THQ brought the action of the squared circle to Comic-Con, showing off the latest entry in its hit WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW franchise at its booth this year. Game Almighty dared to step into the ring with the Xbox 360 version of the game, and immediately put it into our patented submission move. And now it's time for a little post match smack talk. I had the chance to chat with THQ reps to see how this year's entry in the SD vs. RAW series differed from previous versions.

First off, the company explained how this year's game was developed with the hardcore wrestling fan in mind. Now, we're not just talking "hardcore" in the sense of fans that really like a particular game. We're talking REALLY hardcore … ECW style. That's right, for the first time, THQ is fully incorporating the WWE's ECW brand into the mix, right alongside the WWE's other two flagship shows, Friday Night SmackDown and Monday Night RAW.

Besides bolstering the WWE roster with a robust selection of ECW bad boys, WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2008 also includes the option for hardcore, anything goes, "Extreme Rules" matches. Players can battle it out in the crowds seated in the front row, or they can get really nasty and whip out any number of weapons from under the ring. An added twist to this year's game is the addition of selectable foreign objects. Whenever a player reaches under the ring for a weapon, a small screen comes up which lets the player choose exactly what kind of weapon they'll bring into the ring. In the teaser video for the game, it even showed ECW star, Sandman, lighting a table on fire before putting someone through it.

The addition of the ECW brand isn't the only thing different about WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW this year. Now, for example, the Career and Manager modes have been combined to form the new WWE 24/7 mode. Players start off as the low man on the totem. Through a series of both impressive performances in the ring, as well as shrewd business practices outside of the ring, all talking place over a matter of years, players will rise through the ranks, ultimately reaching the pinnacle of success and being marked as a true "Legend".

Of course all of these modes mean nothing is the combat system sucks. Thankfully, that's not the case with WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2008. Listening to fans, the developers have added a lot more to the game. They've introduced eight new fighting styles to the game's library of moves. Players can assign both primary and secondary styles to their wrestlers, keeping the wrestlers from being perceived as cookie cutter cutouts of one another.

WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2008 introduces the idea of new "Struggle Submissions". In previous games, when one player got another in a choke hold or the like, the players would start with the button mashing to simply break the hold or to cause their friend(s) to submit and cry "Uncle". With the new system, though, both players have to work against each other in minigame style fashion. For example, with HHH locked up with Sandman, the HHH player had to keep rocking the analogue stick up and down to wrench Sandman's arms, while the Sandman player had to use the joystick to try and pull away from the submission move. This tug of war style of gameplay helps to keep the button mashing from wearing out your controllers.

And for those of you out there that enjoy adding a personal taste to your gameplay, the Create-A-Wrestler feature in WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2008 has been expanded as well. It features an updated interface and more than 200 new parts, all of which add polish to what is already one of the best character creation systems on consoles to date.

WWE SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2008 is due out later this year on the 360 and PS3. There will also be versions of the game released for the DS, Wii, and PSP. Wrestling fans had best not get counted out when the game enters the retail ring.