But it was still a game that showed a lot of age and a lack of polish in its core gameplay and visuals, and commentary. This is where Visual Concepts comes in. In its first full year managing the game and the series' debut on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Yuke's still is a full partner in development, but Little vows that WWE 2K15 will show the polish and attention to detail that have made the NBA 2K series so highly regarded.
That's where the wrestling ring comes in. Little says WWE 2K15 will feature at least five times the animations of any previous WWE title and while that's something developers across all sports titles like to tout, its benefit should be recognizable in this one. WWE 2K has suffered from a lot of popping in and out of animations, some rather brutal transitory movements, and very long animations that instead of being interruptible by the player, appear to be sped up.
It should be noted here I did not see any gameplay in what was basically a table-setting discussion at E3 2014 with Little. These are his assurances, not my impressions. Still, 2K's basketball title is well known for having animations upon animations that make its brand of basketball fluid and balletic, and give players a greater sense of control over the players. That's what WWE 2K15 is going for.
Supporting that will be full head and body scans for basically every wrestler, and I was shown comparisons of John Cena in WWE 2K14 and what he looks like after the scan. Straight away I noticed Cena now has creased lower eyelids, which does a lot for how you judge the realism of his look. I was shown some new facial expressions, also taken with the head scan so this was Cena himself making the faces. The lighting systems used on the NBA 2K series also will help out, removing the plastic sheen bare skin had in the past. Little said the new lighting and rendering systems will be a part of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions as well as the next-generation version.