Blast has learned that THQ will announce brand new details regarding this year’s edition of their perennial Smackdown VS  Raw series as part of this weekend’s Wrestlemania festivities in Orlando, Fla.

Like last year’s title, 2009 will be available on most platforms, including Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP and DS, each with more than its fair share of new features and content.

Heavily touted for this year’s PS3 and Xbox 360 edition is the new focus on tag teams.  Players will now be able to team up in the new “Road to Wrestlemania” career mode — a first for the series and wrestling games in general.  New tag-centric finishers, momentum systems and storylines have all been teased.

Also announced is the new create-a-finisher mode. Long on the “wanted” list for years, the new mode will allow players to choose between more than 500 animations to create their dream finishing move.

Expected to tie in to this mode is the newly announced downloadable content, another first for the series.

Smackdown VS Raw 2009 will be the series second go-round on the Wii, and this year THQ plans to learn from last year’s lowly rated game and take full advantage of the systems capabilities. Promising more match types and the debut of online play, the Wii will feature a slimmed-down version of the aforementioned “Road to Wrestlemania” mode along with exclusive features including interactive entrances and victory celebrations.

Gamers looking to take their grappling skills on the road will be proud to know that the series will be returning to the PSP and Nintendo DS. The same team behind last year’s Dragon Quest Heroes is developing the DS version: Rocket Slime and is said to feature a RPG like season mode, and feature a new create-a-wrestler mode.

“The ambitious cross-platform launch of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 last year yielded tremendous growth for the franchise, as we delivered multiple gameplay experiences across seven platforms and greatly expanded our audience of WWE videogame fans,” said Bob Aniello, senior vice president for worldwide marketing at THQ in a report by IGN. “With dynamic new features and the extension of our gameplay experience through downloadable content, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 will bring more console, handheld and wireless gamers together to enjoy the virtual world of WWE.”

WWE fans can expect all of their favorite grapplers, from HHH and John Cena to Chris Jericho and Batista to be included as well as the now standard WWE legends. Stay with Blast until the game’s release this fall for continued coverage!

WWE Raw vs. Smackdown 2007 is the best wrestling video game to come out in the past year.

It is also one of the only wrestling titles to come out this past year.

This isn’t bad for wrestling fans, but it’s not that great either. While Raw vs Smackdown 2007 is an excellent game, it’s very similar to last year’s version, and indeed, the whole "Smackdown" series itself.

Since THQ has the licensing for WWE games, and WWE is by far the most watched wrestling organization, there is little reason to change what has been working because there is not really any competition in wrestling games. Hence, the world has Madden NFL games,

The game does have some upgrades compared to last years version of Raw vs Smackdown. The General Manager mode puts players in charge of the show. Players can now send their wrestlers to Heat and Velocity to work on their techniques and gain popularity (much like sending a player to the minors in baseball) There is also the ability to hire writers for better storylines.

Other improvements to the game include:

• More than 40 original storylines for the season mode, where users pick a wrestler and try to bring him to the top, facing a number of obstacles on the way.
• “Money in the Bank" Match
• Some new wrestlers (and more that can be unlocked)

One thing that Raw vs Smackdown didn’t do very well was the roster accuracy in the game. Some of the gimmics are not up-to-date, like Booker T not being King Booker, which he has been for quite a bit of time now. The whole ECW brand that is on WWE programming now, isn’t in the game and many of the game’s superstars are branded on the wrong show. The game also includes a number of wrestlers like Mark Henry, Joey Mercury, Kid Kash and the game’s most dominant wrestler, Kurt Angle, who are no longer with the company, while it omits Jeff Hardy, Spirit Squad, Charlie Haas, among others who are prominently on WWE television. This may seem like a minor thing but wrestling fanatics love to choose from a large selection of wrestlers and in Raw vs Smackdown 2007 there really isn’t one.

The negatives and the feeling of a being a little bit outdated aside, WWE Raw vs Smackdown 2007 is still a fun game that players will enjoy. The season mode is very addicting and with all the new storylines it will keep the players entertained for awhile. I’ll be anxious to see what THQ does with Raw vs Smackdown 2008, however, as I feel wrestling fans may start to get sick of the same game with a new year.