Backyard Wrestling Updated Impressions

Eidos recently held a press event to show off Backyard Wrestling, and we learned a little new information about the game from Kevin Gill, one of the minds behind the project. In addition to elaborating on the basic gameplay in Backyard Wrestling, which you can read about in our previous coverage of the game, Gill gave us some new details on some of the peripheral aspects of the game. Now that the gameplay aspects of Backyard Wrestling are coming together, it sounds like the development team is focusing on other features that will help flesh out the down-and-dirty wrestling experience that the game will offer.

Regarding Backyard Wrestling's delay from a summer release to an October date, Gill told us that part of the reason we won't be seeing the game for a few more months is the team finally decided to include a create-a-wrestler feature. As the sport of backyard wrestling itself centers on fan participation and allowing the common citizen to become a part of the action, Gill said it makes sense for Backyard Wrestling to allow players to put themselves into the game. Gamers will be able to control a character featuring their own likeness as they fight against recognizable wrestlers like members of the Insane Clown Posse and Miller Lite girl Kitana Baker.

Gill also talked to us about the soundtrack in Backyard Wrestling. The development team has decided to focus heavily on the musical portion of the game, citing Def Jam Vendetta as an example of a music-oriented wrestling game that had the right intentions but could have included more songs. The team wants Backyard Wrestling to have a similar sort of feel but with much more music, and so they're including a full 40 bands across a wide range of genres and time periods. The soundtrack will feature everyone from Sum41 to Anthrax to Kool Keith, and of course the Xbox version of the game will allow you to swap in your own songs if you wish.

Backyard Wrestling is currently scheduled for release on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October. We'll bring you coverage of a playable version of the game in the coming weeks.