Skate (video game)

Skate
Developer(s)	EA Black Box
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Scott Blackwood
Series	Skate
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Mobile phone
Release date(s)	Xbox 360 NA September 14, 2007[1] EU September 28, 2007[2] PlayStation 3 NA September 24, 2007 EU October 5, 2007
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (closed)[3]

Skate (marketed as skate.) is a skateboarding video game developed by EA Black Box for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was released in North America on September 17, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and September 24, 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and in Europe on September 28, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and October 5, 2007 for the PlayStation 3. As of February 1, 2008, Skate has outsold the 2007 skateboarding game Tony Hawk's Proving Ground by a ratio of almost 2 to 1 on seventh generation video game consoles.^[4]

Two sequels, Skate 2 and Skate 3 have been released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as Skate It, a spin-off for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and iOS platforms.

Plot

You are a skater who is hit by a bus and is taken to hospital. You get out and get a photo in the skateboard mag at the elementary school . You then do a demo at LL Regs skate park and win. After, you get a shop sponsor at LL Regs skate shop and do more photos, video parts and contests. Eventually, you get a board sponsor and do more photos, video parts and contests. Then, you get wheel, truck and shoe sponsorships and got to the x-games after getting on the cover of the skateboard mag. With more photos with Thrasher skateboard mag, you get 'skater of the year' and you reach the top.

Development

The game's "flick it" control system began development long before any graphics had been implemented: the initial prototype simply read analogue stick motions and displayed a basic text message saying what trick had been performed, along with speed and accuracy ratings.^[5] The developers found that in order to receive accurate information from the very fast analogue stick motions used when playing the game, input data from each control pad had to be read at a rate of 120 Hz.^[5]

The game relies extensively on physics to model the skateboarders' movement. Havok, Endorphin and others were considered, but ultimately a RenderWare package called "Drives" was used to model the joints of the human body.^[5] Initially the development team planned to include the ability for the player to get off of the skateboard and walk around, but animating this proved to be too big a challenge for the team to handle.^[6] Similarly the developers also wanted players to be able to play as a girl but this was also discarded after proving tough to animate.^[6]

Evidence from different versions of EA's official website for Skate show that the game has been through some major changes in development. For example, one screenshot, dated "04/06/2007", shows that San Vanelona was originally planned to be a coastal city, featuring a football stadium, harbour and cruise liner.^[7]

Major changes were also made to the soundtrack. Originally planned to feature "Roadhouse Blues" by The Doors, the soundtrack now focuses more heavily on hip-hop. Some songs appear in both studio and remixed form.^[8]

The demo was scheduled for release on Xbox Live for August 15, 2007^[9] but was delayed (as stated by Scott Blackwood on the Skate forum) due to a sudden problem with the demo's Skate Reel (video editing) feature, releasing on August 21, 2007. It was released on PlayStation Network in September 2007. The demo let players skate around the San Vanelona Community Center for thirty minutes and learn how to do various tricks as well as create and edit videos.

Mobile version

The mobile version of Skate features two game modes: Thrasher Mode (the main game mode, in which the player completes goals to make the cover of skateboarding magazine Thrasher) and Free Skate (where the player can play on levels previously unlocked in Thrasher Mode). The player plays as a customized skater, who receives tips from pro skaters Chris Cole and Rob Dyrdek, among others, through twelve missions divided in four goals each. Though the game is still set in San Vanelona, there are only three explorable areas: Plaza, Halfpipe and Downtown, aside from linear levels only playable in Thrasher Mode. The mobile version of Skate later won "Cellular Game of the Year" award at the 2008 Interactive Achievement Awards.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic (PS3) 85/100[10] (X360) 86/100 [11] Review scores Publication Score Eurogamer 9/10 [12] Game Revolution B+ [13] GameSpy [14] GameTrailers 8.1/10 [15] IGN (X360) 9/10 [16] (PS3) 8.8/10 [16]

IGN gave the Xbox 360 version of skate a 9.0,^[16] and the PlayStation 3 version an 8.8.^[16] Praise was given to the environments, control scheme, and soundtrack. Criticisms included latency issues with the online multiplayer, odd physics glitches, and the lack of freestyle tricks in both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game (although it is possible to do lip tricks because of the unique grind engine built into the game).^[17] However, IGN have since edited their review of Skate, deleting the paragraph to do with complaints of the PS3 version being worse than the 360 version, after sources on the internet led them to believe there is no difference between the two versions of the game, despite user reviews. IGN has not changed the scoring for the PS3 version of Skate. GameSpot gave it a 7.5 for the Xbox 360 version of the game^[18] and a 7.0 for the PS3 version.^[19] The reviews praised the game for a good start and innovation, but was criticized for the in-game advertising and product placement. This resulted in its 0.5 lower score. GameSpy gave it a 5 star rating for the 360 version, praising it for the control scheme, presentation, expansive environments, audio, and amount of content. It was criticized for the learning curve, frustrating camera, and the slowdown in online game modes. Gamespy has since given the PS3 version a 5/5 as well. ^[14]

Sequels

In February 2008, EA president Frank Gibeau stated in a presentation for industry analysts that the original game posted bigger numbers on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 than rival Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. Because of these numbers, the company had decided to begin work on a sequel.^[20] Skate 2 was officially announced in May 2008 ^[21] and was released at the end of January 2009.^[22][23]

In September 2009, EA announced the third installment in the Skate franchise, Skate 3, which was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2010. The game is set in a new fictional city called Port Carverton. New gameplay features include the ability to perform dark slides and underflips and Skate 3 has a stronger emphasis on online team play than the previous games.^[24]

References