Tony Hawk's Wasteland news

Neversoft has fully unveiled the seventh game in the popular Tony Hawk's series, confirming that it's due for a release on PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, DS and GBA later this year.

According to US website IGN, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is set in 1980s LA and sees you playing as a hick skater from the Midwest who's come to make his fortune in Hollywood.

Unsurprisingly he's violently mugged within seconds of stepping off the bus and is left with only his skateboard and a new friend, Mindy, who has pink hair because that's how alternative and dangerous she is.

As you start exploring LA and visiting areas such as Santa Monica, Downtown and Beverly Hills, you'll learn new tricks and receive some helpful lessons from the likes of a famous old skater called Iggy and one Tony Alva, who actually is a famous old skater in real life and has leant his voice and likeness to the game.

All the usual create-a-player options are here, and you'll be able to visit clothes shops, skate stores and the local hairdressers to enhance your appearance. Getting around will be done on your board for the most part (it's possible to skate from one end of the city to the other without stopping once, technically), but you can also ride buses or trains.

Along with a variety of major missions - such as helping to construct a huge skate park - there are plenty of sub-quests and sponsored challenges. Plus there are new styles of graffiti to learn and you can spray anywhere you like, even while you're on your board.

New moves include one-foot grinds and manuals, and you can do double flips and rolls, a backflip, Bert slides and Bert rolls (inspired by crazy seventies surf legend Larry Bertleman), and an enhanced Natas Spin. The Freak Out is returning and there are also handstand and pogo board moves to learn.

If you get bored of your board, you can have a go at pulling all manner of stunts, including flips, stalls, grinds and combos, on a BMX. You'll be trained by famous BMXer Rick Thorne and there's also a cameo by Mat Hoffman.

For those who preferred Tony before he went all "street", Classic Mode is back and will feature dozens of your all-time favourite levels, regraphicalised for a spanky new look.

The Xbox game will feature an online mode - a first for the Tony Hawk's series, which has previously only featured online support in the PS2 games. You'll also be able to play the Xbox 360 game via Xbox Live, or muck about in the offline split screen co-op modes.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is due out on almost all formats this October, with the Xbox 360 version to follow not too long after, hopefully.