We caught up with Hawk this weekend at the Spike TV VGAs to talk about his response to Ride's reception and future Tony Hawk's Pro Skater plans.

"I feel like the device is a flagship for other games," Hawk said. "I think we can do another skate game, I think we can do other board-type games, surfing, snowboarding." Hawk and company have hinted at such things in the past, speaking about his appreciation of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.

"That really was the master plan," he said of increased Ride board controller support. "I didn't think it was some gimmick that people were going to have to buy again next year."

Hawk, who says he typically plays his latest game on "confident" difficulty, didn't have much to say about a return to traditional controls for the Pro Skate franchise, but did talk about one of his goals for the current implementation.

"I think it could maybe be a bridge for people who were intimidated to try skating in the first place," he said. "They could get on this and realize maybe they do have a sense of balance they didn't know and that that will inspire them to try the real thing. I could only hope."

GameSpot reports that the majority of those sales were to Wii gamers, with 67,000 copies of Tony Hawk Ride and the accompanying skateboard sold to the peripheral comfortable Nintendo fan base. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers snapped up the rest, with the 360 version outselling the PS3 version almost two-to-one.

That's behind Activision's other recent controller-dependent, high ticket game, DJ Hero, which debuted with 123,000 units sold in the U.S. in October.

That's potentially disappointing for Activision, which went back to the drawing board after the previous entry in the series Tony Hawk's Proving Ground saw middling reviews—some of the lowest in the series—and hefty competition from EA's Skate. Metacritic scores aside, Proving Ground at least went on to sell more than a million units in the U.S. across the five platforms it was released on.

Tony Hawk may be "proud" of Ride, but it appears that U.S. video game consumers (and critics) may have a harder time getting on board.

Under 114,000 ride Tony Hawk in November [GameSpot]

But don't tell Tony Hawk that!

The skater is standing by Robomodo's game, both on the grounds that he was involved in it, and that everyone reviewing the game and thinking it's complete rubbish simply weren't willing to give it a chance.

"They were ready to discredit it before they even tried it, and if it didn't play exactly how they imagined it... then they passed it off" Hawk told the Sudbury Star.

"I don't agree with people who say the board's not responsive," he continues. "I think that they're just not giving it a fair shake. And I think a lot of them came into it with an attitude that it's going to suck."

"I know that (RIDE) is super fun, and I think there's a misconception that I just stick my name on a game," he said. "I brought this idea to Activision, and I saw it through, I've been playing it every step of the way and I am very proud of it."

Hey, least there's one satisfied customer!

Hawk defends RIDE [Sudbury Star]

And we love it! Sure, with wires, wood and buttons all over the place it doesn't have as compact a final form as the retail model, but it's dirty, raw and practical. Which seems to fit with the whole skateboarding thing a lot better than a lump of plastic with lasers.

In Pictures: How the RIDE team built a board [Develop]

Chatting about what comes next for the expensive peripheral, Hawk says "I think that the first priority, beyond skateboarding, would be snowboarding because that would lend itself [to the board] a little bit easier [than other genres], and beyond that I'd love to do a surfing game. I always thought that Kelly Slater's [Pro Surfer] was an underrated title for the PlayStation 2. I thought that people didn't really give it the attention it deserved."

Nice hearing those words, as I can vouch for their accuracy. Kelly Slater's was pretty great. How great it would be on an unwieldy plastic board in the middle of your living room, however, may be up for debate.

Tony Hawk talks Ride sequels [GameSpot]

Speaking with Develop, Michicich was asked whether Robomodo - the developers behind Tony Hawk: Ride - had any other ideas for games using the board. To which Michicich replied "That's really difficult to answer because we're kind of, ah, [pause], we're kind of, [pause], we're doing a game with Activision and we're not allowed to talk about it right now".

That's a yes, then.

The obvious answer is "snowboard game", but we're hoping for "hoverboard game" instead.

Tony Hawk Ride team hint at boarding other genres [Develop]

Here's Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann, one of the most respected and tenured reviewers in the gaming press, explaining what he believed he had to do to have a day one review ready for Tony Hawk Ride.

He mentioned this during the most recent Giant Bombcast podcast, at the one hour and six minute mark:

Jeff Gerstmann, Giant Bomb: We've gotten e-mails saying, hey, we're doing an event on Saturday, with Tony Hawk Ride. Tony Hawk will be there talking about the game. This would be your opportunity to come and play it for day one reviews.

Brad Shoemaker, Giant Bomb: Really?

Gerstmann: Twelve to three on a Saturday. Do you really want to read the Day One review I would write after fighting the public and maybe playing the game for 20 minutes? "The 20 minutes I played was awesome!" or "The worst thing ever! I couldn't learn how to play because this game has a learning curve because it's got an actual skateboard. [whispers] They're sending that game off to die."

Gerstmann didn't attend the event. He bought the game instead.

For the record Activision didn't offer early review access of the game to Kotaku nor supply a review copy in advance of release. As of this evening, the day of Ride's release, Metacritic listed only one review for the game.

Kotaku checked in with a representative for the Activision regarding the details of that Saturday event. I'll update this post if I hear back.

Giant Bombcast: 11/10/09

The 41-year-old skateboarder will also be tackling Gamescom's vert ramp, located in the conventions sports zone in hall 7, to wow the crowd on Friday evening. I suspect we won't be seeing any 900s.

We'll be heading out for Gamescom this weekend. Are any of you planning on attending?

The lucky three are the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. If you live in France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Belgium, Switzerland or Mexico (or anywhere in between), sorry, you're shit out of luck.

Tacky plastic peripherals are expensive and difficult to manufacture, and like Rock Band's staggered release a few year's back, seems there just aren't enough of them to go around on launch day.

One thing we're unsure of; whether Canadians are included in the "United States" statement. We'd like to think so, but then, you can't be sure. We'll look into it.

The company's CEO, Mike Griffith said that, in addition to the delayed Singularity, now expected between January and the end of March, the company will publish new games in the James Bond, Tony Hawk and Spider-Man franchises. Griffith also promised tie-ins to Dreamworks movies Shrek 4 and How To Train Your Dragon. More mysterious was his reference to an unnamed "innovative property in the $4 billion action genre."

Later in the call, a financial analyst tried to get top Blizzard exec, Mike Morhaime, to clarify whether the delay of StarCraft II to 2010 would push back an anticipated 2010 release for the studio's Diablo III. The analyst recalled an earlier comment by a Blizzard representative that the studio would release a single major game per year.

"The move of StarCraft into next year does not impact the schedule," Morhaime said. "And so it would be correct to conclude that you could expect two releases of Blizzard for next year. But I would not make any conclusions on what those titles would be."

Activision also announced plans to offer "new releases" in the Call of Duty series next year, though how those releases will mix downloadable map packs for existing games and brand-new games was not specified.

The game is now available for preorder on GameStop's website, and while none of this information is 100% confirmed (including that release date), GameStop is rarely, if ever, wrong about a game's price.

Though at $120, we kinda wish they were.

The game is running on an iPhone. The developers, LTI Gray Matter, have confirmed this. And they should know, they made the thing. But the problem is, they made it of their own accord. Didn't go and ask Activision first, just...ported it themselves. For the hell of it.

Ultimately, they'd like Activision to release the game, but whether it is or not is ultimately up to the people who actually own the rights to the game: Activision.

We're sure that Activision don't want to start a precedent with unsolicited game developments, but then again...we're also sure they like to exploit the shit out of their franchises. Who knows, this one may actually turn up on the App Store!

Tony Hawk 2 iPhone Is Real, Unofficial [Giant Bomb]

After Tony Hawk's Proving Ground proved to be a bit of a miss with critics, Activision and crew took a year off from the franchise. The newest, still-unannounced entry will come with a bit of a twist, to borrow a description from Geoff Keighley, as players are "not going to be playing Tony Hawk [with] a controller in your hands."

As intimidating as that might sound, Tony Hawk himself has said that the next entry is "as close to real skating as you'll ever come." In fact, he guarantees it!

According to marketing leaks from last year's Intellisponse fiasco, the newest Tony Hawk game will employ the use of a "custom board controller/peripheral," one that we'll presumably control with either our feet or... our minds!! Whether Activision has decided to stick with one of the game's working titles—Tony Hawk's Amplitude, Tony Hawk's Adrenaline and Tony Hawk's Huck Jam—we'll all find out this Thursday night.

We've not heard much from the Tony Hawk front since traditional developer Neversoft shifted focus to work on the Guitar Hero franchise for Activision. So far all we know is that Activision has promised that the next game in the series will be a re-engineering of the franchise, and that Tony Hawk himself has claimed the game will be the closest thing you'll ever see to real skateboarding.

During Activision's earnings call today, president and CEO of publishing Mike Griffith told us to expect more details on the next game in the franchise at next month's E3. Hopefully we'll see the game in action, or at least confirm whether or not rumors of Robomodo's involvement prove true.

Turns out that was...well, mostly correct. Speaking with the Great Falls Tribune, Neversoft founder Joel Jewett says that the next Tony Hawk will indeed be the first main entry in the franchise to be developed outside of Neversoft.

It's probably best for the franchise ... it's time for someone else to add fresh ideas to it.

That doesn't confirm whether Neversoft let go of the reigns or were booted off, but the end result is the same; the next Tony Hawk should be a different affair.

No confirmation that Robomodo are indeed the team taking over, but since their company page still says they're working on "a high-profile extreme sports title for Activision Blizzard", it looks likely.

Founder of Guitar Hero III developer credits Great Falls for successes [greatfallstribune]

Tony's interview with CNET echoes his interview with the LA Times from earlier this week on many levels, discussing his charity while hinting at some sort of accelerometer function in the next game, but when it gets down to hyping the next title, Hawk dials things up a notch.

I can guarantee you that it's as close to real skating as you'll ever come.

Well there you have it folks. You will never, ever come as close to skateboarding as you will in the next Tony Hawk game. This is the end all, be all of skateboarding games, as foretold by prophecy. We'll just bookmark this post for when the Tony Hawk game after the next one comes out.

Tony Hawk talks charity, game development [CNET News]

He tells the LA Times that he and the unspecified developer are creating "a new type of game," which Hawk says is "a real departure" and that he's been "even more involved in this one than I have been in the last five games."

We've heard this before, but not from Tony Hawk. Leaks from the marketing firms and execs running at the mouth have hinted at a motion controlled, hands-free Tony Hawk skateboarding game. Hawk calls it "way more realistic and way more interactive" than previous entries.

We're thinking this won't just be limited to the Wii Balance Board, but something else entirely. Activision does love its peripherals and a dedicated Tony Hawk's Pro Skater controller no longer sounds like a risky venture.

Tony Hawk at 40: Still skating, making games and, now, re-gifting fruitcakes [LA Times]

And while new entries in the Call of Duty series is a given, as is further exploitation of the Bond license — this time, by Bizarre Creations — the fact that you're "not going to be playing Tony Hawk [with] a controller in your hands" will probably come as a surprise to some gamers who haven't been keeping up. Let's just hope whoever is at the helm improves upon what Skate It did.

Newsweek blogger/griot N'Gai Croal is twittering like a man possessed at the Massive summit, reporting that the next Call of Duty, back in Infinity Ward's hands again, will hit Fall of 2009.

Activision-published siblings Bizarre Creations are said to be "working on 3rd person Bond game for 2009" that's "racing and driving focused" as well as a second racing game described as "Mario Kart meets Forza." The former project jibes with a rumor from last December, so we'd expect this one has been in development for a significant period.

Little of that will probably come as a surprise to anyone following the Activision development hamster wheel, but it's good to know that the wholly owned Bizarre isn't just sitting on its hands. We'll be keeping an eye on N'Gai's Blackberry fingering for those sweet nuggets of info.

N'Gai Croal's Twitter