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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

[youtube]L4F-7jSxPQ0[/youtube]

An excellent, all out, balls to the grindstone, full speed technical smash of EA Skate action.

It's a little "Hawk" at times - but great stuff!

I am not sure how long this offer has been on the Amazon site but you can get EA Skate and  Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for the Xbox 360 for the grand sum of £45.93 in the UK and $109.98 in the US!

Considering I paid about £40 just for EA Skate when that came out last year - it's a pretty good deal.

Click the images below to go to the Amazon page for more information on each product and to buy the items together.

Do you want to know exactly where all of "the spots" are or how to do that complicated grab trick? Read on!

I have just come across this site whilst browsing the posts in the official XBOX360 Skate. Forum and it contains the most comprehensive list of EA Skate tips and downloads I have found so far.

Help Me With My Game Problems

You can download lists of tricks and a map of San Vanelona with all of the "Own the spot" locations marked and named.

The site also has pages for Tony Hawk Proving Ground and Project 8 - but they are not as detailed as the Skate. one.