Current Events > I spent $40 on a book about the Tony Hawk game series >_>

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Hawks-Gaming-Domination-Franchise/dp/1543127290

The first 7 Tony Hawk games were my childhood >_> I miss this series so much.
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If you played the games, you don't need a book to describe why they fell off. The decline was very self-evident, especially after THUG2.

Vertania posted...

If you played the games, you don't need a book to describe why they fell off. The decline was very self-evident, especially after THUG2.

I just wanted something for my Tony Hawk Collection. Plus the beta stuff and dev interviews sound pretty interesting >_>
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I would have probably bought it myself 15 years ago.
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Seems like a lot for a 200 page book but I've certainly wasted more for things far dumber so who am I to judge
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Thumbed through it a bit more. It is pretty interesting. I don't have any regrets so far >_>
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why did the games fall off? Did skating just fall out of pop culture?
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EvalAngell posted...

why did the games fall off? Did skating just fall out of pop culture?

IMO, partly I felt they were coming out too often. There also seemed to be more gimmicks added, like riding a not-skateboard.
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More power to you. But it's called wikipedia. I still buy books so I could say the same thing about myself.
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EvalAngell posted...

why did the games fall off? Did skating just fall out of pop culture?

There was a lot that factored into it tbh... *incoming WoT*

The series started on PS1, at a time when exlporing different 3D levels was something new. Didn't matter whether skating was "in" at the time, because it drew in gamers who didn't even know anything about skating. There weren't many games that let you spend 2 minutes at a time playing around in fun, varied settings and collecting things, while listening to kick-ass music. It translated over well to the PS2 (with THPS3 being one of the highest rated games ever) because the series took advantage of the technology to get better graphics, bigger, more involved levels, and online play. They held on by significantly changing the formula with THPS4 (off-board, Pro missions), THUG (a more grounded story mode that was actually good), and THUG2 (Classic mode, great online).

American Wasteland felt like "more of the same" and possibly a step backwards, but more importantly, it came out one month before the Xbox 360. The gaming community in general seemed to completely lose interest in the series in the face of all the new advancements and the online focus of the new generation. The level exploration that made the series stand out in the past was nothing special at that point, either, since so many other game genres had advanced. The GTA series offered more exploration than THPS/THUG ever could and had started a trend towards sandbox games flooding the market.

...*end WoT*
Think that covers most of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udUCjJphE-0" data-time="
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EvalAngell posted...

why did the games fall off? Did skating just fall out of pop culture?

I think that's part of it. Skating and other "extreme" sports were really big in the late 90s and early 2000s. A lot of things associated with that section of pop culture have fallen out of popularity too. See: skate shoes, nu metal, etc.

Skating also had the problem of a lot of its big household names just... getting old, you know? Tony Hawk is like fifty years old. He hasn't competed professionally in almost two decades.

EvalAngell posted...

why did the games fall off? Did skating just fall out of pop culture?

Kinda. It was a mix of that and the game quality slowly declining since THPS4. Then Ride happened and killed the series. Then THPS5 happened and killed the series again
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