Next Generation (PS4 & Xbox One) Skateboard/Snowboard games

Hi there :)

Hope to hear more news about upcoming skateboarding and snowboarding games in this thread.

Personally I really loved EA's Skate series, unofortunately though, I hear they did not make enough money for EA, which is why a 4th one won't be happening. However, my idea for a new extreme sports game, which could make a nice amount of money is to simply add all the famous extreme sports into one game, including Skateboarding, BMX, Scooting (dislikes myself, but lotsa kids would love), Blades. Do the same thing for snowboard games. Make the online more appealing. Perhaps take some RPG elements, giving players the opportunity to get better, go bigger as they advance online and of course, in single-player. Do a game like this well and I guarantee the future of this game is bright.

I really liked the Tony Hawk games. And Skate. And SSX was probably my favorite of the lot.

But if we can take a look at the most recent SSX, we can see how these kinds of games will probably never exist in the current landscape of gaming again.

The SSX reboot or remake or whatever it was showed players that the current level of talent at the big publishers has no real idea why their old properties were successful. They leveraged skill as part of the experience. You couldn't just pick up SSX Tricky and do the coolest moves without learning the game and failing a lot in the process. And even once you'd become skilled at the gameplay, you could still fail miserably if you didn't have your timing down.

Fast Forward to the latest SSX, and it's a cacophony of bad decisions meant to make players feel amazing with no real effort. You can spin insanely fast at all times, building your tricks was super easy and million point scores were the norm, not the exception that came from learning the game really well. The "Everyone gets a trophy" routine may be great in little league when kids are building their self esteem, but the core gamers who loved SSX loved it for it's blend of interesting characters (which the new one watered down), easy to learn but hard to master gameplay (which the new one neutered), and skillful execution of a simple premise (which the new one didn't manage to pull off well enough).

I call that an allegorical example of the whole "extreme sports" sub genre that has faded away over the 7th gen and all but doesn't exist anymore. Because publishers are scared to make a game that is challenging anymore. Afraid that it won't make back it's insanely high budget if people have to spend a little time learning the mechanics.

@ZZoMBiE13: I liked what you had to say about the old SSX vs the most recent release in the series. I was the fellow that started the SSX series, overseeing the first 3 releases. I came upon your post as I was wondering if there was anything good out there for sideways sports. I wonder if the world could embrace a new generation of action sports titles? I too bought the recent release, but only played it for less than an hour as it was missing so many of the fundamentals of what the original games so fun. I would really like to hear your POV on what you think the current generation of gamers might find fun on any platform. Feel free to send me your email if you're interested in having this discussion.

Steve

Hopefully they bring the Tony Hawk franchise back. Love those games.

I personally loved wave racing and snowboarding games but more for the racing than for the tricks. I enjoyed SSX 3, the 1080 snowboarding games, Nintendo's wave racing games and tried to get into the latest SSX but found the requirement to do tricks and stuff too frustrating. I'd love to see them take another crack and the SSX series or for Nintendo to make a new Wave Racer of 1080 Snowboarding.

Unfortunately, the genre is too niche to justify current production budgets. Maybe someone will make a few smaller scale downloadable attempts, but that's probably about all we can hope for. God I miss gen 6.

Hey guys check it out, there's this game that is currently in alpha testing on steam called SNOW and they recently announced that it will also be available on ps4 and ps3. You will be able to ski and snowboard!

Yeah, but only if it is done well... like the good old days.

Please do not bump old topics in the future.

Thank you.