P.A. man wrestles video game idea to life

Prince Albertans know their video games.

Dave Wishnowski, a St. Mary High School graduate from Prince Albert, is now in Vancouver finishing up his wrestling video game, Pro Wrestling X, which he hopes to have out for Christmas.

He said he always loved video games and remembers going to his friend's house to play Atari when he was young. His tastes have matured since then.

Wishnowski got the idea to make a video game when he came home for Christmas one year and was playing wrestling games with his brother. He thought the games were really bad and it just went from there.

His love for wrestling began just as early.

One of his early memories was his dad taking him to Stampede Wrestling.

"I was raised on wrestling like most Canadians are raised on hockey."

His game is based on Canadian wrestling culture.
Wishnowski said video games are big in Vancouver and he was able to get the resources he needed.

"The opportunity was staring us in the face."

The process has taken him about four or five years to get where he is now.

With no prior knowledge of video game creation, it took him and his employees two to three years to even have the information base to start to make a video game. Last summer they received the funding - a loan from Telefilm Canada.

They are currently at the stage where they have the first playable version. Wishnowski said there are two more to go before the game is able to go on the shelf.

He said he would love to make more games and has even had people contact him about making different games if this first one goes smoothly.

He said he would like to stay with combat games.

"I keep progressively going further and further back to my first love - video games," said Wishnowski.

He said his game sits apart from other wrestling games because they are all WWE, which he says are big, flashy
and not very realistic.

His game is a little more blue collar because it is grittier and down to earth.

"People will like it because it is different."
Wishnowski added he would like to open a second studio in Prince Albert if he had the chance.