FriskyTanuki
03-01-2007, 09:16 PM
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/9695
Looks good just from that little bit.
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3157626&sec=PREVIEWS
At a press event earlier this week, we got our hands-on the first Tony Hawk competitor in ages, Skate (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3153762). Even though it's an early build, an intuitive control scheme is definitely intact. Instead of shredding with button presses, Skate puts every trick on the analog sticks. The game is immediately exciting because it's like nothing you've played before. And while the controls take getting used to, we equate succeeding in the game to pulling off tricks in real life.
Where Tony Hawk will have you bounding over rooftops within minutes, here, mastering a kickflip is its own reward. In fact, the game's progression isn't focused on improving your Air stats or your Grind skills over the course of playing. Instead the goal is to consistently execute tricks, and evolve organically -- just like real skating.
Obviously, the Tony Hawk comparisons are inevitable. But instead of asking what's different between the two games, we asked the game's executive producer, Scott Blackwood, what's the same.
"You're on a skateboard. You're on the ground. Other than that, tricks are tricks," says Blackwood. "[Comparing our game to Tony Hawk's is] like comparing a real-time strategy game to a first-person shooter. The controls, the physics, the way we're presenting skateboarding in a realistic, authentic way -- the two are completely different games."
One thing the games have in common is that Project 8 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3150235) and Skate both take place in fictional skate utopias. EA's game plays out in San Vanelona -- a fictional mix of San Francisco, Vancouver, and Barcelona. But the skaters are definitely real, and 19 of them are represented -- including Danny Way, Mark Gonzales, Rob Dyrdek, Mike Carroll, P.J. Ladd, Jerry Hsu, Paul Rodriguez and Dennis Busenitz. Of that list, Danny Way is the most achieved and famous, but that only matters to the creators of Skate in terms of authenticity, not in terms of a big name on the box.
"We never really intended to make it a Danny Way versus a Tony Hawk comparison," says Blackwood. "It's not the Danny Way skateboarding game, and that's not something Danny looked for, either. We wanted to keep it true to the culture. Skateboarding isn't about one skater, not about one person. Danny just wanted to be involved, and wanted to help us get it right. He was instrumental."
Thoughts that this game is a Tony Hawk rip-off could not be further from the truth. One of the echoed phrases at the event was "without footage, it's fiction." In Skate, you can save footage of your most insane stunts, and even post the video online. With Tony, there's no question -- when you're grinding a city-long line, it's most definitely fiction.
Sounds cool.
New Screens (http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3153762&sec=IMAGES)
Looks good just from that little bit.
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3157626&sec=PREVIEWS
At a press event earlier this week, we got our hands-on the first Tony Hawk competitor in ages, Skate (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3153762). Even though it's an early build, an intuitive control scheme is definitely intact. Instead of shredding with button presses, Skate puts every trick on the analog sticks. The game is immediately exciting because it's like nothing you've played before. And while the controls take getting used to, we equate succeeding in the game to pulling off tricks in real life.
Where Tony Hawk will have you bounding over rooftops within minutes, here, mastering a kickflip is its own reward. In fact, the game's progression isn't focused on improving your Air stats or your Grind skills over the course of playing. Instead the goal is to consistently execute tricks, and evolve organically -- just like real skating.
Obviously, the Tony Hawk comparisons are inevitable. But instead of asking what's different between the two games, we asked the game's executive producer, Scott Blackwood, what's the same.
"You're on a skateboard. You're on the ground. Other than that, tricks are tricks," says Blackwood. "[Comparing our game to Tony Hawk's is] like comparing a real-time strategy game to a first-person shooter. The controls, the physics, the way we're presenting skateboarding in a realistic, authentic way -- the two are completely different games."
One thing the games have in common is that Project 8 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3150235) and Skate both take place in fictional skate utopias. EA's game plays out in San Vanelona -- a fictional mix of San Francisco, Vancouver, and Barcelona. But the skaters are definitely real, and 19 of them are represented -- including Danny Way, Mark Gonzales, Rob Dyrdek, Mike Carroll, P.J. Ladd, Jerry Hsu, Paul Rodriguez and Dennis Busenitz. Of that list, Danny Way is the most achieved and famous, but that only matters to the creators of Skate in terms of authenticity, not in terms of a big name on the box.
"We never really intended to make it a Danny Way versus a Tony Hawk comparison," says Blackwood. "It's not the Danny Way skateboarding game, and that's not something Danny looked for, either. We wanted to keep it true to the culture. Skateboarding isn't about one skater, not about one person. Danny just wanted to be involved, and wanted to help us get it right. He was instrumental."
Thoughts that this game is a Tony Hawk rip-off could not be further from the truth. One of the echoed phrases at the event was "without footage, it's fiction." In Skate, you can save footage of your most insane stunts, and even post the video online. With Tony, there's no question -- when you're grinding a city-long line, it's most definitely fiction.
Sounds cool.
New Screens (http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3153762&sec=IMAGES)