CO-OP 0308 -- Go Outside and Play -- Tony Hawk: Ride, Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
matt chandronaitYou punk skater kids! No respect for private property or authority! Who do you think you are? I swear, back in my day we knew how to treat other people with politeness and respect! That’s it, I’ve had it! I’m callin’ the cops! More after the show:
So is it time to add another plastic simulacrum of a real-world object in order to enhance your interactive entertainment experience? Tony Hawk: Ride seems to think so. Our resident skaters Jason and Cesar, however, disagree. If you’re someone like Ryan who didn’t grow up on a board with wheels, you may find more here to enjoy. As the skating video game continues to evolve thanks to there finally being some competition in the space, it’s clear that the latest Tony Hawk is at least doing something interesting if not exactly an unmitigated success.
It’s no seret to anyone that Ryan and I love Assassin’s Creed. We adored the first game in spite of its flaws and Ryan has called the second incarnation of the series one of his “favorite games of all time.” So, big shocker, we had to give Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines a try. Far more akin to the original AC it’s nonetheless a worthy addition to the series for fans or if a PSP is your only opportunity to experience the free-climbing glory and little-input-big-output combat that are hallmarks of the series.
Reader Comments (22)
Area5 really knows how to stick it to the man and do ollies!
Tony Hawk tried something new and people are bombing before they even play it!
I think more critics need to realize that making video games is like trial and error.
You keep doing it until you get it right. I believe that Tony Hawk can make a good game with his hardware but it will take some time.....
Also, how will the new EGM work? How do we subscribe?
I'm looking forward to the first issue.
Also, you stay classy Matt!
Matt, digg link is again not working from the frontpage as it should...thus i'm afraid you won't get the amount of diggs you guys deserve...
$120 is a hard sell, even if there is potential for better implementation in the future. Pass -- for now.
The Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines footage looked a bit odd. Is it because of the video capture or does the game actually look like that?
Video taking FOREVER to download today.
Great episode! Loved your soundtrack including The Feint and TV on the Radio! Is there anywhere to download your background soundtracks? They are awsome!
What did you guys think about Tony Hawk's response to the criticism against Ride?
FYI: It appears that the last line of the show notes are truncated.
Yep, RIDE turned out to be a fail just like everyone said :I
Yeah, I can't figure out what's wrong with the Digg link. I used to be able to fix it just by re-pasting in the Digg link code, but that's not working anymore and I'm not web-coder savvy enough to know what's going on. If anyone wants to take a look at the source and help me figure it out I'd be extremely grateful!
Tony Hawk is the last person on earth you want opinions from concerning Tony Hawk: Ride.
I would just like to say that I really liked the more laid-back and more "roundtable" feel of the Tony Hawk: Ride discussion. It feel very organic and real. Just thought I'd mention that I liked that part. Good job...
@Novato ... no idea how EGM is going to work just yet. When we know, you'll know! :)
@Icarus II ... yeah, PSP footage is a bitch to capture. I screwed up and the footage was blurry and WAY too dark. We were right at the end of show production on Sunday night and I couldn't take the time to capture it all again (I had already had to recapture everything once before). I feel awful about the game looking off like that :/
@Bigknees ... only reason those tracks were in our show this week were because they are in the game and were under the footage we were capturing. I WISH we could afford to license music like that! :)
@Mark ... haven't read/seen any of it. We tend not to read a whole lot of other people's criticism (or criticism of the criticism) mostly just because we don't have time to. What did he say?
@edwin... fixed! Thanks!
@Oky ... you'll probably like our show two weeks from now a lot, then! ;)
@Matt - this is what Tony Hawk said: http://kotaku.com/5420200/tony-hawk-very-proud-of-tony-hawk-ride
Cool episode, but it did feel a bit short. Guess it's because it was still holidays for a few of you.
Whoops - I should've linked that better. http://kotaku.com/5420200/tony-hawk-very-proud-of-tony-hawk-ride
The biggest problem with Tony Hawk Ride for me is it comes across as a test of the tech, more of a proof of concept. In the UK this game costs over £80 ($130) which is far too much for a casual purchase, and will result in one of the worst performing major releases this generation.
I am sure as soon as the holiday season is over this game will be available at the same price as a regular release.
Regards
Al
Great Episode as usual :)
I´ve got one question about the "standard" music tracks you use in the show... Are they downlaodable?
@Adrian ... yeah, this week was a bit short, but we'll be back in full swing the next episode! Thanks for the link, I'll give it a read!
@Al ... yup, too rich for my blood, too! I'm hoping it doesn't totally tank as I think the concept is sound, they've just made some mistakes that might cost them pretty dearly.
@Gintonic ... The only ones that area downloadable are if you get SGX's music http://sgxmusic.com -- it's great stuff and we're definitely grateful that he was so kind as to donate his music to us! We have a lot of other tracks done by Pierce Hacquard, Nick Vasallo, Cesar, Paul Greenleaf, Ryan, our friend Torrey Walker, and a few others but those aren't really available anywhere. We'd like to release some kind of soundtrack at some point,but it would require working out licensing deals with a bunch of those parties.
I know it crosses enemy publisher lines, but I want a cross between Tony Hawk: Ride and Mirror's Edge. I want to use the cool controller but just roaming around doing stunts would be boring to me. It could be fun if it was all about speeding away in a chase, with some kind of story.
Great show again this week guys. :)
@Helen C ... it would be nice if more game developers would share access/content like that. I can think of a ton of people I'd love to see work together and game designs I'd love to see combined!
This was a great episode. I'm glad you took a look at Tony Hawk Ride. While it's fun to showcase great games and discuss all the things you like about them, games like Tony Hawk Ride bring out discussion and criticism that helps us better understand what makes a good game. I thought this section of the episode was particularly good and offered some fair, constructive criticism.
But I wonder if there could have been a bit more discussion about the business of releasing a game like this. The release of this game was obviously influenced, in some ways, by marketers and bean-counters. I think there is a bigger discussion to be had about what this does to the design and development process. Did the in-game advertising get plugged in at a later date to help generate more revenue for a game they thought wouldn't sell? Do contracts for such advertising influence release dates? Did the concept of the skateboard controller dictate game design because it fit with a marketing and business strategy based on the sales of plastic peripherals? Is this the result of trying to capture the elusive casual market created by the Wii?
I'm sure the people who worked on this game would have something to say about this (not just Tony Hawk). Overall, I liked the discussion and I really liked the episode. Keep up the great work.
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