So, there has been an announcement about the new Tony Hawk game and also the new peripheral that he threatened to launch or design too.

Tony Hawk Ride is the new game from the famous skater and it features a deck that is used as the control method! The deck (still in prototype) appears to be using motion sensitive controls to allow the person using it to make the on-screen skater do the tricks.

You tilt the board left, your skater goes left. You kick the board 180, your skater does the same. Tony also says that the board is sensitive to grabs too so you can expect to be able to handle the board and your skater on the TV to do the same.

There is a video of Tony announcing and showing a demo of the device over at Gametrailers.com and you can also see footage of the new game too (which looks a lot like the old Hawk games).

I am not sure how well this will be received. Nothing is going to take the place of a real skateboard and I am not convinced that the board will not break under the stress of multiple flips and smashes into the nearest piece of furniture or hi-fi equipment!

Is it too little, too late for Mr Hawk? Go watch the video over at Gametrailers.com and then come back and let me know your thoughts.

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.

Man... I nearly wet myself when I watched this video.

This is what Skate 2 will give us.  Some quality realistic skating and the ability to make a really good looking video out of it!

To just imagine that this was only done with the Skate 2 demo is amazing!  What can we expect when the full game is released this week?

More... much more!

EA Skate 2 Demo Solo Realistic (Thanks Tripod)

Well.

The Skate 2 demo is here and I have spent a good few hours playing it (again and again) - so I present my thoughts and views on the successes and failures of this newest title from EA and Black Box.

I suppose we have to remember that this game is just the demo - and (hopefully) by no means the last and final version - although they are cutting it a bit fine if they are going to make any changes now.  Small things may be changed, but I expect that this demo is 99.9% true to what we will see when the game is released on the 23rd of January.

Graphics

The graphics do look better than the original Skate and certainly on my PAL 360, the framerate was much higher leading to a smoother and more polished feel to the game and the way it looks.  It does seem to suffer from slow down at some points, like when you crash off your board - but this may be intentional so you can see your face bite the coping in HD slow mo.

There is a difference between the quality and style of the graphics on Skate 1 and Skate 2 though.  Skate 1 seems more realistic to me.  Skate 2 seems more arcade like and dare I say it... more like the Tony Hawk series.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty much the same as Skate 1 but does seem better than before.  I can't quite put my finger on what exactly has changed apart from the addition of new tricks, new animations and new environments - but the whole game seems to have had an overhaul.

Getting off the board using the yellow button is a nice addition and I can see that it will be helpful to get to those out of the way places that you can see - but could never get to on Skate 1.

And I will go against my predictions - handplants, footplants and no-comply's are excellent!

Characters

There are lots of the usual pro skaters featured in the game and you play someone who has just got out from prison and has just come back to San Van (hence it has all changed).  One of the skaters/photographers in the game speaks of going down town to skate and is told that there are lots of security guards there.  I hope that this will not be too over stressed in the game.  Getting chased by the over zealous local rent-a-cop was funny in Skate 1 as they were so stupid - but if there are loads of them in Skate 2 it could become a little tiresome.

I also like the extra options you have to customise your skater, adding clothing, customising the deck and changing their body and face design.  I foresee the downloadable content for Skate 2 being in this area!

Replay Editor

Now.  This is the "drop kick you off your chair" part of Skate 2.  If EA get this bit right with the online side, they are laughing.  The editor has been changed to allow you to create "clips" to which you can assign various cameras and effects (effects not present in the demo though).  Even the simple addition of the tripod camera - which you can pretty much place ANYWHERE is amazing.  I was setting my camera to full zoom and getting in right close to the wheels of the deck as it popped a 360 shove it.  Add on the slow motion effect and you have a winner.  I was able to pause the trick mid jump and then position the tripod camera under the skater.  You then get a nice clip of the skater coming towards and over the top of you.

The video editor is going to be HUGE!  And I expect big things from all of those "realistic skate vid" makers out there on YouTube.

Conclusion

• It does feel a bit "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" to me at times - but after playing the demo for the 10th time I kinda forgot about it.
• The camera angle is a little too close at times - lets hope we can change it slightly.
• Moving stuff around is fun.  Try pulling a ramp off a ledge and letting it (and you) fall to make a new weird angle to skate on.
• Hippy jumps are cool.  Try doing it as you drop off the edge of a big ledge and see if you can land it.

Bring it on!

According to the most excellent Xbox360Fanboy website, we can expect to be able to download a Skate 2 demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace sometime between the 8th and 15th of Jan!

W00t!

There is also a chance to Download and Win as part of a Microsoft give-away!

Let me know if you see the demo before I do!