Wrestling fans in western countries have had very little but great choice of games, from the erstwhile WWF games to the WCW and now the Raw Vs. SmackDown series. However, video games publisher Agetec will now be bringing Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PlayStation 2.
Agetec localization producer Mark Johnson posted this on the Fire Pro Club community fan site:
- We have recently acquired the rights and received approval from SCEA to publish Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the North America and Europe. I’m the localization producer working on this title and I am thrilled to be doing so. I admit that I am not a “hardcore” FPW fan, however I am a “hardcore” gamer – always have been and always will be. Those who are familiar with the approval process at SCEA can understand that getting this title approved was not an easy task, however the gameplay greatly outweighs what some would consider poor and/or dated graphics.
With this being said – I would like both the NTSC and Pal version to be as authentic as possible. I am looking for some help from both the Fire Pro Club community and some key people who I can work closely with that have a solid and complete love for the series.
One of the things that make the Fire Pro Wrestling series so special is that it gives gamers hundreds of customization options for a created wrestler’s moves and appearances. Besides that, there are lots of fictional wrestlers as well as mixed martial artists who are grouped in a variety of federations.
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is expected to release in late 2007 or early 2008 in North America. However, there is no word on the European launch dates by Agetec. Mark Johnson had also revealed that they tried to launch Fire Pro Wrestling Z in the US but were thwarted by Sony, who declined to grant concept approval!