Once you get past the age of 30 and your knees start to creak, crack and splinter at every bend to pick up your kids toys you may start to realise that Skateboarding is no longer an option.  You will have to resign yourself to playing Skate 2 or teaching your kids how to ollie - unless you get yourself a Sector nine longboard!

Sector Nine, now owned by Billabong, have been making skateboards and longboards for over 15 years and are the foremost manufacturer of longboards and long board technology.

Designed for speed, cruising, commuting or just good old plain downhill action, Sector longboards have a model for you.  They also make standard skate decks too.  A longboard is a more stable design of skateboard which adds to the stability of the ride and allows the owner to travel faster and safer - without the risk of too much Speed Wobble (which is how I broke my hand!)

Made from maple veneers, quality trucks and wheels, the Sector 9 long board is an excellent choice for those skaters who are not too interested in pulling a 360 laser flip - or are too old and too fat to care.  If you are taller, get a board that is wider which will give you a better, more stable ride.  Some of the longboard decks also come with more layers of veneer which will give you more strength in the deck itself - which overall adds to the stability.  If you really wanted to splash out you could get a sector 9 longboard skateboard that uses carbon fiber to make the whole deck lighter and stronger.

US ARMY PATCH - 9TH COAST ARTILLERY - PACIFIC COASTAL FRONTIER DEFENSE SECTOR US $11.99

T620 Mortal Kombat 9 Cyrax Sector Fight Art POSTER US $9.29

Sector 9 Longborad US $175.00

SECTOR 9 BERT CARVIN 9'ER COMPLETE SKATEBOARD LONGBOARD 47.75 US $149.99

SECTOR 9 BAMBOO SNAPPER COMPLETE SKATEBOARD LONGBOARD 8.75" X 34" US $149.99

SECTOR 9 MIN SHAKA GREY LONGBOARD COMPLETE 9.75" X 40.5" US $179.99

SECTOR 9 MIN SHAKA GREEN LONGBOARD COMPLETE 9.75" X 40.5" US $179.99

SECTOR 9 SUBTRACTION MINI BLUE LONGBOARD COMPLETE 8.25" X 31.75" US $129.99

SECTOR 9 SUBTRACTION MINI BLACK LONGBOARD COMPLETE 8.25" X 31.75" US $129.99

SECTOR 9 MR. JOEL TUDOR BLUE LONGBOARD COMPLETE 8.75" X 38.3" US $154.99

SECTOR 9 MR JOEL TUDOR BROWN LONGBOARD COMPLETE 8.75" X 38.3" US $154.99

SECTOR 9 EL AZTECA 4-PLY MAPLE/FIBERGLASS LONGBOARD US $149.00

Gullwing Mission 1 Longboard Trucks with Sector 9 nine ball wheels US $45.00

SOUND TRIBE SECTOR 9 FILLMORE CONCERT POSTER F486 US $40.00

Sector 9 Longboard US $70.00

Sector 9 longboard US $71.00

SOUND TRIBE SECTOR 9 FILLMORE CONCERT POSTER F541 US $20.00

Sector 9 longboard US $99.00

SECTOR 9 MAMA SAY RASTA COMPLETE LONGBOARD SKATEBOARD US $144.99

Sector Nine 9 Longboard 38'' Pre-Owned US $39.99

SECTOR 9 FREEMASON YELLOW COMPLETE SKATEBOARD LONGBOARD US $164.99

Bad Sector - Transponder CD (Industrial, Dark ambient) NEW 2011 inade herbst9 US $19.31

SOUND TRIBE SECTOR 9 WARFIELD 2007 BGP35 CONCERT POSTER US $60.00

SOUND TRIBE SECTOR 9 COLORADO 2002 STS9 CONCERT POSTER US $35.00

Original Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) Poster Fillmore San Francisco 2/26-3/1 2009 US $20.00

Pair of (2X) Sector 9 Skateboard Skate 4" Car Truck Decals Sticker US $3.99

Steering Rack/Sector SAAB 9-2X 699382 05 06 US $99.99

Steering Rack/Sector SAAB 9-3 521426 06 07 08 09 10 11 US $124.99

Phish Pin STS9 Sound Tribe Sector 9 Grateful Dead LSD US $25.00

SECTOR 9 Bob Marley Soul Rebel Complete Longboard US $179.99

Sector 9 Goddess of Speed wheels 83mm prototypes 78a US $5.00

Sector 9 / Skate House Media Skateboard Skate Surfboard Surf Stickers 3" x 2.5" US $.99

Sector 9 longboard US $41.00

sector 9 longboard,skateboard goddess US $32.00

SECTOR 9 LONGBOARD DECK BOARD JOE TUDOR SAN DIEGO SMOKEPIPE US $25.00

Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Autographed Copy - Artifact: Perspectives STS9 US $8.50

Sector 9 Looking Glass 33.75 x 8.25 Sidewinder Complete Longboard Skateboard US $153.99

Sector 9 Bamboo Green Bush Complete Longboard US $159.99

Sector 9 BAMBOO Raglan Complete Longboard US $110.00

SECTOR 9 - Longboard Wheels - used US $6.50

Today, being the 23rd of Jan 2009 is the official launch day of Skate 2 by Electronic Arts and Black Box.

Despite there being some bad press, sore user reviews of the demo and overall apathy at the inclusion of some Tony Hawk style features, Skate 2 still guarantees to be the best skateboarding console game out there!

Bring it on!

Check out the Gamespy Skate 2 Review.
Another greate review by EDGE magazine.

There is also news around the web that for 400 microsoft points, you can unlock the entire Skate 2 game - giving you all of the areas, decks and extras that would normally take you 30 hours to complete!

I bet you don't get the achievements though!

See you online!  Add me on Xbox Live.  My gamertag is Taoski.

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?

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.