One thing that became clear to me during the Tony Hawk: Ride event I attended on Saturday: This game isn't for us.
And by that I mean it's not for anyone who's serious about video games. It's not for those of us who follow NPD numbers, post comments on NeoGAF, or know that there's this series called Skate that nails the feeling of skating better than any of the Tony Hawk games have done -- including this one.
Tony Hawk: Ride and its plastic board are for the Wii generation, pure and simple.
I suspected as much when I saw the phrase "family fun" emblazoned across the invitation Activision sent me. But it was the layout of the event itself that really tipped me off. Front and center were 20 or so Wii stations, each one occupied by a smiling kid watching his big-headed Mii pull off tricks onscreen. Exiled to the back of the room, behind a velvet rope and a sign labeled "Media Station Only," sat a handful of 360s.
I think it's pretty easy to figure out the market Activision is aiming for.
That's a smart move on their part. Most anyone who cares about skating video games has moved on to Skate; it makes sense to shift the marketing focus to people who have never played a skating game before and who are conditioned to buying extra doohickeys like the Wii Fit balance board, the Nunchuck, or Wii Motion Plus -- not to mention the mounds of plastic instruments most of them have crowding their living rooms.
This retooling has produced an added benefit: Activision has made Tony Hawk fun again. Sure, it's also simplistic and not very challenging -- I managed to score an impressive combo on "Hardcore" after just a few minutes of practice -- but I finished my session smiling and a little short of breath.
More importantly, the kids around me were smiling, too. And those are the people Activision needs to win over. Tony Hawk: Ride will live or die this holiday season on whether kids can convince their parents to plunk down $120.
I'm sure some of the kids at this event will be able to do just that.
The ghettoized press section at the back of the room.
An ollie in action.
Some guy named Tony Hawk shows off the features of the board.
Tony Hawk demonstrates how it's done.
In one area of the room, kids could decorate their own wooden boards.
An impressive design from a kid who really likes skulls.
