Tony Hawk Rides the Rails

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

Crispy Gamer: Were there any Tony Hawk games that didn't work as well for you?

Hawk: I don't know. I feel like we were on a path with our games and the approach to it and the control schemes -- we couldn't just change it completely for a sequel. It just wouldn't work, because people had gotten used to the control schemes and expected a certain game. I don't think it was that we needed to make it better. I think people just wanted a new control scheme in a different format. The whole button/combo thing -- you can only go so far with it. At some point, it becomes more Mortal Kombat than skating.

Crispy Gamer: Because you start mashing.

Hawk: Mashing buttons, yeah. And that's when I realized that to give a true, virtual skating experience, we gotta go to a skateboard controller.

Crispy Gamer: Did it bother you that Microsoft displayed another skateboarding game in addition to yours at its E3 press conference?

Hawk: Yeah, I saw that. I wondered, what's going on? It's cool, though. Because I feel you have to have a controller under your feet like we do to have the complete experience.

Crispy Gamer: How long has that controller been in development?

Hawk: Two years. There are various versions of the skateboard lying around, kind of like a graveyard of them.

[Hawk begins a demonstration of the peripheral, which is about 10 feet in front of a huge, big-screen television. Elegantly, he moves left and right, forward and back, making moves that, even with a peripheral, would be hard for me. But he makes it all seem effortless. On-screen, he's riding rails, doing ollies, all sorts of wild things.]

Crispy Gamer: You need a big living room for that.

Hawk: The thing is, it's a lot safer than real skateboarding. So it's a great way for kids to give skating a try to see if they like it -- without the threat of being injured.