributed to a larger cumulative following. The great communities respective to a title are what makes MLG what it is; truly a melting pot of many different competitive communities.

GN: Are there any games that have surprised MLG with their audience and participant populations?

AA: We are very pleased with the popularity of StarCraft 2 and the growth of the community at Pro Circuit events and online at majorleaguegaming.com. The global appeal and rabid following has made for a perfect fit on the Pro Circuit. We are seeing huge growth in in-person attendees, as well as through online viewers worldwide.

GN: Games like Halo 3 and Halo: Reach have implemented “MLG playlists” to provide stiff competition and balanced guidelines for play. Black Ops even implemented a “Barebones-Competitive” playlist. Has MLG been working with more developers to provide these well-received playlists in future Call of Duty/Halo games as well as new titles?

AA: Yes. We are currently working with many publishers/developers on a variety of e-sports initiatives.

GN: Where do you see MLG in ten years in terms of technology, growth, and image?

AA: MLG has come so far in the last 10 years, growing in conjunction with the ever evolving technology and video game spaces. It’s impossible to predict exactly where we are going, but know we are dedicated to continuing and providing the gaming community with the best competitive gaming experience possible.

GN: What impact do you think the MLG community has on the gaming community as a whole?

AA: Since our inception, our goal has been to make MLG the premier competitive gaming league while furthering the awareness of e-sports amongst the gaming community and beyond. Over the last eight years, I think we have been able to help grow the gaming community overall by providing them with an ideal forum for broadening their relationships with others and the games they love while fostering competition. Through MLG, players are able to extend their gameplay and game publishers and developers are able to expand the longevity and livelihood of a title.

GN: Thanks for your time, Mr. Apicella, and good luck with the event in Orlando.

If you’d like to put your skills to the ultimate test – or if you find competitive gaming as wildly entertaining as we do – Major League Gaming’s next stop on the Pro Circuit is October 14th-16th in Orlando, Florida. Spectator passes to the Pro Circuit event are available on the MLG Web site, but if you can’t make it to Orlando you can catch most of the action via the MLG live stream. Partake and who knows, maybe you’ll be part of another record performance.

Major League Gaming

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