Tony Hawk bigs up his new peripheral

By Robert Purchese Published 15 May, 2009

"Responds like a real skateboard."

Tony Hawk has hailed his Tony Hawk: Ride skateboard peripheral as a "marvel of new technology", and said we'll be playing with it this autumn.

His confident Twitter follows today's first pictures of the plastic and rubber peripheral.

Sensors are place on the board at the front and back, as well as to the left and right of the middle. These pick up feet and hand movement to emulate grabs, kicks and pushes to propel the player forward. An accelerometer inside gauges movement such as 180 spins and manuals - skateboard wheelies.

"Throw the controller out and just stand on the board and it responds to every motion," Hawk told GameTrailers. "It responds to you grabbing it, to you kicking it up, to you turning it one way or another... It's like you're really skating but on a blank deck on the carpet."

In use, the board appears slightly smaller than a proper deck, and can be tilted left and right to turn. Tricks don't require users to actually flip the board around, but on expert mode, "You need to either be very accomplished on this or know how to skate," said Mr Hawk.

But, he added: "Anyone can stand on the board and be in the game, riding it." Apparently you can even sit on a couch and play.

Incidentally, controlling the game by pad is not an option, because Ride is built from scratch for the board. There's no word on price, but a Guitar Hero-like GBP 70 sounds about right.

The game visuals is presented in "stylised reality", and gameplay is split into three modes: Trick Session, Challenge Session and Speed Session. Users won't start the game as a "zero", but instead go from "hero" to "superhero".

Tony Hawk: Ride has been in development for two years at RoboModo. Series creator, Neversoft, now looks after Guitar Hero.

In closing, the lanky Tony Hawk mentioned that the board could be used to emulate a snowboard or surfboard in the future. Ooh.

Tony Hawk: Ride is in development for "all console platforms". Specifics haven't been mentioned.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Sonic_D #1 3 years ago

    I want this to work and be fun, but making it smaller than a real deck worries me that my size 12's may not be compatible.
    Edited by Sonic_D at 15/05/09 @ 17:22

  • Physically_Insane #2 3 years ago

    it looks sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo shit.

  • smoothpete #3 3 years ago

    "responds like a real skateboard" - hmmmmmm. What, goes out from under my feet then I fall over and scuff my knees and bash my head on the ground?

  • el_pollo_diablo #4 3 years ago

    Kickflips are pretty tricky in real life, wheels and trucks or no wheels and trucks.

  • smernicki #5 3 years ago

    this doesn't look very good to me

  • Wastelander #6 3 years ago

    I like Tony Hawk and I've been a skater for many years now (with the debilitating injuries to prove it) but I just don't get how this is supposed to be like skating when the board never even moves.

    I mean, if you've got your deck on the carpet you can still ollie, flip, shuvit or whatever. It's not sitting in the one spot like that thing, so it's a weird comparison.
    Edited by Wastelander at 15/05/09 @ 18:10

  • riz23 #7 3 years ago

    Bollocks. End of.

  • Golgo #8 3 years ago

    Like a real skateboard. So you fall off the fucker at the slightest attempt to do a trick, then? Which militates against the idea of playing games as a form of escapism.

  • EmiliasHorse #9 3 years ago

    I have absolutely zero interest in this gimmick. So I have no choice in using the standard controller? I have to pay the price to look like an arse standing on a lump of plastic? No sale, move along you lost a potential customer (loyal since TH1).

    Edited by EmiliasHorse at 15/05/09 @ 19:14

  • Lukree #10 3 years ago

    Will be shit

  • matrim83 #11 3 years ago

    This will sell. A lot. And will probably be shit.

    I will pass though. Skate is where its at.
    Edited by matrim83 at 15/05/09 @ 19:36

  • Syrette #12 3 years ago

    Credit to them for trying something new to be fair.

    I'm extremely curious to see how it'll work, I've not got overly high hopes.

  • b00n #13 3 years ago

    So... you have to bend to do grabs?... doesn't sound too easy in a living room and watching a tv? And will that thing stay put on the ground when push it all around... man... don't think this will sell if it's only usable with that peripheral!
    Edited by b00n at 15/05/09 @ 20:00

  • OllyJ #14 3 years ago

    Like i've said in every Tony hawk news item for the last year, Tony Hawk +best levels from the first 4 games+online+singleplayer classic mode+XBLA = series popularity.

    just like BF1943.

    I'm not into this idea at all..

  • Zomoniac #15 3 years ago

    Well only one person in the world will buy this. And without pad support, that means they won't be able to play local multiplayer with anyone.

    A no-local-multiplayer sports game? What a good idea...

  • Pastici #16 3 years ago

    Its what we expected and it still looks shite. Skate is the current king.

  • Freek #17 3 years ago

    I look forward to the first law suite filed by some dumbbass who fell of the thing :D

  • Cthulhu_X #18 3 years ago

    From what I recall it was announced on PC too last year. So we'll have to wait just like with GH.

  • felastica #19 3 years ago

    I get that games companies need to innovate, and the Guitar Hero behemoth has convinced them all that gimmick controlllers are the way forward. But isn't the point of some games that you can pretend you're good at something you can't do in real life? Is there not a point when the game experience becomes so close to the real one that it is point less to play the game? And if TH's new board controller does not simulate riding a real deck accurately, does that not make you just a dork on a plastic toy?

  • infoxicated #20 3 years ago

    I don't get the impression that this has been conceived to try something new. This is a desperate attempt to regain a fanbase that was treated with contempt.

    They were so busy re-hashing the same tired engine and gameplay, along with trawling the depths of the Jackass crew's tenuous link to skating, that it left the door wide open for EA to ride in with Skate and hand their frickin' asses to them on a platter.

  • Fizzog #21 3 years ago

    I wander if the Wii version will be compatible with the balance board?

  • oreillymj #22 3 years ago

    Hey, you could even bolt 4 wheels to this thing and go outside.

  • YourMessageHere #23 3 years ago

    Wait, this isn't right, any time anyone levels the same sort of criticisms at GH and the like, there are legions of fans responding in defence within nanoseconds. I think this seems stupid, but then I think GH does too, and I can't see any real difference between them. Popular consensus seems to be that GH is great and yet in here everyone seems to hate this. Why is it OK to pretend to play a guitar for a game but not to pretend to ride a skateboard for one? They both have exactly the same "emulating a real experience/looking like a fool with a toy" potential, they're both essentially using bastardised versions of real things, and they both play on very popular pastimes. Where are the people going on about how it's fun, and it'll be good for a laugh after the pub?

  • sam_w #24 3 years ago

    "I wander if the Wii version will be compatible with the balance board? "

    Of course it won't, this board has sensors at the front and back which it needs to detect hand motions for grabs, and feet motions for flips etc. and you need to be able to press down on the nose and tail to manual and balance.

  • smelly #25 3 years ago

    Erm, if it feels like a skateboard, responds like a skateboard, etc etc.. why not just learn to ride a skate board?

    Wtf is it with all this shitty add on stuff nowadays?

  • smelly #26 3 years ago

    of course if it's succesful, (with experience of guitar hero) we'll get 100's of sequels and add on packs.. each with slightly different, uncompatible skate boards.