Xbox360Fanboy reports that Neversoft and our favorite “ollie the bum” skater, Tony Hawk have parted ways and Neversoft will no longer be developing the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise of games!

Wow!  This is pretty big news.

After EA released Skate, they have pretty much dominated the skateboarding game market and have shown what a farce the THPS games have turned into.  Each new release seemed to get more and more silly and extra mini-games were thrown in.  The jumps and airs got bigger and bigger and the storyline got stupider.

This may be just what the Tony Hawk series needs to progress now that Skate 2 has been demoed and is due to be released later this month.

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Sometimes a new developer will be able to see the game with a new set of eyes and bring it back to the glory that it once was.

Do you think the Tony Hawk series will be able to come back against Skate?

EA have not been wonderful and keeping franchises fresh and cool – just
look at the regularly churned out efforts of FIFA or Tiger Woods. They
never get that much better and generally just end up adding more little
tweaks and additions which never amount to much more than the previous
years version!

Here are my thoughts on why Skate 2 will be pants:

1. Walking
I know this was one of the main complaints from the original – but is the ability to get off the board really that important? I think a better version of the ability to set a point to go back to and to be able to do it quickly would be better.

2. Girls
Now – before you get all “you are sexist!” on me – I like girls But I think their place in a skating game is not something that we should be celebrating. If EA had spent more time adding more pro skaters and better decks and equipment we would be happier! Wouldn’t we?

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3. Moving Stuff About
This is a sure sign that the game is turning into a Tony Hawk clone. Sure, it’s fun to move things around and make new jumps to ride on – but seriously – EA Skate was applauded for its originality and back to basics approach! Stick to the game plan EA. Whats next – “Ollie the bum” or collecting hovering letters and hidden tapes?

4. More Tricks
I know everyone wants to be Rodney Mullen and do flatland tricks and flippy finger flips to casper all the time – but come on… The Flick-it controls is the best control scheme available for any type of skateboarding game – ever! It is now going to be more complicated and you will have more buttons to mash until you can pull off the “no-comply finger flip airwalk to fakie” that you asked for. Again – more like Tony Hawk in my opinion. KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid!

5. Handplants
Footplants and no-comply’s = yes. Handplants = No. They are so 1980’s. Get rid of them.