Skate vs. Tony Hawk: skate wins
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Feb 1st 2008 at 2:30PM }
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Odog4ever @ Feb 1st 2008 2:47PM
skate. is the first skating game I ever bought or played. I played the tony hawk demo after I had been playing the skate demo for about a week and couldn't understand why people still though TH was better. To each their own.
I just hope they don't rush skate 2 out to soon. But we are talking about EA...
Carnie @ Feb 2nd 2008 2:54AM
I would have to agree with you for the fact that while I have played the tony hawk games in passing when ever at a friends house but they never intrigued me enough to buy let alone rent any of the tony hawk games.
When proving ground came out my friends swore by it and said that it was the best skate game as to date...I played the demo and didn't like it, but when the Skate demo came out I coudln't get enough and went out and purchased it that following week.
This is the first skate game that I have bought and I love it, I can say that I am glad the way EA has produced this game and can't wait to see what improvements they are going to add to the next instalation.
Oh and on a side note all of my friends now come over more often to play my Skate because they now also feel that is has blown Mr. "Birdman" out of the water...
AnOffday @ Feb 1st 2008 2:56PM
This is good for Tony Hawk games. They've been a little too comfortable lately, and it shows. The recent Tony Hawk games have sucked big time.
Tony @ Feb 1st 2008 3:12PM
The main thing that will probably come of this will be Tony Hawk copying skate as much as possible, in my opinion.
I actually saw about 20 copies of the special edition of the last Tony Hawk for $9 at Target the other day. I ALMOST bought it.
Dana @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:25PM
I did buy it... and I regret it.
outforprophets @ Feb 1st 2008 4:20PM
I'm probably alone on this but I really felt that skate was at least worthy of a nomination for Game of the Year. It's done more for its genre than any of the other games up for GotY. Feature-wise, it almost matches up to Halo 3 in terms of replays and sharing and voting. I think Proving Grounds actually had a pretty robust replay system as well. Gameplay-wise, it's revitalized skateboarding games.
My understanding though is that only games that were submitted to the various rating councils were considered - which would mean that EA did not submit skate of course.
Royale @ Feb 1st 2008 4:31PM
I haven't owned a Tony Hawk game since the original Tony Hawk on the original playstation. I've played them, but never could get into them and their arcadiness.
Skate on the other hand is awesome! Easily sports game of the year. It makes landing a trick mean something.
Does anyone remember Thrasher: Skate and Destroy? It was the best skateboarding game of it's generation that no one played. It's realism qualities remind a bit of skate.
wa27 @ Feb 1st 2008 4:33PM
skate is so amazing. The replay value is pretty much endless.
JAmerican @ Feb 1st 2008 5:28PM
I hope TNA Impact does the same to WWE Smackdown vs. Raw series :D. That way WWE can stop releasing crap wrestling games. The best games I've played were WWF No Mercy/Wrestlemania 2000 for N64. Some of the Smackdown games for PS2 were good but not a lot.
I guess when they took the F out, they took the Fun out.
Austin Overton @ Feb 1st 2008 5:35PM
God what I really love about the Tony Hawk games is the amount of work I don't have to do... the lack of realism in the game play... and the fact that I can jump over buildings!
/sarcasm
EMOruffino @ Feb 1st 2008 5:49PM
i haven't beat skate yet, i picked it up in December but been to busy to play... im going to go fire that up tonight :)
and i agree i have played every single tony hawk, but skate is its killer.... (though i hope they fix some things in skate2)
ZeroCorpse @ Feb 1st 2008 10:47PM
Honestly, what turns me off of the Tony Hawk games now is the "Do this" factor.
You know, the whole game is basically someone saying "Do this" (where "this" is the task you have to complete, meaning the exact button presses you're required to duplicate) and then you have to do it, exactly, or face having to do it again, and again, until you get it right.
Sure, they added some freestyle stuff, but to progress in the game, you're still just playing Simon with your gamepad.
Honestly, it's not much different than Parappa the Rapper. You see a sequence on the screen, and then you duplicate. The difference is the presentation of the sequence and the visual reward for doing it right.
I like games where I can just GO and do things however I want. I HATE being told I have to hit THESE buttons, EXACTLY the same as I'm told, and that I'll punished for doing it any differently than prescribed.
If I want to play something like that, I'll get Guitar Hero, which does the "Simon" thing better and with much more entertainment value.
How about a skating game that's like GTA with the whole sandbox thing? Let me figure out HOW to complete the missions, and let me have the run of the city without limits.
Imagine trying to skate away from cops chasing you on foot or on bikes. Imagine a game where you have a storyline that isn't "Compete to become a famous skater" but instead just uses skating as your character's means of getting things done.
I think Sega was on the right path with their inline skating/tagging game (forget the title). A little less linear, a little more fun and M-rated, and you'd have something interesting.
Edzo04 @ Feb 3rd 2008 7:09PM
ehh f**k skate
xaznjustinx @ Feb 1st 2008 11:43PM
I've played almost every single TH game and when i first saw skate. commercial i thought it could nvr live up to the TH feel and that it couldn't outsell Th. BUT after the demo of skate. came out TH js became garbage and i have never played a th game ever since.lol
Corleone @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:08PM
TH Project 8 was the best Hawk game ever, but at that point it was almost sickening to see them make more Hawk games........played the PG demo and said enough of Hawk forever.......
Skate is incredible and should be in everyones collection regardless, one of the best games of last year, easily...........