The enduring cool of skateboarding games

More than 25 years after the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater put skateboarding games on the map, developers are still finding new ways to explore skating in video games, especially in 2025. Skateboarding fans are about to have some promising new games to play, with Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake releasing in July and EA is set to launch its online-only, free-to-play Skate revival this year.
In 2022, my colleague Andrew Webster wrote that we're in a golden age for skateboarding games, and things haven't really slowed down. So what is it that makes skateboarding so good for video games, and allows so many different expressions of the sport from different studios?
'I think skateboarding is one of those things that's just always cool,' THPS 3 + 4 game director Kurt Tillmanns tells The Verge . 'It's an evergreen fantasy, in both real life and games. Being a skateboarder is a sign of what and who is cool.' He says 'there's a reason that we're all in awe of what these people can do.' Part of what makes skateboarding cool is the music, fashion, and art, and video games let people experience that skateboarding culture, too, Tillmanns says.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4.
Image: Activision
Also, 'it's safer,' jokes Andrew Schimmel, a senior producer at Snowman, the creators of the Skate City series. He says there's a lot of people that would probably love to try skateboarding but don't want to risk breaking a bone. 'Being able to dive into a fantasy world where you can act that out and see the gnarly consequences and not have to suffer from them is like immediately appealing.' Read More Riot doubles down on music for Valorant Champions Tour 2023
It helps that games take so many different approaches to skateboarding. 'The skate community is so diverse, so it makes sense that there's an appetite for all different types of games — some more realistic, some more arcade, some more casual,' says Skate executive producer Mike McCartney. For the new Skate , 'it's all about re-creating a skateboarding experience that reflects the freedom of exploration, discovery, and expression you see in skate culture. We really wanted to respect the roots of the franchise, while bringing the game forward.'
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games will always have what's in the title: 'They've got Tony Hawk, and they've got pro skaters,' Tillmanns says. That includes things like their styles and their personalities — even the special tricks for the skaters are a representation of their style in real life. Tony Hawk is very involved, too, even with the 3 + 4 remakes. Hawk 'is where the culture comes from' and he has a 'real eye for detail' about what goes in the games. 'He knows that this game is the lexicon for skaters for the next few years,' according to Tillmanns.
The THPS series also strikes a nice mix of an arcade-y experience and a skateboarding simulation. It has generally realistic physics and locations, but also lets you pull off outlandish tricks, strive for video game-y goals (S-K-A-T-E, anyone?), and play as some not-real characters in wacky places.
For the Skate City games, the Snowman team had to think a lot about how to make skateboarding work on mobile. The first launched as an Apple Arcade exclusive, and Skate City: New York is currently an exclusive there, too, so the Snowman team had to figure out a mobile control scheme that 'feels novel and fits the sport' that's also approachable enough to serve a wide audience, Schimmel says. Your two thumbs represent your front and back foot, and you flick your thumbs to emulate flick tricks with skateboarding. Read More vWii Homebrew Channel with Gamepad Support - GBAtemp.net
Skate City: New York. Image: Snowman
Developers I spoke with think there's still a lot of ways skateboarding games can grow, too. 'Skateboarding never stops evolving and neither will our game,' Skate 's head of creative, Jeff Seamster, says. 'The creativity of skaters consistently blows my mind. The spots they find, the tricks they're (still) inventing, the vibrant style… we couldn't have imagined today's scene from where we were standing 15, 10, or even five years ago. So, who knows what we'll see tomorrow?'
'Multiplayer and online can always be the next frontier,' Tillmanns says. THPS 3+4 will have crossplay, and the team is excited about 'increasing that pool of online players to something that we've never seen before in a Tony Hawk game.'
Schimmel points to games like OlliOlli World (a cartoony, side-scrolling skateboarding adventure) and Skate Story (a psychedelic-looking skateboarding game set to launch this year) that are highlighting skateboarding in different ways. 'In terms of what hasn't been done, I think there's probably lots to explore,' he says.

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10 hours ago

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The Nintendo Switch 2 is an awesome upgrade for parents like me

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Since each of us effectively had our own portable TV, she didn't shove her head between me and the screen like she sometimes does when we're reading bedtime books. And since neither of us was monopolizing the TV, the younger kid got to keep on watching her YouTube videos of intricately animated stop-motion Lego food factories. When it was time for me to fly across the country last week, my eldest begged me to let her keep playing Mario Odyssey while I was gone. Virtual game cards came through once again: five quick taps, and a game download magically appeared on her Switch. She did have to start the game from scratch, since I couldn't find a way to sync a save game between two different consoles with two different Nintendo accounts… but it turns out that was her plan all along. Apparently 8-year-olds enjoy repetition much more than us adults! 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It's such a clever way of repurposing cloud gaming technology, but the initial list of GameShare-compatible games is vanishingly short and doesn't yet include obvious wins like Mario Kart World or Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the newest mainline entry in the series and one that's great to play with kids. It's been nearly 25 years since Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance let you hook up four portable consoles to play limited multiplayer, even if only a single person had a copy of the game. Mario Kart DS did the same thing 20 years ago over Wi-Fi, again offering single cartridge multiplayer, with 'DS Download Play.' But it required conscious effort from game developers to create new single cart mulitplayer modes for their GBA and DS titles, and not every deserving game had one. GameShare shouldn't have that problem: since it's just streaming a screen and controller inputs, it should theoretically work on any game you'd play on a single screen today. 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13 hours ago

• Los Angeles Times

Inside the ‘Dragon Age' debacle that gutted EA's BioWare Studio

In early November, on the eve of the holiday shopping season, staffers at the video game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard,' and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in. But in the weeks that followed, the early buzz cooled as players delved deeper into the fantasy world, and some BioWare employees grew anxious. For months, everyone at the subsidiary of the video game publisher Electronic Arts had been under intense pressure. The studio's previous two games, 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' and 'Anthem,' had flopped, and there were rumors that if 'Dragon Age' underperformed, BioWare might become another of EA's many casualties. Not long after Christmas, the bad news surfaced. 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The goal was to diversify their slate of games, which was heavy in sports titles, such as 'Madden NFL,' and light in the kind of adventure and role-playing games that BioWare was known for. Initially, it looked like a smart move thanks to a string of big hits. In 2014, BioWare released 'Dragon Age: Inquisition,' the third installment in a popular action series dropping players in a semi-open world full of magic, elves and fire-spewing dragons. The fantasy title won the Game of the Year award and sold 12 million copies, according to its executive producer Mark Darrah — a major validation of EA's diversification strategy. Before long, Darrah and Mike Laidlaw, the creative director, began kicking around ideas for the next 'Dragon Age' installment, aiming for a game that would be smaller in scope. But before much could get done, BioWare shifted the studio's focus to more pressing titles coming down the pike. 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Reviews were scathing, calling the game tedious and convoluted. Fans were similarly displeased. On social media, players demanded to know why a studio renowned for beloved stories and characters had made an online shooter with a scattershot narrative. In the wake of BioWare's second consecutive flop, the multiplayer version of 'Dragon Age' continued to take shape. While the previous games in the franchise had featured tactical combat, this one would be all action. Instead of quests that players would experience only once, it would be full of missions that could be replayed repeatedly with friends and strangers. Important characters couldn't die because they had to persist for multiple players across never-ending gameplay. As the game evolved over the next two years, the failure of 'Anthem' hovered over the studio. Were they making the same mistakes? Some BioWare employees scoffed that they were simply building ''Anthem' with dragons.' Throughout 2020, the pandemic disrupted the game's already fraught development. In December, Hudson, the head of the studio, and Darrah, the head of the franchise, resigned. Shortly thereafter, Gary McKay, BioWare's new studio head, revealed yet another shift in strategy. Moving forward, the next 'Dragon Age' would no longer be multiplayer. 'We were thinking, 'Does this make sense, does this play into our strengths, or is this going to be another challenge we have to face?'' McKay told Bloomberg News. 'No, we need to get back to what we're really great at.' In theory, the reversion back to the series' tried-and-true, single-player format should have been welcome news inside BioWare. But there was a catch. Typically, this kind of pivot would be coupled with a reset and a period of pre-production allowing the designers to formulate a new vision for the game. Instead, the team was asked to change the game's fundamental structure and recast the entire story on the fly, according to people familiar with the new marching orders. They were given a year and a half to finish and told to aim for as wide a market as possible. This strict deadline became a recurring problem. The development team would make decisions believing that they had less than a year to release the game, which severely limited the stories they could tell and the world they could build. Then the title would inevitably be delayed a few months, at which point they'd be stuck with those old decisions with no chance to stop and reevaluate what was working. At the end of 2022, amid continually dizzying leadership changes, the studio started distributing an 'alpha' build of 'Dragon Age' to get feedback internally and from outside playtesters. According to people familiar with the process, the reactions were concerning. The game's biggest problem, early players agreed, was a lack of satisfying choices and consequences. Previous BioWare titles had presented players with gut-wrenching decisions. Which allies to save? Which factions to spare? Which enemies to slay? Such dilemmas made fans feel like they were shaping the narrative — historically, a big draw for many BioWare games. But the multiplayer roots of 'Dragon Age' limited such choices, according to people familiar with the development. BioWare delayed the game's release again while the team shoehorned in a few major decisions, such as which of two cities to save from a dragon attack. But because most of the parameters were already well established, the designers struggled to pair the newly retrofitted choices for players with meaningful consequences downstream. In 2023, to help finish game, BioWare brought in a second, internal team, which was working on the next 'Mass Effect.' For decades there'd been tension between the two well-established camps, known for their starkly divergent ways of doing things. BioWare developers like to joke that the 'Dragon Age' crew was like a pirate ship, meandering and sometimes traveling off course but eventually reaching the port. In contrast, the 'Mass Effect' group was called the USS Enterprise, after the 'Star Trek' ship, because commands were issued straight from the top and executed zealously. As the 'Mass Effect' directors took control, they scoffed that the 'Dragon Age' squad had been doing a shoddy job and began excluding their leaders from pivotal meetings, according to people familiar with the internal friction. Over time, the 'Mass Effect' team went on to overhaul parts of the game and design a number of additional scenes, including a rich, emotional finale that players loved. But even changes that appeared to improve the game stoked the simmering rancor inside BioWare, infuriating 'Dragon Age' leaders who had been told they didn't have the budget for such big, ambitious swings. 'It always seemed that, when the 'Mass Effect' team made its demands in meetings with EA regarding the resources it needed, it got its way,' said David Gaider, a former lead writer on the 'Dragon Age' franchise who left before development of the new game started. 'But 'Dragon Age' always had to fight against headwinds.' Early testers and 'Mass Effect' leads complained about the game's snarky tone — a style of video game storytelling, once ascendant, that was quickly falling out of fashion in pop culture but had been part of Goldman's vision for the multiplayer game. Worried that 'Dragon Age' could face the same outcome as 'Forspoken' — a recent title that had been hammered over its impertinent banter — BioWare leaders ordered a belated rewrite of the game's dialogue to make it sound more serious. (In the end, the resulting tonal inconsistencies would only add to the game's poor reception with fans.) A mass layoff at BioWare and a mandate to work overtime depleted morale while a voice actors' strike limited the writers' ability to revise the dialogue and create new scenes. An initial trailer made the next 'Dragon Age' seem more like 'Fortnite' than a dark fantasy role-playing game, triggering concerns that EA didn't know how to market the game. When 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' finally premiered on Halloween after many internal delays, some staff members thought there was a lot to like, including the game's new combat system. But players were less impressed, and sales sputtered. 'The reactions of the fan base are mixed, to put it gently,' said Caitie, a popular 'Dragon Age' YouTuber. 'Some, like myself, adore it for various reasons. Others feel utterly betrayed by certain design choices.' Following the layoffs and staff reassignments at BioWare earlier in the year, a small team of a few dozen employees is working on the next 'Mass Effect.' After three high-profile failures in a row, questions linger about EA's commitment to the studio. In May, the company relabeled its Edmonton headquarters from a BioWare office to a hub for all EA staff in the area. Historically, BioWare has never been the most important studio at EA, which generates more than $7 billion in annual revenue largely from its sports games and shooters. Depending on the timing of its launches, BioWare typically accounts for just 5% of EA's annual bookings, according to estimates by Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co. Even so, there may be strategic reasons for EA to keep supporting BioWare. Single-player role-playing games are expensive to make but can lead to huge windfalls when successful, as demonstrated by recent hits such as 'Cyberpunk 2077,' 'Elden Ring' and 'Baldur's Gate 3.' In order to grow, EA needs more than just sports franchises, said TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz. Trying to fix its fantasy-focused studio may be easier than starting something new. 'That said, if they shuttered the doors tomorrow I wouldn't be totally surprised,' Creutz added. 'It has been over a decade since they produced a hit.' Schreier writes for Bloomberg.

CNET

2 days ago

• CNET

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Double XP Weekend Is Live Now

It's finally time to get ahead on the battle pass with the first set of double XP boosts in Black Ops 6 Season 4. Developer Treyarch has your back with a new double XP weekend featuring three boosts for players to take advantage of -- you'll be able to speed through account levels, weapon attachment unlocks and battle pass tiers to kickstart your advancement of the newest seasonal content. This double XP weekend runs from Thursday to Monday. Anyone playing Black Ops 6 during the event period has a universal double account XP, weapon XP and battle pass XP earn rate applied to their account. If you log in now, you can hop into battle and reap the rewards of this double XP weekend right away, including the LC10 submachine gun and the FFAR 1 assault rifle. After the notoriously slow battle pass progression of Season 3, it seems Treyarch wants to give you a better shot at advancing the battle pass early in Season 4. This isn't a Quad Feed double XP weekend, which means zombies mode players won't be able to benefit from double GobbleGum drop rates. But the big three boosts are active, which means your double XP tokens will be locked for the duration of the event. Here's everything you need to know about this double XP weekend. If you're looking for something else to play, see our recommendations for the best game subscription services. When does the double XP weekend start in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6? During the event, players will benefit from double player and weapon XP. Activision It's live. This double XP weekend kicked off on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. Not sure when the double XP weekend went live for you? Here's when the event started in your time zone: ET: June 19 at 1 p.m. June 19 at 1 p.m. CT: June 19 at 12 p.m. June 19 at 12 p.m. MT: June 19 at 11 a.m. June 19 at 11 a.m. PT: June 19 at 10 a.m. It's always worth starting your game ahead of your gaming session if possible. As with every Black Ops 6 patch, the update is going to require you to download new content and restart the application. When does the Double XP Weekend end in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6? Some double XP "weekends" are much longer events, lasting five to seven days. That's not the case with the latest event. This double XP weekend will end on Monday. Your double XP tokens will once again unlock after this time. Here's when the double XP weekend will end in your time zone: ET: June 23 at 1 p.m. June 23 at 1 p.m. CT: June 23 at 12 p.m. June 23 at 12 p.m. MT: June 23 at 11 a.m. June 23 at 11 a.m. PT: June 23 at 10 a.m. Does Call of Duty Warzone have double XP this weekend? Warzone players will also be able to earn double player XP and double weapon XP during the event. Activision Call of Duty Warzone has a double XP weekend running in tandem with Black Ops 6. That means Warzone players will also be able to benefit from this boost by leveling up their account, weapons and battle passes at twice the normal speed. New players have a chance to level up the weapons they unlock from the new and improved Warzone Armory, and returning players can continue unlocking new attachments for the suite of Black Ops 6 weaponry added to Warzone. Black Ops 6 double XP FAQ Is there double battle pass XP this weekend? This is the first double XP weekend that revolves solely around double battle pass XP. The usual double XP boosts are double player XP and double weapon XP, but they're absent for this double XP weekend.