Tony Hawk Rides the Rails

6/17/2009 4:03 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

Crispy Gamer: They really said you were too old?

Hawk: Too old. And that skating was out of date and that there's no future in it.

Crispy Gamer: Looking at it now, it appears it's never going to go out of date.

Hawk: But back then it did. It went out of fashion a few times. But I feel like now there's so much interest and so much excitement. Parents themselves are encouraging their kids to go into skating. It's been a whole shift of perception.

Crispy Gamer: What about your kids?

Hawk: My oldest son is an avid skater. He skates all the time. He's 16. My 10-year-old skates leisurely. My eight-year-old -- sometimes, but not too often. He loves LEGO. [Shrugs] What can I say?

Crispy Gamer: You're a hero to a lot of kids and adults. Who's your hero?

Hawk: I'd have to say Lance Armstrong. He went through a lot with the cancer. And he came out swinging better than ever.

Crispy Gamer: When you first wanted to do a game, how did you go about it?

Hawk: When I first came up with an idea for a skateboard game, I kind of pitched it around to a few different people, including Midway and Nintendo and a couple of others. There was just no interest. You know, people, if nothing else, just wanted to tell me how it was a bad idea.

Activision heard that I was going around with a game idea, and they called me, saying they were actually working on a game themselves. They said they would love to have my expertise, and have me help direct it and lend my name to it. I saw a sample of what they were doing. It looked so good that I thought, "That's it. This is what I want to do." They really understood it.

Crispy Gamer: You care a lot about the game music, too. In particular, you're a big punk fan and had Rancid play at your wedding in Fiji.

Hawk: They're my wife's favorite band. I was surprised they agreed, but it was great that they did. Yeah, music is a big part of the game. The bar gets raised with every game. I'm very involved in choosing what goes in.

Crispy Gamer: As far as the games go, is there one most memorable Tony Hawk game moment you can point to?

Hawk: I think in terms more of levels and features that we added to them. One of my favorite all-time levels was Downhill Jam in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. A lot of [Tony Hawk Ride], especially the L.A. River level, is emulating that because I always thought that was such a great layout. The whole thing about the Downhill Jam level is that it's point A to point B. Not all of our games had levels like that; in fact, very few had. It presented a lot of challenges, a lot of big jumps and a lot of good combo options. We actually ended up naming a game Downhill Jam later on. It worked so well, we couldn't let it go.