With the help of our readers and Midway, we had an opportunity to interview the Producer of TNA Impact!, Scot Lane.

Operation Sports:  How many moves will each wrestler have?

Scot Lane:  We don’t have an exact number, but they’ll have a lot.  They will also have signature moves that you’d expect.  When you are playing as AJ Styles or Samoa Joe, we want it to look and feel like you would expect. 

Operation Sports:  Is there a submission system? If so how does it work?

Scot Lane:  Oh yeah, there’s a submission system.  Wrestlers like Samoa Joe who are known for submissions will have more options here, but basically out of head hold, you can put someone into a submission and it will trigger a mini-game where the opponent has a chance to break out of it.  The longer he stays in, the more location specific damage he takes. 

Operation Sports:  Will we see double team moves?

Scot Lane:  I hope so!  This is something we would love to get into the game.  We should be able to get some in.

Operation Sports:  Do tag-teams come out together or separately? If there is a stable feature, will the entire stable be able to come out during the entrance.

Scot Lane:  Tag teams will come out both together and individually depending on the situation.  The stables will probably show themselves in story mode.

Operation Sports:  How many animations are in the game?

Scot Lane:  Lots – Probably in the neighborhood of 1200-1600

Operation Sports:  Tag Team Entrances, will tag teams come out with their partners or will they have seperate entrances?

Scot Lane:  Tag teams will come out both together and individually depending on the situation. 

Operation Sports:  Will the Six Sides of Steel be a match type?

Scot Lane:  Not sure if this will make our first iteration.  I think it is a super cool match, so we will try to get it in.

Operation Sports:  Will each individual TNA Superstar have their exact likeness down to their move set and fighting style?

Scot Lane:  They will have their exact visual likeness.  They will have a good portion of their specific move set, however, like most other games there will be some shared animations.

Operation Sports:  How is the commentary? Can it be disabled?

Scot Lane:  The commentary is awesome (what else would I say?).  Seriously, it is super cool, Mike Tenay and Don West have spent several days at the studio doing VO and we have a great audio team at Midway.  There will be an option to disable.

Operation Sports:  Will the Gauntlet Battle Royal make it into the game?

Scot Lane:  Again, I hope so.  This would happen after 6 sides of steel.  If it doesn’t make it, we would definitely get it in a sequel.

Operation Sports:  Will this be more sim based or more arcade fighting based?

Scot Lane:  Probably a mix.  To us, sim can get a little boring and this is a video game.  That said, guys won’t be doing things that are impossible.  All of our moves are motion captured so they are all real.  But the pacing will be a bit faster than a normal wrestling match.

Operation Sports:  Will submissions, brawling, high flying, technical types all be included?

Scot Lane:  Absolutely, they are all very important to our game and flow.  We’ve already shown some of this and you can expect to see a lot more as we get closer to our ship date.

Operation Sports:  How are wrestlers differentiated from one another? Are the wrestlers given numerical attributes, a la Smackdown, specific playing style characteristics, a la All Pro Football 2K8, or some other system? Will different style wrestlers excel with appropriate strategies (e.g. big men fighting slow and deliberate, faster guys using their speed and the ropes, submission guys focusing on a body part, etc.)?

Scot Lane:  The move set is the biggest differentiator among the wrestlers.   We have a lot of balance to go, but the general idea is to get interesting match-ups when fighting different styles, much like TNA Wrestling.   

Operation Sports:  What gameplay elements, if any, have been included to take advantage of TNA's six-sided ring?

Scot Lane:  Nothing outside of what you see in TNA.  We’ll be interacting with the turnbuckles and ropes just like they do.

Operation Sports:  How many wrestlers can be on screen for in-ring action? (Battle Royals, Cage matches, X-division or regular championship matches)

Scot Lane:  Right now we have a maximum of 4 wrestlers on the screen at one time.  The reason for this is to achieve and maintain our 60 frames per second gameplay which translates to extremely responsive and smooth look and feel. 

Operation Sports:  Will there be online play in the game?

Scot Lane:  Absolutely. We’ve made online a big focus.

Operation Sports:  We would like to thank you for your time with this interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

Scot Lane:  Yeah, we’ll be out this spring/summer and can’t wait to get it in gamer’s hands!