When it first came out I was a big fan of Skate. Huge in fact. It seemed to drop all the excess and bloat that THPS had become mired in and focused on real world capabilities (sorta). It was the Spike Jonze to Jerry Bruckheimer. But this goodwill is starting to dwindle since it would appear that EA is hellbent on rolling out yearly updates to this franchise with only minor changes. You could blame the duration of this console generation and the limits of the hardware but I you know what, if you spent an extra year or two on the engine, you could probably create something magical. I digress however.
Despite all this ill will I'm feeling towards the latest installment I've already pre-ordered it and paid in full. But simian, you ask, why would you do such a thing? Dear reader allow me to enlighten you.
I have a friend who also plays Skate and i must destroy him.
We've never actually played online together but since he's on my Friends list, the various high scores he's made populate the map. I'm compelled to find all this points and not only beat his score but do so great fury. If he does a 360 double kick-flip over a stair way gap, I have to do a backflip tail grab. He does a heelflip to 50-50 rail grind, I do a backflip to a BS 5-0. I do backflips, it's sorta my signature diss to him.
I can safely say that if it wasn't for him then I couldn't be bothered picking up this game. Maybe this is how Madden fans feel.

When it first came out I was a big fan of Skate. Huge in fact. It seemed to drop all the excess and bloat that THPS had become mired in and focused on real world capabilities (sorta). It was the Spike Jonze to Jerry Bruckheimer. But this goodwill is starting to dwindle since it would appear that EA is hellbent on rolling out yearly updates to this franchise with only minor changes. You could blame the duration of this console generation and the limits of the hardware but I you know what, if you spent an extra year or two on the engine, you could probably create something magical. I digress however.
Despite all this ill will I'm feeling towards the latest installment I've already pre-ordered it and paid in full. But simian, you ask, why would you do such a thing? Dear reader allow me to enlighten you.
I have a friend who also plays Skate and i must destroy him.
We've never actually played online together but since he's on my Friends list, the various high scores he's made populate the map. I'm compelled to find all this points and not only beat his score but do so great fury. If he does a 360 double kick-flip over a stair way gap, I have to do a backflip tail grab. He does a heelflip to 50-50 rail grind, I do a backflip to a BS 5-0. I do backflips, it's sorta my signature diss to him.
I can safely say that if it wasn't for him then I couldn't be bothered picking up this game. Maybe this is how Madden fans feel.

Don't feel bad man, I totally agree.  I have a friend who's been playing since the first game, and I've always been intrigued but never jumped in.  This year's game is looking great though, and I'm super compelled to grab it, and my desire to trump his scores is part of that.