Nova

I'm definitely looking forward to the first show. The promotion seems very fitting for the year 1997, and I like how you've gotten a lot of older superstars, who would have been vets in that era. By the "I hope Hellwig's ok with the finish," comment, I get the feeling that Kurt Angle is going over, which is fantastic. I'd love to see Angle get a major push and carry WOW. The preview was golden, too, with Sgt. Slaughter giving a little preview. I think he'll serve as a fantastic commish.

This seems like a very interesting, unique, and creative idea. The best part about it is that while it is very different, it does not seem unrealistic at all. I'm not quite sure what exact year this is all taking place is in, but I'm guessing 1997-1998 ... However, I can definitely picture going back in this time period and seeing this style of wrestling promotion formed. What I'm going to be really intrigued by is seeing the younger superstars that you give pushes. I expect Kurt Angle to get pushed through the roof, and there's no problem with that. The vets like Shamrock, Inoki, Rude, etc are all good, but it's going to be very fun seeing the new faces that you give pushes and how lesser known characters develop. I'm looking forward to this.

Another interesting development in the backstory. Now things should really get suspenseful with Joey right on Raven Guy's tail, especially with all of the hint surrounding them. The conclusion to the whole Traci thing was a very smart way to keep Raven Guy's cover from being blown. But again, Smackdown didn't really interest me. It's the backstage segments and "Raven Guy Saga" that makes the diary, as the shows themselves are average at best. I do like how you're doing things in between the shows behind the locker-room, like Bentley telling Raven off. If you made it to where there were frequent behind the scenes segments like that in the middle of each show and started to link pushes on-screen with all of the political stuff behind the scenes, then we could really start to see some interesting developments.

Lovely work so far man. I think the shows are really undermined for the backstory, though. You've got some great stuff, like the hilarious idea of a ninja vs pirate feud, going for you on-screen, but what keeps me compelled are definitely the adventures of Raven's Guy. However, now it's time to get the drama kicked into gear. There's no way that Joey or others won't realize the trend of every one who goes to get drinks and give autographs ends up signing off with the WWE. And fortunately, I see the drama just beginning, with Traci unconsentual in signing with the WWE.

How does the recruiting process work in the March Madness games, and does March Madness have any other game modes besides dynasty/exhibition?

I've done some research but there is one thing I'm confused about. When searching for ESPN Basketball, the sites come up with the one from 2003, where 24/7 mode was introduced. Is NBA 2k6, for playstation 2 - the one with shaq on the cover - a continuation of the espn series? If not, what's the exact title for the newest playstation 2 nba basketball game, the one referred to in this thread with 24/7 mode and all.

Every year, I buy NBA Live 2006 for PS2 - it's probably my favorite game/series of all video games.

Staining my head for games to ask for on my Christmas list, while I've already got Madden 06, SDVR 06, etc, I'm trying to come up with some things to ask for.

I put Blitz: The League on the list and now I'm looking for a good basketball game to ask for.

For those of you who have played any of the alternatives to NBA Live ... What game series are best?

ESPN Basketball I've heard good reviews about and the 24/7 mode really interests me. Can someone go in depth about explaining this feature to me?

What about NBA 2k6? What features does it have? Which game has better gameplay?

How about NCAA Basketball? I don't know too much about college basketball, so it might take away from my experience that I know nothing about the college players, but what kind of features/game play does it have?

What do you think are the best basketball games for Playstation 2, bar NBA Live?

You've got me very interested thus far, and a huge reason for that is the fact that you're not debuting and pushing huge indy talents like A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. You're using OVW guys, who most writers don't touch and whom we will probably see being brought up into the WWE in the future(besides Jody Fleisch, but who am I to complain about a cruiserweight division with Jody Fleisch?) I'm worried that you might be pushing these guys a little fast, like Jeter immediately defeating HBK at WrestleMania, but that element could end up adding something to the diary. It's just essential that once you get to writing your shows, you paint these characters thoroughly for us. Give us more of the gimmick, as from the recap I haven't seen genuine characters debuting so much as guys getting into storylines. I wanna know more about Jeter's actual character, not that he was debuted as Dinsmore's partner and feuded with HBK, you know? How well you draw out these characters will be a decisive factor in this diary, I believe. You have certainly got the WWE going in an interesting direction with these new characters and champions, which is what really draws me to this diary.

Like the Bischoff/Flair near-physical confrontation. Keep feeding off of their hate for each other.

PPV Name: Spring Fanpede

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Booker T vs Diamond Dallas Page

WCW United States Championship

Booker T vs Chris Kanyon

WCW Tag Team Championship

NBT(O'Haire/Palumbo) vs Mamalukes(Vito/Bull)

Cruiserweight Championship

Shane Helms vs Shannon Moore

Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship

Filthy Animals(Mysterio/Kidman) vs Air Raid(AJ Styles & Air Paris)

Special Attraction Matches

Blitzkrieg vs Super Crazy

Chad Collyer & Shelton Benjamin vs Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway

Everything is real solid before. I think you should slow up on the writing, just a little bit, though, and try to do a little more thorough work. I know you're a great writer, Szumi, and you're capable of a lot, and I feel the backstage segments have been a little below your standards. The content isn't a problem, but I think that you should try to let each character portray ... a character, and build their own identidies backstage, that way you can build chemistry within the Flair/Sting/Bischoff trio and really make things interesting.

As for my vote, I vote to tell Kev to take his things and shove it. Let's see a new WCW.

The backstory was a great read, made me laugh a couple of times. Everything looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing how you can clean things up. But isn't SmackDown on Friday's now? You listed it as Thursdays.

Backstory was a good read. While if you personalized the nWo, I suppose it wouldn't be too bad, I actually think you'd be better off without it. The Monday Night Wars are defined with the Attitude Era and the nWo. When writing something like this, your main objective should be to REDEFINE it. Just take some time to think of a new, huge storyline rather than nWo to rewrite WCW during this period.

So far I like everything. Very nice concept, although I feel the writing will improve as you go along and get the feel for everything. Samoa Joe was a good client choice. One thing I think you should emphasize is promos. Your manager needs a personality, on and off screen.

It also seems a little obvious to me that the attacker is Brock Lesnar. Who cares, though? Lesnar vs Joe will fucking own.

I know I haven't dropped feedback, but I did read a little bit up to the first show and liked what I see. I plan to catch up on everything this weekend and give you some more in-depth feedback. At the moment, however, I do have a question. I see you posting the FWE results and have seen other people talk about "oh I'm playing as TNA...this was the results of WWE's last show." Is it possible in EWR to view cards that other promotions put out, or is that perhaps an TEW feature?

Looking great. I'm hoping for a babyface vs babyface, Ric Flair vs Sting for the unification of the two heavyweight titles. I'm a huge surfer Sting mark.

I often look through the very last pages of the diary dome. just to look for good diaries to read. I've read quite a bit of your work, and have seen you're an excellent writer, I've just never seen a diary of yours that's very long. I love the concept of this, as I loved WCW in the days of the blonde haired Sting, etc, and think that if you do keep on with this, it could very well be my favorite diary on the board.

Awesome! This was the diary I was most into on the boards and I was incredibly disappointed when you disappeared. Welcome back and I'll be following this.

This was a very good backstory, because as jimmy sartyr said, you incorporated current events into it. The work that's billed as a shoot with WWE and Matt Hardy, the UPN network spoiling Hassan's title shot at SummerSlam, etc. The roster definitely looks interesting, as I'm especially interested in seeing what you do with Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa, both past their prime but still great wrestlers. The addition of Sting is always interesting, as well. The only thing I'm a little iffy about is the fact that you didn't include A.J. Styles. He could be a great addition to your roster, being so popular(probably the most popular indy star in the world,) but mostly him having been such a key superstar in TNA, I can't imagine him not being in this type of promotion. But hey, either way, good work.

Very good show. I like the match write ups because they do give you a feel for the match, and you don't write novels. Quality before quantity is what you're displaying, and I like that. I'm hoping to see a promo from Robert Van Winkle in the future. He seems like he's quite an established superstar in your fed and we haven't gotten any opportunities to really get to know his character. I'm looking forward to Daniels vs Styles vs Shane, although I feel it came a little too suddenly, Styles and Shane seemingly picked as opponents out of the blue. The Television title tournament should be fun, as well ... I think you should crown Low Ki your TV champ.

Very good backstory, you've got an excellent writer, and I am thoroughly enjoying this diary. I will definitely be reading, as I can't wait for your next show. I hope you eventually end up doing an Eddie Guerrero vs Christopher Daniels feud over the PXW World Heavyweight Championship. *Drools.* Keep up the good work.

I just read this from beginning to end and enjoyed every minute of it. This diary is simply incredible - although I am pretty new here, this is the best diary I've read yet. The backstory is extraordinary, I love the portrayal of your character and how you've basically diggen deeper into the NWA Domination '05 scenario's backstory and explained every promotions history. I can't wait to read on.