Since 1999, a lot of things have changed. First, Tony Hawk is no longer an active pro-skater, he is now focused primarily on running his skateboarding empire that is made up of everything from skate decks to clothing (sold at Kohl's). Second, video games have changed drastically since 1999. No longer are we happy with mediocre graphics and very limited controls. 10 years after the original launch of Pro-Skater, which brought skate games mainstream, Tony Hawk is once again changing the game. The game is called Tony Hawk RIDE and unlike past games where you pretend to be a pro-skater via a controller, now you stand on a real skate deck and control your character by moving just like you're on a real skateboard.

In early May, I had the very rare opportunity to meet Tony at his offices in Southern California where I got to try out RIDE before anyone else. In fact, Tony hadn't even announced the game to the public. Needless to say, I was stoked (and nervous!) to be one of the first to try the game and have none other than Tony Hawk standing beside me. He was eager to show off the game and get some feedback.

I'll admit, I'm not a real-life skater, I once owned a skateboard when I was younger but never had the courage to try out anything beyond some simple ollies. So, when I first stepped on the RIDE skate-deck with Tony Hawk watching, I wasn't sure what my stance should be or how to do many (any) of the right moves. Thankfully, Tony was a pro and gave me some good pointers. After several lame attempts at tricks, I gave up control of the board to the master himself who showed me how it was done. Of course he designed the game, so Tony knew how to pull off all the tricks, but not without crashing and falling a few times as well.

Since I visited Tony, RIDE has officially been released. I have gotten the chance to check out the game more in-depth at home and have to say I am even more impressed. The board isn't perfect, but does a great job overall of detecting your stance and movements. There are sensors on all sides of the board, so you can tilt the board in any direction and it will do the same move on-screen. These sensors also allow for you to grab the sides of the board, just like you could on a real skateboard, which allow you to do grab tricks. As I mentioned before, I had no prior skateboarding experience, but that's the great thing about RIDE, anyone can play. It will take some time to get a solid grasp of how to manipulate the board to make the moves you want it to, but with some time and persistence you can start to nail the tricks you want. Once you've figured out the basics there are plenty of challenges that will also help you get better.

As for price, RIDE will cost you around $90 (buy on Amazon), so it is a bit expensive when it comes to games, but well worth it. The board can only be used for RIDE at the moment, but other snowboarding and surfing games are expected in the near future that will use the board. If you're looking for a skate game, RIDE is what you're looking for.

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