EA: Music Gaming Will Return, But Skateboarding is Dead

[Tom Goldman]

EA: Music Gaming Will Return, But Skateboarding is Dead

EA's John Riccitiello refutes earlier reports that he called the music genre a "falling knife."

EA CEO John Riccitiello feels he was misrepresented in a recent Bloomberg article where he was quoted as saying that purchasing major dip [http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Band-3-Xbox-360/dp/B003RS8HG6] in sales, but he also said that the skateboarding genre won't be so lucky.

Riccitiello said he "thinks the music genre is going to recover," but he admitted that he doesn't know how. He points to the possibility of a new innovation in the genre, saying it could become "dance-based." Dancing games like Just Dance [http://www.amazon.com/Just-Dance-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B002MWSY3O] are already demolishing at retail, so Riccitiello could be on to something.

Harmonix's Rock Band and Activision's Guitar Hero might not be doing as well as they used to, but Riccitiello still likes Harmonix and notes that the studio's Dance Central [http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Central-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0HBOI] is a game that could lead the way for the music genre's recovery. He clarified that his comments in the previous article didn't mean that he thinks Harmonix is a "falling knife" at all.

Riccitiello continued: "What I said was Alex [Rigopulos, co-founder of the studio] is a great developer, Harmonix is one of the great developers of all time. They've got the leading dance product and maybe the leading game full stop on Kinect and the question was what investors might be thinking about it. [I said] the nervous investor would be worried about the decline in the music sector feeling like a falling knife. The only part of that conversation that got reported was the 'falling knife' part."

He added that Harmonix was an innovative company and at least partially responsible for the creation of the music genre he feels will recover. However, the beating that skateboarding games have taken lately with the Tony Hawk series' poorly received [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105375-New-Tony-Hawk-Suffers-Humiliating-Launch] last two entries has convinced Riccitiello that skateboarding games are dead.

"When it comes to action sports, I think that's going to be an an ongoing exciting genre," he said. "But at least for the level of excitement out there, skateboarding seems to have run its course as the representative example in that broader genre." He noted that EA's NBA Jam [http://www.amazon.com/NBA-Jam-Xbox/dp/B0047OK31Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1291301077&sr=1-2] is a good example of an action sports title that will keep the genre going instead.

It'd be quite sad to see the skateboarding game die, because the early Skate [http://www.amazon.com/Tony-Hawk-Pro-Skater-4-GameCube/dp/B00006LU9D/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1291301183&sr=1-3] brought a fresh look at skateboarding games, it didn't sell like Tony Hawk once did. It'll be interesting to see if Tony Hawk, Skate, or a new series can breathe life into skateboarding someday.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5703454/skateboarding-has-run-its-course-as-a-top-video-game-format]

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[mattttherman3]

I'd say no form of game is ever truely dead(except perhaps, text based). Certain games need to go away for about 10 years to become popular again.

 

[Calico93]

Its a shame, I really loved the madness of Tony Hawk games, and the Skate games too =/
And music games are fun for about half an hour, when people are drinking at parties.
Just dance or the michael jackson .. thing can just fuck off, whether girls like them or not, if girls dig guys who dance, ill go to a club.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Skating games were innovative? Hunh, I must have missed that somehwere.


Anyway, I dont see why they would die. Skaters are going to buy skating games just because, and parents will buy them to be hip edgy cool and down with the kids yo. And what with the Kinect and Move, you'd think skating would take on a whole new stance and be more lucrative.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 was perfect...

Don't make skating games pseudo-realistic.

Just slap in a bunch of moon-bouncing cheats and an epic soundtrack, that'll sell.

Then just update every few years (not a yearly update).

 

[teh_Canape]

skate genre is easy

bring back the sillyness of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1-3

and get rid of all the modern skating bullshit

and while you're at it, get rid of gravity laws and bring back the damn playable spiderman, doom marine and the cop ^-^

 

[Andronicus]

Remake THPS 1 through 3 on PS1 and then tell me skateboarding is dead.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Thank god the skating games are dead, and music games stopped being good after Guitar Hero 3 (except maybe Rock Band 2.) Don't even get me started on dancing games.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

I disagree. Half my PS3 games are skateboarding games and they are still more fun and innovative then music games have been. What they really need to do is what Tony Hawk's Underground did: have a GOOD story. American Wasteland's was pretty decent, but it was obviously rushed. Out of the 4 Skate games I have and Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Proving Ground don't really have much of a story actually involved. As for Shaun White Skateboarding, I've only played a little and it looks like it has a story, but it is starting to seem it is just like the "story" in the Skate games or Proving Ground.

 

[putowtin]

skateboarding games were great before they introduced the fake skateboard controller
If I wanted to stand up and skateboard I'd dig my old board out and go fall down a hill!
I want to skateboard whilst drinking a beer and eating chips!

 

[sunburst]

If someone made a game that captured the awesome of the THPS series with current gen hardware, I'd buy the shit out of it in a heartbeat.

Compared to most AAA games these days, it wouldn't even be that expensive to make. You don't need a lot of flashy cinematics or voice acting. You'd just need some solid physics (not realistic physics), a kickass soundtracks (there's so much good music to choose from these days), some goofy playable characters and a big, beautiful sandbox full of skate-able obstacles that previous consoles never had the power to create. Also, it needs to be 100% thumb-based. Motion controls are fun for some things but skateboarding games are all about precision and timing. The game has to be controlled entirely through a standard controller to have any hope of working the way skateboarding gamers want.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

If the music genre does bounce back I don't think it'll be because of the fantastic 1999 innovation that is dancing. I think one of the things keeping people buying some of the music games is to see if Stairway to Heaven is on any of them. Anyway, there is still a lot that can be done with music-based games. How about a music-based fighting game? Gitaroo Man wanted to be that and even though it wasn't, it was still damn fun and pretty unique. Also, the Hatsune Miku game looks pretty good. Why not replace her with someone Americans are familiar with and send it here. Europe can get Hatsune since they aren't as afraid of that sort of thing as Americans are.

As for skateboard games...that is not dead which can eternally lie and, in stranger eons even Death may die (Yes, that is my pitch for a Lovecraftian/ Monster themed skate-game. If Disney/ Pixar can get away with it, why not Cthulhu?)

 

[XT inc]

These games don't die, Until they get into the hands of these mega corps. If you bastards hadn't been money grubbing jerks you wouldn't have tried to over-saturate the markets with overpriced crap. No one wants to buy a game that you are going to one up withing 11 months. No one wants 3 dollar song dlc, no one wants pricey motion controller bundled with a bad game. Take 2 years and build a new classic tony hawk game, with impressive plot, epic create a park features, online, filming, and use a little thing called pollish.

The last person who had the jar of the stuff I believe was metal gear solid 2.

 

[Vaccine]

Games fall in and out like fads, Skating games haven't died, just kind of flared out for the time being.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

As much as I loved THPS 2-4, I'm glad to see the skateboarding genre die off. Maybe now I won't see so many highschoolers doing awkward ollies on the sidewalk. It's practically running up to everyone they see to shout "I HAVE SOMETHING TO PROVE" in their faces.

 

[Midniqht]

Tony Hawk has been dead for a long time, but EA obviously doesn't know the community that's involved with EA Skate (1-3, any). Skate broke what the average mold of a skating game is by not being over-the-top with stupid "grind on these light fixtures and then triple backflip off". I still love playing any of the EA Skate games. They're so much better

 

[Distorted Stu]

Skate & TH are really the only good skating games out their, but sadly i think they have both bite the bullet =[

 

[Tim Latshaw]

Is skating as a whole still as popular with a mainstream crowd as it was during the original Tony Hawk days? I know it continues to have a large following, but does it still have enough overall appeal to break significantly into a casual audience? I'm kind of doubtful of that, but I still see tons of movies where directors seem to decide, "We'll have this kid skateboard, because that's what all the kids do, right?"

 

[UnravThreads]

Tony Hawk has been dead for a long time, but EA obviously doesn't know the community that's involved with EA Skate (1-3, any). Skate broke what the average mold of a skating game is by not being over-the-top with stupid "grind on these light fixtures and then triple backflip off". I still love playing any of the EA Skate games. They're so much better

So maybe what's needed are two products. Let's say "Skate" as the serious one, and a Tony Hawk-esque skater as the less serious one, so you'd have these two products that attract different sides of the market.

I absolutely loved the Pro Skater games back on the PS1, and if they brought one out for the PC then I'd buy it because they're just so fun.

Is skating as a whole still as popular with a mainstream crowd as it was during the original Tony Hawk days? I know it continues to have a large following, but does it still have enough overall appeal to break significantly into a casual audience? I'm kind of doubtful of that, but I still see tons of movies where directors seem to decide, "We'll have this kid skateboard, because that's what all the kids do, right?"

That's a good point. BMX games seem to have completely died out, and possibly motorbike racing games too. Maybe it's just the way the market's gone?