So I saw this on Joystiq this morning, but after clicking through all of the “we saw this on this other site” links it traces back to a UK game site called DarkZero, who apparently did some actual listening during Activision’s quarterly earnings call and discovered that the company is giving Tony Hawk the year off.
Some people are taking this opportunity to mention EA’s Skate, which was able to enter the skateboarding genre and clean up in its first year, while the Tony Hawk series has been shambling on like a zombie for awhile now. Personally, my first reaction was one of abject stokedness, which isn’t even a word!
As a longtime Tony Hawk player, I’ve thought that the series has needed some more-serious changes for awhile now. I don’t think any of the games have been bad, but every year certain things just started to feel more and more tired. Sure, the game delivered a large, mostly-new world to skate in every year, but the handful of new mechanics introduced every year always fall a little flat. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Nail the Trick, but the last huge and 100% successful game-changing thing to happen to Tony Hawk was the addition of the revert. And that was added in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.
Hopefully giving Neversoft an additional year will return the series to its former glory. Also, hopefully Neversoft isn’t just looking at EA’s game and thinking of ways to emulate it. I thought Skate was a good first entry that provided a different take on skateboarding, but it’d be a shame to see the leader-to-follower transition happen that fast.
I think I already know the answer to this question, but do you still care about Tony Hawk? Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one left.
83 Comments
Don’t worry Jeff. I care.
I know people who care, I never really cared, but if someone cares enough for me then I might get the next one.
I care, but when was the last time I got a Tony game for the PC HUH!?!?
I would be interested if they try something new with the series. I do think that Skate has a much better control scheme, but it also has much room for improvement. Maybe the new Tony Hawk game will bring that.
I have been done with that series after THPS4. Just because they all felt the same to me.
I very much care about the direction in which the Tony Hawk series has taken. Proving Ground was the first installment of the series that I wasn’t able to purchase at launch because of the terrible reviews that it was given. The fact that I still haven’t played it, although I did try the demo, brings me great sadness. Here is hoping that this years Tony time-out will bring an actual innovation in the series.
I care. At least a little. I still played Project 8 and Proving Ground, at least… Didn’t buy them at launch, but hey, when they were clearanced…
And yeah, I agree. I think the year off could really do this series good. And I agree with something I think you either said in your blog or in one of the podcasts of the past: I hope that Tony Hawk goes for the “totally crazy” route. If Skate is going to go for realism, Tony Hawk needs to do what Tony Hawk does best: stuff that should never, ever be possible for a real skater to do. That’s a lot of what makes the series fun.
I did care, until i got the last game and felt like everything had been “Phoned In” even the character interaction was weak. They need this reboot to the system.
I used to get hyped for new Tony Hawk games. The last game I really cared about was Project 8. I thought that it was the most realistic feeling TH. Skate kinda took my interest away from TH, and I see the next TH game using the Skate mechanics. Is that a bad thing? That answer all depends on how much they borrow.
I really love Tony Hawk, but i think that last games were just too easy, like, manual and flip all the time and you had one of those combos that were almost imposible in THPS 2 or 3. And EA Skate brought a really nice control scheme, and some much more realistic physics than Tony Hawk’s… And that is what made me like it, i saw a real skating thing, i mean, Tony Hawk’s always had “impossible to achieve in real life” things, but then it was more of a fantasy game, by the means of “HYPER MOON PHYSICS” without activating the cheat. Though, no Tony Hawk let me down, but EA’s Skate really gave me another point of view, really worth it. You can’t grind a rail up a stair, cuz you go slower and stop, and you can’t jump 500 km with a normal kicker and spin 1295529 grades. I really care about Tony Hawk games because it was a great game, but latest games, haven’t been that great, and i would like to have a game come back to its roots.
I will care the second they give me something new to care about. Its time for change in the white house and on tony hawk. Obama ‘08 (yes I did just slip a political reference onto Giantbomb.com)
The first Tony Hawk game I played was THPS2 and it blew my mind, it was so fun and actualy got me to nag my mother to buy me some cheap ass board.
When I got THPS3 on my GameCube it was even better but from then on with the super played out jackass guys the game became more arcade then it used to be (don’t get me wrong the series has always been far from a sim but when you could do stuff like coffin grinds it got too silly for me) and I kinda lost interest and took skateboarding for real a whole lot more seriusly.
EA’s SKATE was the first skating game I’d played in a looooong time and boy it still is an amazing experience, not so much the story mode because I thought that was a little weak but the fact you could have so much fun just on a little bank or manual pad (in real life I spend hours just on a little curb), the online freeskate is what I like the most, because you can have real sessions just like you would in reality and 90% of the people that play really skate so you’re not playing with some 12 year old prepubesent scratch.
Anyways enough of that all I really need to say is I’m no longer interested in the Tony Hawk franchise, not because the games are bad but because what I look for from a skateboarding game is completely different, I think it would be silly for Neversoft to make a SKATE clone, instead they should just blow it out and go more crazy with levels in space with a hoverboard.
I’m not a huge fan of Tony Hawk, but if Tony Hawk X is set in space I’m in. I really do not want them to recreate Skate.
I’ve never really cared for skateboarding, let alone the TH series. But I found skate to be a hugely enjoyable game, so this doesn’t seem like a big deal to me (unless the next installment of TH manages to be just as, or more, enjoyable)
finally, i want to see a REALLY!!! good THPS game again. By the way Jeff you were right about Call of Duty 5 using fours engine. I just saw it on Kotaku.com
I’ve been a pretty die-hard fan since the very first game, and this kind of comes as a blessing in my opinion. Proving Ground was so… it was just… confused with itself. It seemed to try to be more realistic while still keeping the surreal edge of past Hawk games, and its that departure that’s really gotten me to dislike the franchise. If they can go back to the physics and gameplay from THPS3, there’d be nothing stopping the game from selling like nobody’s business.
I kinda care about the Tony Hawk series…
I liked Project 8, but didn’t like Proving Grounds…
I think that Tony would benefit if he came out bi-anually like they’re planning now…
I personally only care about having a skating game on each console, so, Tony could even pull a Nintendo, and come out with a new game per-generation… which I wouldn’t mind at all…
but, come to think of it… i’d rather see 2 Tony Hawk games in one generation, just because, usually, I’m done with a skating game after a while… and i’d like a new one…
every year was a bit too much, but every other year seems like the right path… I might prefer a “every three years” cycle…
in your standard 6 year game-system lifespan, you’ll see one game come out near the launch of a system, then one come out in the middle… then another come out near the beginning of the next-gen console… it’d be a great system…
tell you the truth, i don’t care much for skateboarding games or any other sports games for that matter
Gotta tell ya, I’ll take Skate and flipping the right stick to Ollie over hitting the Tony Hawk Ollie button any day.
To grind, ollie and land on something grindable. Don’t hit the grind button.
Speaking of landing on something grindable…
Never did care about Tony Hawk. I played Pro Skater 2 with cheats back in the day but I lacked the interest to actually become good at any of the games. On the other hand I played a whole lot of Skate when that came out, looking forward to the next one.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is the game that atually forced me into the console market for the first time since Genesis. I bought an XBOX for Christmas 2002 and basically left PC gaming behind. That said, I haven’t touched a tony hawk since. What’s the point?
I still care for Tony Hawk. The guys over at Neversoft seem like a talented bunch, so hopefully they’ll bring something truly original and amazing to the table.
I don’t care any more. For me the last decent TH game was Underground 1.
I haven’t played any Tony Hawk games in a long time. I really don’t care anymore, but I would like for a new one to come out.
I played Project 8 a bit but overall, no I haven’t really cared about the Tony Hawk franchise in awhile. I am glad they are going to put more time into this next one though, hopefully it can rejuvenate interest in the series.
“awhile” isn’t a word either, it’s two words.
I’d like to see a skateboarding game that combines things we have seen for years, like missions, accomplishing goals etc., combined with a more realistic competition side. Let me skate a whole season on something like the mountain dew tour, then compete in the x games in august. Let me buy a house in so cal and build my own ramp so I can practice year round. Let me take some fellow competitors out for sushi, get them drunk and convince them to teach me new moves. Just basically take skating and inject the same superstar mode type stuff from madden. I feel like the things real skaters do have still not yet been truly represented in game form and that some of the things I’ve mentioned would go a long way to making that happen.
I care, but not as much as I used to.
I think it all went downhill from about 4 to THUG. They could of had a good thing going for it. When they announced THUG I was like sweet, a GTA with skateboards and boy was I wrong. I think if they went down this route it would set them apart. In newer additions theyve tried to go with the ‘open world’ aspect that seems so kool these days but I dont think they really got what would make an open world fun and instead just slammed it in there because its a buzzterm amongst the world of gaming.
I would really like an open world Tony Hawks that is relevant to the skateboard community and hopefully they can regenerate the franchise by doing a Call Of Duty on their ass. Taking a year out is good news all round IMO.
make a new how to build a bomb or I will attack your sink!
I haven’t really cared much about a Tony Hawk game since Pro Skater 3. I got Project 8 but probably only played it for a couple hours before it got super old.
I can’t really think of anything to change the Tony Hawk series that would get me back into it.
Tony Hawk represents the bullshit idea of a skateboarding loser making money for doing something every kid did growing up since the 70’s. Being good at doing something so dumb deserves local pussy and some trophies, not multi-million dollar sponsorship deals. This isn’t the NBA folks.
I defer to the only decent skateboarding game worth a crap: Skate or Die. Using the turbos to jump so high you crash through the ramp is the greatest achievement worthy of such an asinine “sport”.
Troll more.
I played the first four games a ton, but I haven’t played any of the games after 4. The DS Tony Hawks that Vicarious have been putting out are totally rad though.
I think that Tony Hawk franchise would be cool with Skate’s controls, but, adding a few things like… flatland tricks (not hyper mega freestyle tricks like in THUG 1 and 2, THAW, THP 8 nor THPG), cool freestyles like Rodney’s. And remove all stupid things like… PRIMO HANDSTAND GRIND!!!really? well, actually… yes, get rid of it, it ruined the game. And stupid goals also ruined the game… for example: Use that quarter pipe to reach the amateur mark… it was just, so… DUMB, yup, that’s the word.
Well i think that’s the whole thing… Uh, no, wait… i think that a 4 player split screen would kick ass.
I’m still rooting for Tony; Even though Project 8 killed my long-time love for the games once and for all, The new one might just bring me back if it is good enough.
If it has time travel, hover boards, and Hitler face grinds (that singe his flesh due to the hover boards afterburner, I’m in.
unfortunaetly you might be the only one that cares. I loved the TH 2 and played the hell out of that. Then I took some time off, and never really played another one til i saw it in a bargin bin (it was after 3, thug version i think). When I tried to play that, I didn’t even get into the third big area before I was just bored of it and never played it again.
I see both sides of this being good or bad for the Tony Hawk series. I could be bad because if they miss out for a year people will forget about Tony Hawk games ever more then before. But it could also be good because it would give the series time to really reboot and do something new and fresh. I’m hoping next year Tony Hawk is a great game so it can compete with skate 3, cause I loved the Tony Hawk games!
Unfortunately, I have stopped caring for Tony Hawk games now. They just got to similar to each other and I thought “Well, I have this one, don’t need to go and buy another one that will be the same game that has one little extra feature that will probably be useless anyway.”
Actually, that is probably too long a thought for me, but it went something like that.
I never gave a flying fuck about the series until Tony Hawk Underground.
After that game i still haven’t cared for Tony Hawk.
I haven’t played a Tony Hawk game since THPS 3. From what I’ve heard, the series went down after that installment. It will be best for them to take a year off and figure out where they want the series to go.
The next one should do something with the Wii Balance Board or use its own skateboard controller like Guitar Hero. Get rid of the “Tony Hawk” name because the brand is tarnished.
Thank goodness. This series definitely needs a break.
I haven’t cared about the Tony Hawk series since the first one.
Oh yes, I definitely do care about THawk, I was wishing for something exactly like this.
Having a game release every two years and having DLC or something for the one game in the extra one year so that the value of it is still kept fresh (with Good dlc Imean not some extra characters or anything)
I am really looking forward to getting the next one
I care. I’ve been caring since I rented Tony Hawk Pro Skater at least five times- and spent hour after hour perfecting my moves and unlocking things.
I care.
I care, but the series has kinda been going downhill since 3.
i care if its a good game. the last couple game were trash IMO.
Unless you count Skate or Die, my first encounter with a skating game was the PS3’s Skate, and I can’t imagine ever switching from that to some robotic trick system. The sim aspects were just too interesting.
I fear its to late. Ive just plain burnt myself out on it. I had a dam good time doing that though.
I always loved the atmosphere in the Hawk games, but as you say the mechanics are getting a bit tired.
I cared back in the day. I played some games after TH3 and they just seemed… the same. The series needs an overhaul IMO. Hopefully a year off will do some good, and now I’m kinda stoked to see what they come up with.
I still care. The first 5 games in the series were all amazing in their own way and I was one of those people you called “Completely Wicked Ruthless” in your American Wasteland review; I was completely obsessed with the online play for a long time. Ever since THUG though, the game has been slowly going downhill; I didn’t even buy the last one. I was very, very happy to hear the news that Tony Hawk is going on a year’s vacation. Let’s just hope that NeverSoft can get back to it’s old gold standard. This is the best thing that could have happened to the game.
My only fear is that they will try to make a competitor for Skate. Tony Hawk games are about crazy impossible tricks off Russian tanks while being chased by clowns. That mentality needs to stay or the charm of the series will be lost.
I cared about Tony Hawk. I hadn’t played a game since Tony Hawk 2 on the Dreamcast and when I made my re-entry with Project 8, I was sort of hit over the head with how hardcore that game has become. For somebody looking to get in to Tony for the first time (or somebody who hadn’t played a Hawk in roughly 5 years), the game has a pretty ridiculous learning curve. It feels like it more or less burrowed itself in to this little niche of “A Tony Hawk Game for Tony Hawk Fans”.
Almost right off the bat I was assaulted with objectives that were of the “They want me to do WHAT? Man, screw that noise.” variety. I think after months of struggling I finally managed to unlock the final location, The Fun Park, and put the game down and haven’t felt like picking it back up again.
I’ve noticed a lot of similar difficulty problems in other Neversoft games. Spider-man 2 had a lot of “Impossible to win normally, you just have to get lucky” battles near the end, and this same influence seems to have seeped in to Guitar Hero 3 a bit.
I agree, Neversoft should just let Tony Hawk be crazy and over the top and not try to make it more like skate. I really miss the days when a new tony hawk game meant good times.
I’m excited for skate 2 though :/
I love THPS games, they are a giant icon fron my childhood with all that punkrock and that hilarious tricks, i still remember when we got the most difficult video tape in the old THPS 1 in my best friend house, we were screaming louder and louder those last seconds before taking the video tape because it was really insane the path the game was set to take it. It was an awesome experience from THPS 1 to 3, then i started playing a lot of MMORPGS and i abandoned the console scene for some years only playing must buys, by that time any THPS game sounded as a must buy in any video game journalism site.
Hell yeah, what an incredible time we spent with those games
how old is t hawk nowadays? I used to love the old thps games for the 64… but i think its a bit overdone. skate blew my mind. my gf and i loved the game.
I care about Tony Hawk
I love the Tony Hawk series (not every single game though)
I certainly feel that there is room for Skate and Tony Hawk to co-exist. To me they feel like Forza Motorsport and PGR. They’re both driving games but they’re still both totally different.
I love Tony Hawk games, ever since they had started. Its good they are giving the series a year off as long as the next game is kick ass and out does the competition.
what could they do to make a new stuff. Skate boarding will always be a skate boardin unless the developers want to get a bit over the edge
nice coward links.
you r coward for linking to other site scared
I always thought it was a bad idea to promise 15 new THPS games before you even knew what to do with them… they were getting as bad as the sports games…
I care about Tony Hawk. Loved Sk8land on DS
I have loved Tony Hawk for a while, and saw Tony 4 as a true evolution of the series. I was looking for that same thing with Project 8, but the frame rate, even on 360, killed me. Another year to reassess is exactly what they need. I’m glad Skate brought on the competition, and I hope that this will further prove that competition serves the comsumer’s best interests.
I don’t know why, but I still really enjoy each Tony Hawk game. I play the crap out of them. Some of my favorite games.
my brother was a big fan, but i never cared about them that much
I haven’t finished a Hawk game since 3.. the rest have been dreadful
although I have bought/played all of them…
I definitely still care. I’ve had all of them besides American Wasteland and Proving Ground, and that series has had some real highs (THPS3 THUG and P8) As well as some lows (THUG2 kinda collapsed under it’s own weight of 500 tricks and fawning over Bam Margera).
I definitely want to see them pull of something great with the franchise, I’m just wondering what they could do? Too serious and we get at best, another skate, and at worst another proving ground (the demo was enough to seal in me that it wasn’t going to be my sort of TH game), too arcadey and silly we could get THUG2, and too “boiled down to the basics” and we’ll just have the same game we’ve played time and time and time again.
It’ll be the same when we get to GHX…no matter how you dress it up, you’ll never escape the core thing you’re doing, and when you’ve played that practically every year for a decade, well…
Although, I guess the same could be said for Fifa and Madden, but I’m not daft enough to believe that those games sell because of their greatness or innovations, Fifa 64 was terrible and sold by the bucketload.
For me THPS1 and 2 were the best in the series. I know everyone seems to think 3 was amazing, but I didn’t like the levels as much. Does anyone remember the demo of THPS2. I had it on the playstation, the Marseilles level. You had to get a high score and then it would give you a code so u could put your score online, not dissimilar to the grid demo. I spent hours and hours on that demo perfecting a run with massive combos by getting up on to lamp posts etc. Then I went online to enter my high score to find that people had cracked the code and just put unbelievably high scores on the score board. I was well gutted.
Though I only played the first three, I liked THPS 2 the best.
Sorry, I’m done with Tony Hawk.
sad how when i think of tony hawk i think of a game not a person
It’s strange. Normally I like this kind of game, but I never really got into the whole Tony Hawk series. Back in the days the only similar title I played was Aggressive Inline and I really liked it, though.
I’ve been playing those games since the beginning back when it was something new and totally fun. But after Pro Skater 2, I stop caring because it got old. To tell you the truth, I totally skipped 3 and played a port for THPS4 on the MAC which was okay.
But I will tell you one thing though, the originals like THPS and THPS2 were revolutionary and will always be the best and most fun in the franchise.
I loved the tony hawks series. I bought every one from THPS2 to THUG2, but then I started realising that they were basicly the same game over and over and over.
But do I care about it - sure. I would love to see a new tony hawk game that is diferent, and isn’t just the same as the last ones, but untill that happens, I won’t be buying another one.
You gave THPS3 a 10!You better fucking care!
No way do I still care about Tony Hawk. I really liked Underground a lot, but I really couldn’t find anything I enjoyed about THUG2, and I’ve taken a pass on every game since then.
I admire your resolve, Jeff.
I enjoyed the older games, but year after year they’ve been essentially releasing the same game over and over. I got tired of the series a long time ago, and even completely re-doing the engine wasn’t enough to get me interested again. It just needs some rest for a while.
Not releasing a game this year is definitely the right move, especially after how hard they were pwned by Skate.
Tony Hawk really broke my heart.
I was a huge fan of the series until THUG2 where the series really started a long steady decline.
However Im always open for a 2nd chance, just like I gave DMC after DMC2.
In the meantime however its skate all the way baby.
Maybe with a year off they can release a Tony Hawk game that’s bug free for once. I’m sick of all the freeze ups and other glitches that have plagued the last few TH games.
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[…] has done with their flagship console versions. Jeff Gerstmann recently wrote a similarly-themed blog entry that echoes my sentiments… and no, he’s not the only one who cares about the Tony Hawk […]