Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
- August 28, 2006 16:28 PM PST
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The Birdman skates onto Nintendo's next-gen console. But will the Wii's unique controller spell success for this boarder?
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam developer Toys for Bob was purchased by Activision in May of last year -- but you'd never know it. In many ways the laid-back studio that used to work alongside Crystal Dynamics still acts as an independent developer. For one thing, nearly everyone in the Northern California-based office wears shorts and sandals to work.
Keeping it Casual
With a name that sounds more like that of an action-figure manufacturer, Toys for Bob may not be all that different for a toy maker. With the task of creating a Tony Hawk launch experience that suits that casual nature of the Nintendo Wii console, the studio knew it would have to churn out a product that screams fun, shying away from the darker, more technical-based games that are currently hitting the other next-generation consoles.
There's nothing like taking in the sunset before a grueling crotch plant
Downhill Jam is still in an early pre-alpha stage, but we got a great impression of how things are shaping up in the meantime. The verdict: pretty dang well. Typically games on a new console usually don't reach full potential until about a year after said hardware launches, and this gap could potentially be wider with the Wii's departure from a standard analog-stick control scheme.
Taking this into consideration, Toys for Bob has the daunting task ahead of creating one of the first Wii games to familiarize gamers with an unfamiliar control scheme, and even more importantly, make them comfortable. And it isn't going to be easy. Gamers are known for being impatient, and all Wii developers are going to have to do a great deal of work to get the kinks out of the unorthodox control scheme.
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