Following the calamitous release of Tony Hawk: SHRED, the second peripheral-based skateboarding simulation...thing...in Activision's long-running Tony Hawk skateboarding franchise, skating enthusiasts everywhere began to wonder if we'd ever see another entry in the series. After all, typically when a game sells 3,000 copies in its opening week, said franchise tends not to get another chance to come back and try again. Then again, not all franchises are as seemingly inviolable as the Tony Hawk series.

And given that inviolability, it should come as minimal shock to anyone that apparently we will be getting some kind of Tony Hawk-related announcement come this Saturday around-ish the precise scheduled time of the Spike Video Game Awards. How do we know? Because Tony Hawk himself, perhaps in an attempt to remind us that he is still a real live person and still has a long-term contract with Activision that is binding and legal and whatnot, tweeted as such.

So readeth the tweet:

I'll be announcing the upcoming release of something new on Sat; the same day as the Spike Video Game Awards. Coincidence? I think not.

While that "something" is not expressly identified as a "video game," one can easily surmise that the forthcoming announcement is related to a new video game by the fact that Hawk managed to tie in the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards show to the announcement, thus creating an immediate association between his "something new" and also "video games." When you also add in his questioning of whether or not these two things are a coincidence, and the self-answering of "I think not," he is basically telling us "I am announcing a new video game" through the use of devious language manipulation. Clever girl...

We (meaning me) will be sure to bring you more on this announcement, as well as the many other exclusives Geoff Keighley has been storing inside his chipmunk cheeks for winter, as I live tweet the show this Saturday night alongside Joystiq's Ben Gilbert, Wired's Jason Schreier, and possibly a few other New York-based game journalists who, like me, will have been drinking for hours prior. It's sure to be an event of some fashion.

Following the calamitous release of Tony Hawk: SHRED, the second peripheral-based skateboarding simulation...thing...in Activision's long-running Tony Hawk skateboarding franchise, skating enthusiasts everywhere began to wonder if we'd ever see another entry in the series. After all, typically when a game sells 3,000 copies in its opening week, said franchise tends not to get another chance to come back and try again. Then again, not all franchises are as seemingly inviolable as the Tony Hawk series.

And given that inviolability, it should come as minimal shock to anyone that apparently we will be getting some kind of Tony Hawk-related announcement come this Saturday around-ish the precise scheduled time of the Spike Video Game Awards. How do we know? Because Tony Hawk himself, perhaps in an attempt to remind us that he is still a real live person and still has a long-term contract with Activision that is binding and legal and whatnot, tweeted as such.

So readeth the tweet:

I'll be announcing the upcoming release of something new on Sat; the same day as the Spike Video Game Awards. Coincidence? I think not.

While that "something" is not expressly identified as a "video game," one can easily surmise that the forthcoming announcement is related to a new video game by the fact that Hawk managed to tie in the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards show to the announcement, thus creating an immediate association between his "something new" and also "video games." When you also add in his questioning of whether or not these two things are a coincidence, and the self-answering of "I think not," he is basically telling us "I am announcing a new video game" through the use of devious language manipulation. Clever girl...

We (meaning me) will be sure to bring you more on this announcement, as well as the many other exclusives Geoff Keighley has been storing inside his chipmunk cheeks for winter, as I live tweet the show this Saturday night alongside Joystiq's Ben Gilbert, Wired's Jason Schreier, and possibly a few other New York-based game journalists who, like me, will have been drinking for hours prior. It's sure to be an event of some fashion.

Sad news.

Wow, way to milk the franchise hard.

Holy shit, look at how old he is.

And sad as he looks at the deck

Tony who?

"(Me) will be sure to bring you more on this announcement"

Alex wins at English. :)

Please let it be a Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD collection including THPS 1, 2, 3 & 4.

I hope this is a 3rd person shooter of something crazy.

As much as I loath that this is where the industry is going, I think the only way I'm gonna buy another Tony Hawk game is if they offer up an HD re-make of THPS 2, 3 and 4.

I don't see why people feel the need to rip on Tony Hawk all the time. Yeah the game franchise is in terrible, terrible place, but it's not that dude's fault.

I'm a little bit excited for this.. It needs to be a new arcade game, with the same basic gameplay of the originals. 2 minute runs, collecing the S-K-A-T-E letters and completing other goals. They could even just re-use the same levels from the original four, just do up the graphics and I'm definitely going to buy it.

If it's another attempt at a realistic skating game or something using that stupid peripheral.. then it's going to fail as badly as the last few.

@TheVideoHustler said:

Holy shit, look at how old he is.

And sad as he looks at the deck

Can you believe that he still skates better then most pros? the guy is a machine.

I don't see why people feel the need to rip on Tony Hawk all the time. Yeah the game franchise is in terrible, terrible place, but it's not that dude's fault.

@Gordo789 said:

I don't see why people feel the need to rip on Tony Hawk all the time. Yeah the game franchise is in terrible, terrible place, but it's not that dude's fault.

If it wasn't his idea to make the board peripheral, he was at least strongly backing it and continued to defend it even after the game was released and was universally slammed.. The fact he didn't see it as an absolutely terrible idea from the get go tells you all you need to know.

No need to beat a dead horse, haven't touched the series in 8 years if not longer. Stupid activision tries to ruin everything, Tony Hawk, GH, Spiderman, etc

Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD Collection or FUCK YOU

i would love something akin to Underground

Brony Hawk

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Gordo789 said:

I don't see why people feel the need to rip on Tony Hawk all the time. Yeah the game franchise is in terrible, terrible place, but it's not that dude's fault.

If it wasn't his idea to make the board peripheral, he was at least strongly backing it and continued to defend it even after the game was released and was universally slammed.. The fact he didn't see it as an absolutely terrible idea from the get go tells you all you need to know.

Dude is pretty much contractually obligated to not say "yes, the fake skateboard was way shitty", so I wouldn't be so sure that he's had any creative input on the series in a long time. Plus, he's busy bailing on 900's in India and stuff like that except for the 1 week of his year that is video game related, so I don't think he cares.

So I don't have cable anymore can I still watch this online?

I think they know the last few games were shit so the fact that they're trying the exclusive trailer thingy makes me think they tried to make something good this time around. This doesn't mean it'll be good but I believe in you Mr. Hawk! :(

@onan said:

"(Me) will be sure to bring you more on this announcement"

Alex wins at English. :)

lol yep. Me agree with you.

A HD collection and a new game similar to those of the PS1 and PS2 era is just what the doctor ordered to save this franchise.

I mean no.way.in.hell will they attempt another peripheral based game after the feces the last few games?

This is one of the few cases where Mr Kotick will do us good, he wont allow another experiment and will just tell to do what used to work before

@Klaimore: From the ads I've seen on Gametrailers.com they are steaming the whole thing live from their site.

So yes, you can.

yaaaaay

wooooo

:(

I'm with everyone that hopes it's just an HD re-release of the first three/four/five. I'd love to replay those.

..He didn't exactly say it was a tony hawk game. Lord knows, he could come out and announce a trailer for mass effect 3 or some random new game. But! Given the venue that is the spike vgas, and the atmosphere, I'd guess it is some sort of action sports game.

@wrathofconn: Crying on Twitter/Youtube because people were making fun of his game went way beyond contractual obligations. I won't pretend to know how the development process worked and I have no idea of the original idea was his, but he definitely contributed a lot to the project beyond just sticking his name on it.

@RuthLoose said:

Please let it be a Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD collection including THPS 1, 2, 3 & 4.

This. I dug up my PS2 copy of THPS3 earlier this year and it's still surprisingly great fun. I can't believe that it's already ten years old, time goes so fast.

"hey, guys, I just want to let you know that im a sell out."

Pleeeeeease let it be an HD upgrade of the first 3-4 games. Put them on xbla, Activision, and then I'll actually be compelled to buy something from you!

@RecSpec said:

Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD Collection or FUCK YOU

YES

Can't wait for that Tony Hawk MMORPG!

The skate raids will be amazing! (Sarcasm)

Why don't they just reboot the series with a more relevant skateboarder?

Oh right, skateboarding hasn't been relevant in a decade...

Maybe they'll pull a Sonic Team and announce THPS 5.

It's probably going to be something else that doesn't work, like the TH Ride controller with silly things connected to it like iphone docks, mp3 players, concrete blocks or wheels. Doubting that whatever it might be will be that amazing.

No, stop! Please. ;__;

Man! Tony Hawk looks OLD..

I wanna be just like Alex Navarro when I grow up.

Tony Hawk 2 & 3 HD Collection. $15, downloadable.

@zakkro: Yes, please make it Pro Skater 5.

Good news about the game (as long as what he said is true) .... he noted on his radio show on Sirius sometime last week when asked about the game that it wouldn't be using the board peripheral again. Here's hoping to the return of THPS 2 & 3 days

Tony Hawk: Pro Segway

@Floppypants said:

Tony Hawk 2 & 3 HD Collection. $15, downloadable.

Without the original soundtracks? Not sold.

Is he financing the development of said game himself or something? Or does Activation just have a ton of WoW money they need to burn because it's blocking the cocaineatorium?

GIVE US THE OLD GAMES DAMMIT

@Floppypants said:

Tony Hawk 2 & 3 HD Collection. $15, downloadable.

i would buy that. I WOULD TOTALLY BUY THAT!!!

Activision, good way to earn back good-will from the market for Tony Hawk?

Release the first three or four Tony Hawk games as an HD collection with online play. People will go BANANAS for them.