Electronic Arts’ Skate was one of the big surprises of 2007. Many had challenged Tony Hawk’s dominance of the extreme sports genre, but Skate was the first to really deliver a knockdown punch with its innovative controls. Now, in the face of being outsold two to one, Activision has plans to innovate with the Tony Hawk franchise.

Speaking with USA Today, Activision Senior Vice President Will Kassoy referenced the “Tony Hawk Innovation Plan,” but refused to elaborate. What could this plan be? The easy speculation is a move toward a new control scheme akin to Skate’s. However, with Activision’s success with the Guitar Hero franchise and now Call of Duty 4 online, one should not rule out the move to a more multiplayer friendly setup. And yes, Tony Hawk Wii featuring the Balance Board seems inevitable. (more…)

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Making a bad game may be unforgivable to some, but even worse is making a good game that suffers from the following five design sins. Whether it be an action or adventure game, the following five design flaws can cripple what was potentially a classic.

The Sisyphus Syndrome
Doing the same thing over and over again makes Jack a dull boy.

Killing all the bad guys in a room is certainly fun the first, second, and even tenth time. However, somewhere around about the fiftieth time one has to start to question if there might be something more than just kill, rise and repeat. Even stylish fighters such as Ninja Gaiden fall into the same mundane pattern of doing the same thing over and over again. Sure, occasional boss battles break it up, but short of making a game entirely of boss battles (Shadow of the Colossus) there must be a better way.

One thought would be to change up the approach for different areas. This isn’t a call for more half-hearted mini-games, though. Instead, developers should look to successful games that got the occasional diversion right. Crash Bandicoot’s running to the camera levels. Beyond Good & Evil’s city escape level. Such changes in approach don’t have to be revolutionary, but something new would be nice now and then. (more…)

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Electronic Arts announced in a recent earnings report that Skate outsold Tony Hawk Proving Ground by a nearly two to one margin. That news is both shocking and expected. Shocking in that the Tony Hawk juggernaut was upturned. Expected in that innovation beat out a tired franchise.

Make no mistake, the Tony Hawk franchise has been one of the crown jewels of gaming for years. However, just as with any series that gets turned over once per year, the innovation long ago left the series and has seen marginal improvements at best. In many ways it has mimicked the Madden Football franchise that many berate Electronic Arts for. But wait, how does it make sense that such a stalwart as Electronic Arts are the ones behind the innovative franchise?

Simple, they can afford to make a mistake. For every Madden and Harry Potter franchise, Electronic Arts has moved more and more into original gaming. Yes, Madden is a disappointment as it rarely changes and buying out the NFL exclusivity contract certainly didn’t help EA’s reputation as an innovator. But look beyond that and you will see a company that often takes chances in ways that other companies cannot. (more…)

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