Tony Hawk Ride Rides the Fence

Tony Hawk Ride hits the shelves November 17th in the US, December 4th in the UK, and I'm curious to see how it's going to work out. The game looks good, the skateboard-ish controller looks creative, but the game looks like it rides the fence between being for people who want an intense skateboarding game, and being approachable for kids. This might make it the best game ever...

In case you've been under a rock for the last year, Activision is doing something radically new with Tony Hawk Ride. The game features a skateboard deck - style controller that you stand on and manipulate to do tricks. Will it feel like skateboarding? Or will it feel like you are standing on a truckless deck and sorta shoving it from side to side? No matter what, it'll get you up off the couch, and that's a great start. But will it feel like skateboarding? I doubt it ... but it might be enough to get that fix for when the streets are caked with snow!

The gameplay is something I'm curious to see.  Word on the street is that the controls are pretty intricate, and that you can set them for how detailed you want to be.  You actually do grabs by grabbing the side of the board.  I'm curious about things like kickflips and ollies and grinds - well anything that gets the board in the air...

The bundle of the Tony Hawk Ride game and controller will sell for $120.

What do you think? Do you want more realism in your skateboarding video games?  The last few Tony Hawk games have been anything BUT realistic.  Is this a step in teh right direction?  Or do you like to play skateboarding games sitting down, like when you've broken your leg skateboading? Do you think this is just a gimmick?  And, how do you think this will stand up to Skate 3, coming out next May?  Leave a comment below!