I was absolutely pumped to see this announcement until I saw the video. One thing that I have always loved about skate was the sheer fact that (other than the 360 hardflip) you couldn't do tricks like darkslides. All my friends clamored for it but I kept telling them it was BS and they won't throw it in. Why? Cause there are like(to the best of my knowledge) 2 skaters in the world that can darkslide almost on cue and 1 that can kickflip underflip. If it wasn't a common trick amongst the skating community then it will not be in the game.
To me all this really means is that within the first day of release there are going to be hundreds of videos of kickflip underslip darkslides posted online with the hopes of one user getting that ever so coveted spot of number one due to the fact that it will be one of the first video's posted and most likely most voted upon.
I'll be more excited about this game if they can tighten up the controls. I really enjoyed the first one but passed on the second one when I heard that the controls were as frustratingly imprecise as they were before.
I just hope that what happened to THPS won't happen to Skate. THPS3 was the last before the franchise started going downhill (no pun intended), and I'd hate to see Skate die the same way.
Unfortunately, we're already looking at sequel saturation.
Like KillerBee said below me, it's too soon. Skating games have long lives. We're not exactly starved for replay value here.
I loved skate., but I didn't really play Skate 2 to know whether the series is going in a positive direction. I'm definitely looking forward to trying a demo, whenever it comes out sometime next year.
EA, let's talk. Skate is great. It is the defacto skateboarding franchise now that Tony Hawk is making plastic thingies.
This is the part you don't want to hear, but you need to. STOP making Skate games every year. The differences between Skate 1 and 2 were minimal and adding skater crew warfare is fucking stupid. This isn't madden. We don't need "roster" updates. We don't need the only real skateboarding franchise watered down and unfun because you think you need to pump new Skate games out every year. Please, stop.
Skate 2 was already pushing it with the "too soon" feeling, but damn, EA, slow your roll here.
@KillerBee: Agreed, it feels too soon.
My problem is more about the fact that Skate 2 didn't fix the most important things to me though. So how can Skate 3 do it after such a short time? AND bring something new? At least, there seem to be a brand new city to skate, but please no more skatepark elements on the sidewalks...
@mescaline.: Too soon? If Skate 2 came out last year, then wouldn't next year be 2 years since the last game? I don't think they need to create a new engine for it. Just fix the issues that everyone has had with the game and add in some cool new elements.
I'm actually kinda excited about this. My biggest issue with the NFS games in recent times (well, mainly underground and most wanted) has been the terrible "rubber band" style catchup system with the AI. Words can't adequately describe the frustration I get from doing a race 10 times in a row, being in first place for 90% of it and then getting overtaken just before the finish (despite already going the max speed).
At first I thought this might have just been an issue with my in game car needing better parts, but then I realized that by simply sitting in second place for the majority of the race, and then overtaking just before the finish, all the bullshit AI catchup is avoided. Unfortunately so is all the fun, since you realize that the driver in first place purposely slows down to let you go in front, only to then go speeds faster than possible in your own car to take the lead again.
Given that this game is an MMO, I'm working on the assumption (perhaps wrongly) that the races will all take place against real people. As such, there shouldn't be any need for "catchup" style effects ... right ?
@radink: As far as I'm aware, this is a PC exclusive and the consoles will be getting their own NFS game completely seperate from NFS:WO. The whole idea is focused on rebooting the series and getting back the higher sales it enjoyed with Underground.
@Xi Yan: Did Hot Pursuit 2 actually support dual monitors with the hud spread across both in custom positions? If so that's pretty impressive for such an old game.
@bakalhau: They're using the same areas that are in Carbon and Most Wanted for the game. Even if this is shopped, the actual game will remind people of those two series.
I'm a little confused as to why this is so special? So the interface windows are able to be moved, re-sized, and closed to however the end user likes? So just like any other PC mmo right? They go a step further and allow completely customized UI skins. Isn't this the norm rather than anything creative?
@HioMrSan: It is the norm with PC games but ports tend to just throw the same hud into the game that the console version had, therefore making it difficult or awkward on the PC gamer to use it efficently.
@Kazzahdrane: I think what's unique about them is that they are independant of the game screen, sort of like the widgets that vista uses. This would allow them to be moved to another screen if you were running a dual screen system. It seems like an idea that could catch on.
This is just speculation from the positioning of the windows in the screenshot however, I could be wrong and someone f*^$ed up the shop.
It's nice that they're thinking about the PC gamers during development but I still don't see myself getting this.
Ever since NFS:U2, I've been disappointed by the series, each new outing seems to have less than the one that came before it. Whether it's less cars, less customisation, less game modes, etc, there's always something missing that should have been there.
I've been fooled into believing 3 times now that things would be different, that they actually made a proper sequal but each time I've been disappointed.
I'm avoiding that disappointment this time around by not getting NFS:WO.
@-MasterDex-: Ya' know, I feel the same was as you do about the NFS series as of late. My largest argument with it all was, I was paying 60 bucks for a game that I would play for about 6 hours, set down, and never pick back up again, because I played all the content.
I may try this one, though, because it's free.
And free's free.
And I love free.
However, I do feel like it's gonna, for some reason or another, be crap. Free MMOs never strike it large, for some reason...
@forkintheworld: I believe the 'free' tag will be true to EA's vesion of free, i.e. Free to download but microtransactions are required to play the game properly.
09/15/09
Here's what the heads can do with Skate 2
http://www.wegame.com/watch/Sweaty_Shirtless_Fish/
09/15/09
Heyyy, that's my boy Jack Barclay from Doppelgänger Produktion. Sweet.
09/15/09
To me all this really means is that within the first day of release there are going to be hundreds of videos of kickflip underslip darkslides posted online with the hopes of one user getting that ever so coveted spot of number one due to the fact that it will be one of the first video's posted and most likely most voted upon.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
Unfortunately, we're already looking at sequel saturation.
Like KillerBee said below me, it's too soon. Skating games have long lives. We're not exactly starved for replay value here.
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
This is the part you don't want to hear, but you need to. STOP making Skate games every year. The differences between Skate 1 and 2 were minimal and adding skater crew warfare is fucking stupid. This isn't madden. We don't need "roster" updates. We don't need the only real skateboarding franchise watered down and unfun because you think you need to pump new Skate games out every year. Please, stop.
Skate 2 was already pushing it with the "too soon" feeling, but damn, EA, slow your roll here.
09/15/09
My problem is more about the fact that Skate 2 didn't fix the most important things to me though. So how can Skate 3 do it after such a short time? AND bring something new? At least, there seem to be a brand new city to skate, but please no more skatepark elements on the sidewalks...
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
03/01/09
At first I thought this might have just been an issue with my in game car needing better parts, but then I realized that by simply sitting in second place for the majority of the race, and then overtaking just before the finish, all the bullshit AI catchup is avoided. Unfortunately so is all the fun, since you realize that the driver in first place purposely slows down to let you go in front, only to then go speeds faster than possible in your own car to take the lead again.
Given that this game is an MMO, I'm working on the assumption (perhaps wrongly) that the races will all take place against real people. As such, there shouldn't be any need for "catchup" style effects ... right ?
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
Way to innovate EA
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
03/01/09
This is just speculation from the positioning of the windows in the screenshot however, I could be wrong and someone f*^$ed up the shop.
03/01/09
Ever since NFS:U2, I've been disappointed by the series, each new outing seems to have less than the one that came before it. Whether it's less cars, less customisation, less game modes, etc, there's always something missing that should have been there.
I've been fooled into believing 3 times now that things would be different, that they actually made a proper sequal but each time I've been disappointed.
I'm avoiding that disappointment this time around by not getting NFS:WO.
03/01/09
I may try this one, though, because it's free.
And free's free.
And I love free.
However, I do feel like it's gonna, for some reason or another, be crap. Free MMOs never strike it large, for some reason...
03/01/09