Thursday, October 16, 2008

Next Tony Hawk Game To Include Skateboard Peripheral


Found this article on 1up.com

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Analyst Doug Creutz of Cowan and Company has looked into his crystal ball and believes that Activison will include a skateboard peripheral with the next edition of the Tony Hawk series. Expected to be released sometime next year, Creutz feels that the addition of peripherals with games will boost sales for the franchise after a year's absence from the market.

According to a report from GamesIndustry.biz, in his latest letter to investors Creutz stated:

"We believe that the extra year of development time and the opportunity for consumers to shake off franchise fatigue could contribute to better unit sales than the franchise has enjoyed in recent years.

"We also view it as highly likely that the game will include some sort of skateboard peripheral with all SKUs when it ships, given the massive success (and higher price points and profitability) of Activision Blizzard's Guitar Hero franchise."

It's worth remembering that a similar story was leaked this summer, so this certainly isn't the first time we've heard about the possibility of Tony Hawk sporting an added peripheral. Furthermore, the move is pretty much a no-brainer considering how popular Wii Fit has been with its Wii Balance Board accessory. With Nintendo and other developers working on ways to integrate the board into future IPs, the days of owning a lone controller have quickly become a thing of the past.

If you factor in the how popular the music gaming genre and its peripherals are, it's clear that gamers have no problem paying extra for something that will enhance their gameplay experience. Keeping that in mind, it's safe to say that Creutz probably isn't far off in his predictions for the Tony Hawk franchise -- even if this obvious assumption of theirs is something gamers have known for a long while now.

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