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May 9, 2008 - Last year, Electronic Arts and Black Box literally reinvented the skateboarding videogame design with Skate, an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 experience that put heavy focus on dual-analog stick control for its gameplay. What were once automatic button presses in games like Tony Hawk now had to be worked for by flicking your thumbs to pull them off.
Because of the dual-analog focus, it wasn't surprising to see that the original game didn't make it to the Nintendo Wii or the Nintendo DS – two systems that lacked the "standard" control offered by the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But that hasn't stopped the publisher from trying – in 2008, Electronic Arts will release Skate It, a spin-off of last year's console design that will focus on utilizing Wii remote and Nintendo DS touch screen for its skateboarding control. The Wii version will also support the Wii Balance Board that will ship with Wii Fit in two weeks.
Skate It will be officially announced and revealed by the company next week at the company's press event in San Francisco, but we were given the opportunity to grill Skate It's executive producer Scott Blackwood and get some details regarding the Nintendo spinoffs on the Wii and the Nintendo DS.
IGN: What does the title "Skate It" refer to? What is "it"? Scott Blackwood: "It" can be anything you want it to be. Rails, pools, ledges, banks, mega-ramps, gnarly downhill streets…you make the call. Just like real skateboarding the answer as to what "it" is…is…fun. We're sure once you skate it, you'll get it.
IGN: Why have you decided to make a spin-off instead of bringing the Skate 360/PS3 game to the Wii and DS? Scott Blackwood: We know a growing number of gamers have more than one next-gen system and we wanted to make sure that skate fans who have already played Skate got a new, quality skateboarding experience re-imagined for their other favorite game systems… much like what the team sought to accomplish on the other gaming systems. It gave us a whole new challenge to take on and the opportunity to turn up the good even further.
IGN: Who's the development team that's responsible for Skate it on the Wii? And the DS? If it's not Black Box, what have the teams done in the past?
Scott Blackwood: To start off, there's a core team at Black Box made up of some of our more senior folks from Skate. They are working co-operatively with partner studios to make Skate It. In the case of the DS, we've teamed up with developer extraordinaire - Exient in England. They have done a number of DS games for EA over the past few years including Need For Speed and many others. When I saw the very first build up and running months ago I was floored that a DS could look that good. More importantly, the feel is definitely there, just as it was on Skate – it's a totally new way of controlling your skater yet somehow very familiar... it feels right.
Skate It Wii is a co-development between Black Box Studios and one of our partner studios - EA Montreal. Again we have a small team at Black Box working directly with a killer team of Wii experts. This match up could not have worked out any better to be honest - we have Wii experts, skate experts and a hell of a lot of straight-up talent. I've worked on dual studio developments in the past and they can be tough, but so far this one is turning out to be one of the success stories. You guys will see soon enough
IGN: How long have the spinoffs to Skate been in development?
Scott Blackwood: We'd been thinking about them prior to finishing Skate, but we really had to think hard about whether we could be successful in recreating the innovative and tactile feel of Skate. If we couldn't prototype something that felt right and true to what the Skate franchise is about, we wouldn't have proceeded. Seriously, we weren't willing to move on either platform until we convinced ourselves we could find that same magic and great feel we had in Skate. After some trial and error, we were convinced that we could make Skate sing on the Nintendo platforms, so development started shortly after Skate was out the door.
IGN: What sort of differences to the gameplay can we expect on the Wii? What about the DS version? Scott Blackwood: Expect the same revolutionary, intuitive, and fun gameplay, but this time applied to the strengths of the Wii and DS systems. It's all about bringing that authentic Skate feeling to the Wii remote and stylus, or and for the full on immersive types, the Wii Balance Board.
IGN: On a technical level, is the Wii game created from the ground up or is it using an existing Skate engine? Will it be supporting 480p and widescreen on the Wii? Scott Blackwood: In order to retain the same great feel and physical accuracy of Skate, the team began by taking the core of the Skate engine and migrating it to the Wii. Most importantly; however, we've been able to bring our physics based skating, animation, camera, and award winning audio engines over to the Wii (Hall of Meat anyone?). Built around that foundation is all-new technology specific to the Wii - not the least of which is an intuitive way of controlling your skater built around the Wii Remote. And yes, we are supporting 480p and Widescreen.
IGN: One of the coolest features of the Skate gameplay is the ability to replay the past minute or so and show off to the world the craziness you've pulled off. Will this ability be brought to the Wii and DS versions? Scott Blackwood: Instant Replay was a huge part of the success of the original Skate game. On Skate It Wii and NDS, we will continue to make sure you can replay your sickest tricks, lines and bails to relive your best skating moments over and over again.
Scott Blackwood: Of course, you can play Skate without the Wii Balance Board, but you'd be missing out on a next level of immersiveness if you did. Hey, did that help sell Balance Boards…where's my cut? In all seriousness, the game plays super fun with or without the Balance Board, but if you want to really feel your carves and control your manuals, I'd advise you to skate a Balance Board version of the game. People that try it really seem to be digging it, and we're still discovering new and cool ways to integrate it daily.
IGN: Will there be any multiplayer or online components of either version of Skate It? Scott Blackwood: We realize that skating is something that's not only fun on your own but with others as well. Skate It - Wii will offer a a deep and unique career progression that allows you to earn sponsors, unlock gear, and for the first time travel the world. In addition Skate It - Wii will also offer a wide variety of multiplayer modes so that you can skate on your own or locally with your friends .
Skate It - NDS will also offer a unique and deep career progression, in addition to Single Cart, Multi Cart and WiFi multiplayer modes which were created uniquely for that platform. Skate It NDS will also have a few new unique online sharing components which we'll be speaking about at a later date.
IGN: What sort of music focus will the Wii and DS versions have? Any specific music can we expect to hear? Scott Blackwood: We're definitely bringing the original Skate's innovative approach to music to the Skate It titles. Expect a great eclectic mix of songs true to skating's culture and some sick original score from a bunch of amazing composers. We're not allowed to name names, yet…but the heads onboard are down with the culture and will get more than a few music lovers saying, "hell yeah!"
IGN: When is the game expected to ship? Scott Blackwood: We're not quite ready to make a detailed announcement yet, but it will be out in 2008. For us, as always, we want to first make sure we have enough time to make the game fun. Things are coming together really nicely on both consoles, so we'll be in a position to announce the exact date in the near future.
