Behold the first in-game footage of EA Sports' sequel to skate, a chronologically numbered sequel appropriately titled skate 2. Set to the music of Public Enemy's "Harder Than You Think", this skate 2 debut trailer shows off some of the new skating moves, new environments and the new tricks. It looks like skate and it feels like skate, so it must be skate just with a number 2 attached. Anyway, give the trailer a watch and tell us what your early skate 2 impressions are.
Well, they don't appeal to everyone under the sun, but there are those out there that care about 'em, so here we go with the niche sequels. EA obviously got wind of Tony's passing, and has now announced that they have a sequel to skate in the works, but haven't given any other details than that. Seems they felt the need to acknowledge the death of their rival in some small way.
The second game marks the return of the Formula 1 Racing franchise, with Codemasters using their expierience on DiRT and Race Driver: GRID to bring out an F1 game based on the 2009 season.
In a recent earnings conference call, Electronic Arts revealed that the first entry in its new skate franchise successfully managed to topple Tony Hawk, which has essentially been the only name in skating games for several years now. According to EA, skate managed to outsell Tony Hawk almost two to one (we're assuming the call is referring to Proving Ground, the most recent Tony Hawk title). This figure doesn't take the Playstation 2 version of Proving Ground into account, which seems fair considering skate was only available on current generation consoles. Honestly, the fact that the first iteration of a brand new franchise could outsell Tony Hawk speaks volumes. Looks like it's time for an overhaul if Tony wants to get back on top.
Perhaps you are unaware of the full weight of the headline above. Let us break it down. Point one: skate will have no downloadable content. Point two: skate is an Electronic Arts product. Are we seeing the import of this message yet, hmmm? Anyway, on with the story. EA Black Box producer Scott Blackwood told EGM (via Eurogamer) that there are no plans to add downloadable content to skate because "We didn't want to go back and ask for more money to get more shoes and shirts," adding, "That's not how we wanted to enter this market."
What the hell is going on here? EA pumping out games with innovative concepts and not charging us for useless extras? We're frightened ....
We must admit, we haven't played skate beyond the demo, but we dig its realistic chops. Of course, if you're going to have realism these days, you're going to need some ragdoll physics. The funny thing about ragdoll physics is that they can work both ways. On one hand, they can illustrate some truly painful bails. On the other, their unpredictable nature can result in the actions contained in the video above. We'd like to see someone recreate that. Give the video a watch so you can see what we're talking about.
It's been a long time since we took a Fanpoll around here, and it's high time we start doing it again. What better way to start than to pit the video game skateboarding champ versus its newest rival? With the release of skate, many skateboarding fans have found themselves grinding right past Tony Hawk's Project 8. Well, Tony's back with Proving Ground, which just released today. So, here's our question to you, which game is better, Proving Ground or skate? Give us your feedback in the poll after the break. We'd prefer if you only answer once you've actually tried both games, but there's not exactly much we can do to stop you.
And so it begins, the epic battle for video game skateboarding dominance. For the last several years, if you wanted to play a skateboarding title, you had but one choice: Tony Hawk. Now, EA enters the ring with its take on realistic skateboarding, aptly titled skate -- the game should finally be hitting shelves today. It just so happens that there is a demo out for Tony Hawk's Proving Ground as well. Now that you've got a chance, we suggest you give them both a go (you can always try out the skate demo if you're skittish about purchasing). The skateboard war has begun, and round one needs a winner.
Still, skateboarding isn't for everyone (we can barely even stand up on one of the things), so we have to ask, as usual, what will you be playing this weekend?
Leaderboards: Xbox 360 Fanboy Leaderboard
Xbox 360 Fanboy Leaderboard Mk. II
X3F Gamertags: Richard Mitchell -- SenseiRAM
Dustin Burg -- SuperDunners
David Dreger -- Knuckles Dawson
A post on the official skate message boards has confirmed that the game has suffered a minor (and unexplained) delay. Those of you rushing out to pick up your copy today (complete with "new game Tuesday" smell) will be disappointed to learn that skate won't be hitting stores until Friday. Granted, it's not a long delay at all, but for those that have been longing for skate's unique new take on the sport, an extra two days can be a lifetime. Ah well, you can play through the demo just a few more times, can't you?
Over at Xbox 360 Achievements, there are a slew of new Achievements listed for retail and arcade games alike. They have Two Worlds, Skate, which came straight from EA, Fatal Inertia, NHL 08, & Medal of Honor: Airborne. On the XBLA side of things, there is the cheaper of the two Arcade games that came out today, Space Giraffe, Fatal Fury Special and we're especially happy to see Sonic 2 make it there as well. A cool little reveal about Sonic 2 is that it will have online multiplayer, derived from the splitscreen multiplayer found in the Genesis version. So, those are plenty of lists for you to examine for your next target of 1000 or 200 Gamerscore.
Retail:
Read: Two Worlds Read: skate. Read: Fatal Inertia Read: NHL 08 Read: Medal of Honor: Airborne
XBLA:
Read: Space Giraffe Read: Fatal Fury Special Read: Sonic 2
After an unfortunate delay, the demo for skate from Electronic Arts has finally hit Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo is, according to Joystiq, a spiritual experience. You have thirty minutes to grind as much fun as you can out of the skate park included in the demo. A tutorial helps you master the flick-it controls, and then you are set loose upon the new skating frontier. When your done, don't forget to upload a movie of your exploits for all the gaming world to see. Should Tony be watching his back? You tell us.
First we were promised it on August 15th, then we were told about its delay, but now EA is now ready to commit to a new release date for the somewhat highly anticipated Skate demo. Confirmed to be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace next Tuesday, August 21st is the once (hopefully not twice) delayed Skate demo for everyone to download and enjoy. So skater gamers, get your download fingers ready for Tuesday when you'll get to experience EA's version of Tony Hawk skating fun and solidify your opinion of which skating game purchase you'll be making this year.
We've got some bad news for eager Skate fans who were anticipating the demo release on August 15th. We'll make this as quick and painless as we can ... your promised Skate demo will not be out this Wednesday, because EA has officially delayed its Marketplace appearance. According to the official Skate forums, the reason for the delay is due to problems that surfaced when trying to get the nifty video upload feature to work properly. You see, Skate will be the first game demo to allow content to be uploaded to an outside website and the complexities they've stumbled upon have forced the delay. But fear not skaters, because the delay should only last a few days or a week at most and will not affect the game's September 12th retail release. You know, you could always pass the time by playing some BioShock.
Good news everyone! Electronic Arts has announced the release date for its upcoming skating game ... um ... skate. The game will be hitting retail shelves in the US on September 12th in the U.S. with the European version dropping just two days later on September 14th. "But I love Tony Hawk," you scream at your computer monitor, "I fear skate's newfangled controls!" That's alright, actually. If you'd rather test the waters before taking that first scary step into an entirely new skating game, you'll have your shot when EA releases a demo on Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo is set to drop on August 15th. There you have it folks, new skateboard love in September with a demo to whet your appetite.
It's time for the first (of possibly many) E3 updates in the form of a visually pleasing trailer/video recap. Yes, developers are an impatient bunch and sometimes release trailers and videos prior to the official start of E3. So, we figured what better way to show off some of the Xbox 360 related pre-E3 trailers than by recapping them in one tightly wrapped post. Embedded after the break are pre-E3 trailers from games like Skate, Stranglehold, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, All-Pro Football 2K8, Legendary: The Box, Need for Speed: ProStreet and NHL 08. We're sure more trailers will trickle in by the hour, but for now we advise popping some popcorn, sitting back and pressing play.
It's time for the first (of possibly many) E3 updates in the form of a visually pleasing trailer/video recap. Yes, developers are an impatient bunch and sometimes release trailers and videos prior to the official start of E3. So, we figured what better way to show off some of the Xbox 360 related pre-E3 trailers than by recapping them in one tightly wrapped post. Embedded after the break are pre-E3 trailers from games like Skate, Stranglehold, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, All-Pro Football 2K8, Legendary: The Box, Need for Speed: ProStreet and NHL 08. We're sure more trailers will trickle in by the hour, but for now we advise popping some popcorn, sitting back and pressing play.
