Argh! It's gonna hit me in the face

If you still have a pair of those nasty cardboard 3D glasses from the superbowl, head into the Skate 2 game and then to the Extras menu and enter this code:

strangeloops

Once you have entered this, you will be able to enjoy playing Skate 2 in full 3D – as long as you can still find that pair of glasses!

Thanks to EASkateTV and Engadget for pointing me in the right direction!

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.

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!

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EA Skate It for the Nintendo Wii is coming soon.  The video above shows a few tricks from the game and the associated controller/balance board techniques used to achieve them.

The video does make the game look pretty good – although I feel that overall the idea is flawed and the Wii Balance Board is only a gimmick.

The best bit is where the (human) person steps off the board mid rail slide and the skater falls and mashes his face!

Nice.

EA Skate It for the Nintendo Wii is scheduled for a mid November release.

Although my 360 currently has the Red Ring of Death, my brain is still in skate mode and therefore I present 2 EA Skate Tips.

1. Get more speed

If you were wondering how to jump that gap that you can’t quite make it over, or get top speed for doing a coffin down the hills, follow this tip.

As you are pressing the button to push your skate along, press UP at the same time on the left analog stick. This will lean your body forward slightly – as you do when pumping transition – and will make you go faster. You can also hold the left analog stick forward as you push, but I find that this does not give as much speed and also makes it hard to control your skater.

2. Land that jump

A tip I picked up reading the EA Skate page over at helpmewithmygameproblems.com.

To land a huge drop, grab your board using one of the triggers just before you land. Timing is everything on this one. Go practice off a huge ledge! Make sure you set a marker first though.

Has anyone else got a tip they would like to share?

Either contact me or post in the comments below and we can create a massive list.

Activision, the guys behind the mega popular Tony Hawk series of games have confirmed that Tony Hawk 10 will be coming to a console near you – possibly later this year.

After the success of EA Skate compared to Mr Hawks most recent outing, Activision admit they need to

Step up innovation

And that the next version of the Tony Hawk franchise will be a

complete re-engineering

I think that they can pull it back in the next release of the series. After all, we all grew up playing Tony Hawk games and they will certainly not go down without a fight after getting kicked up the ass by EA last time.

I suspect the game will be released in time for Christmas – but that also, EA will be timing the release of Skate 2 to be around that time too!

Let the wars begin.

Via Kombo.com / IGN

If you read through this blog, you might be forgiven in thinking that I love EA Skate and hate any Tony Hawk games.

This is not true.

I grew up playing the Hawk Series and the roots of any skateboarding game are still firmly footed in the original games from Neversoft.

I will admit, although I have played the demo of Tony Hawk Proving Ground, the most recent title, I do not own the game. I do own the title on the Nintendo DS – and have found it to be not too bad.

I dug through YouTube and found this video demonstrating several of the new THPG game’s features:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVH51y6bA-Y[/youtube]

I must admit – it still leaves me feeling a little cold. The Nail the trick stuff was cool when it was released in Project 8 but it’s getting a little overkill now.

Also the Hawk series has a underlying theme of violence and crime which may be fun for an in-game experience, but its not very close to the life of real skaters – although the media may see that verdict differently to me.

Personally – THPG is not for me.

Does anyone own EA Skate and Tony Hawk Proving Ground? Which do you play most?

Finger Fracture is a concept for a new game for the iPhone and iPodTouch from Vans that uses the devices unique touchscreen to control the skateboarder.

Using two fingers moved in different ways and combinations, you can perform various tricks and move the skateboarder around the various levels.

It is yet to be seen if this is a good new skateboarding game with a new control not seen before on a mobile device or a marketing tool for Vans to sell more shoes and clothing! If the project gets off the ground we will be one of the first to let you know!

Would you like to see this game become real? And have you got an iPhone anyway?

Via NewCreatives.com

EA have announced that they will not be making any downloadable content (DLC) available for their popular Skate game.

I think we were all expecting that perhaps EA would include DLC such as

• New decks
• New clothes and accessories
• New spots to “Own”
• New achievements

But all it appears we are getting is a big, fat load of nothing.

Lets hope that the least they do is provide a patch for the painful online play.

via Xbox360FanBoy