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Tony Hawk Tells The Tale Of The 900 Trick In The First Pro Skater, Receiving A $4m Royalty Check From Activision, And How Pro Skater Changed His Life

Foxnull

Foxnull

Alt-Account
Banned
May 30, 2019
1,651
Those games were my entire childhood. I 100% completed most of them, loved hunting Gaps. I still play THUG and THAW from time to time, they hold up incredibly well. Would love another Tony Hawk game with proper online multiplayer, but that probably won't happen. RIP Neversoft.
 
SolidSnakex

SolidSnakex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,339
rawhide said:
Tony's doing a game of some sort with somebody, but he can't do THPS without Activision and they can't do anything with THPS without renewing the contract, which they haven't done.

I wonder if Activision could do a Pro Skater game with another skater, or even just a generic one, or if the "Pro Skater" brand itself is tied directly to Tony.
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Ideally, Tony's game is with Activision. It's really the best for both of them. Activision have said that they're going to announce more remasters/re-imaginings later this year. So, hopefully the success of Crash and Spyro showed them just how nostalgic gamers were that grew up during the PSone generation. Properly done THPS remasters done with the same care as Crash and Spyro would absolutely be a success. But they've got to nail the physics. That's where THPSHD fell apart. Then attempt to re-license all of the songs from the originals along with the skaters. Adding new songs or skaters are fine so long as those that people loved from the originals are back.
 
Fuchsia

Fuchsia

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,640
Foxnull said:
Those games were my entire childhood. I 100% completed most of them, loved hunting Gaps. I still play THUG and THAW from time to time, they hold up incredibly well. Would love another Tony Hawk game with proper online multiplayer, but that probably won't happen. RIP Neversoft.
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Yeah I remember THAW being pretty good actually. I think Kool and The Gang's "Summer Madness" was on that OST and i'd just have it on loop basically cause it fit the vibe so well.
 
shnitzel

shnitzel

Member
Dec 3, 2017
733
I never cared for skateboarding, but i could play THPS 1 and 2 the whole day. Just the music alone was perfect.
 
Maccix

Maccix

Member
Jan 10, 2018
1,251
One of the most influential guys for a whole generation. Between bringing back skating to the mainstream, helping Activision getting back on track, thps being one of the most defining series on the playstation and the music that made thps soundtrack becoming popular worldwide,he played a huge part in one way or another for millions upon millions of people.
 
Wamb0wneD

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
gnarlyxcharlie said:
The 900 made him famous, the games made him rich.
I won a signed Hawk poster at a skate contest when I was a kid but it's pretty beat. Honestly hard to express just how much those games and him as an athlete have meant to me. The games got me on a skateboard and it's his continued career and overall demeanor of the nicest guy in skateboarding that keeps me skating to this day. Seems really genuine and his Twitter is usually pretty hilarious.
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THPS 1-4 arent just games, they are part of my childhood with such a strong sense of a certsin time and place.
Turning these on is like a time capsule.
 
so1337

so1337

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,476
Activision really should do a THPS collection or ideally even a THPS & THUG & THAW collection. Don't touch the code. Update the graphics. Relicense the music. Boom, instant million seller.
 
Bushido

Bushido

Senior Game Designer
Verified
Feb 6, 2018
1,849
Yeah, great video, watched it like a year ago or so and it made me realize once again how desperately we need a new, good skateboarding game (and what a great guy Tony Hawk is). Played all of them till American Wasteland, they really had a huge influence on my taste in music, clothing and overall lifestyle.
 

Cheeky Devlin

Member
Oct 31, 2017
161
I'm not really a fan of skateboarding. I never found it particularly interesting or fun to watch and I've got all the manual co-ordination of a drunk chimp so I never enjoyed doing it either. Perhaps I was too old to really click with it when it got massive in the late 90's.

But it's a testament to how good the THPS games were that I managed to get a ton of enjoyment from them. Fantastically well put together games that are still fun to play even now.
 
Bomi-Chan

Bomi-Chan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
665
AuthenticM said:
I really want a new THPS. A good one. It doesn't need a super-high budget; just give me some good levels, good music and good mechanics and I'll be pleased.
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I was also a huge fan of thps.the first 4games were so great, everything after those were plain shit. Even the remake of the first one was bad. I started skating because of the games, and it was fun. But those days are long gone. All i see these days are kids on longboards, just sitting around, not even skating on them. My favs were rodney mullen tony hawk just because of the impact of both at that time. Back in the day i subscribed to a 411vm,it was so damn expensive back then, nowadays you can get better videos on ig and yt for free...
 
Jegriva

Jegriva

Banned
Sep 23, 2019
5,519
Hobbes said:
Based on what? Walk me through what you're thinking!
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You have to pay the license for every piece of music and for every skater's name and likeness.
You have to pay money.

It's the same reason you won't ever see a driving game like Forza Horizon republished. They can make a profit if they ar released at full price, but after Activision has cheapening out for THPS HD and THPS 5, they clearly thought that the market wasn't worth a 60$ game anymore.
 
ProstatePuncher

ProstatePuncher

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,800
Bomi-Chan said:
I was also a huge fan of thps.the first 4games were so great, everything after those were plain shit. Even the remake of the first one was bad. I started skating because of the games, and it was fun. But those days are long gone. All i see these days are kids on longboards, just sitting around, not even skating on them. My favs were rodney mullen tony hawk just because of the impact of both at that time. Back in the day i subscribed to a 411vm,it was so damn expensive back then, nowadays you can get better videos on ig and yt for free...
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THUG and THUG2 are the Tony Hawks formula perfected. No idea what you're on with thinking they're bad. American Wasteland is where the decline started. The soundtrack for that game prolapsed, it had weird BMX stuff, unremarkeable level design and I can't really remember any innovations it brought to the skating.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 18944

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,944
Jegriva said:
You have to pay the license for every piece of music and for every skater's name and likeness.
You have to pay money.

It's the same reason you won't ever see a driving game like Forza Horizon republished. They can make a profit if they ar released at full price, but after Activision has cheapening out for THPS HD and THPS 5, they clearly thought that the market wasn't worth a 60$ game anymore.
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You don't need to be at full price to make a profit. Tony says he got the 4m check at a meeting where they said they were cutting the price of the game and that meant more units would be sold.

It wouldn't cost too much money, ActiBlizzard isn't poor. Whether or not it hits their target profit goal would be question.
 

Deleted member 24052

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
13,470
Those games were amazing, I played them for HOURS every day.

Had a great time with Underground, as well. Nostalgic af thinking back on them.
 
Wamb0wneD

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
zethren said:
Those games were amazing, I played them for HOURS every day.

Had a great time with Underground, as well. Nostalgic af thinking back on them.
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I even have a smell in my nose from a sunny spring day watching cartoons and playing these, being carefree and everything being calm.

It's kinda scary I have this over some freaking skating games lol. Not even my favourite series do this.
 
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Mirk

Mirk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
892
I still boot up thps2 all the time. Such good times playing these games and skating with friends.
 
Jegriva

Jegriva

Banned
Sep 23, 2019
5,519
Hobbes said:
It wouldn't cost too much money, ActiBlizzard isn't poor. Whether or not it hits their target profit goal would be question.
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Of course you can theoretically do it, like EA could theoretically do a baseball game.

But the market just isn't there, according to their analysis.
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
So according to Tony Hawk, when games go into PlayStation Classic mode they're essentially printing money at that point.
 
QuinchoOsito

QuinchoOsito

Member
Oct 10, 2018
545
Great interview, thanks for sharing. I had no idea how big the games were for him financially, as a kid I just thought of him as a celebrity who was super rich because of how famous he was, awesome to hear that the games let him accomplish so much.
Those games were absolutely perfect, I sometimes see people side-eyeing the fact that THPS 2/3/4 are all in the Metacritic best games of all time list, but I figure those people must have not played the games since they were just perfect all-around experiences (controls, physics, music, maps, atmosphere, objectives). Would love to see an updated version come out eventually.
 
Falchion

Falchion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
40,908
Boise
Thanks for the recommendation. I guess this explains why he's always been so supportive of the games and wants them to return to their glory days.
 
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