After success with the Shaun White Snowboarding games, Ubisoft are hoping to capitalize on the Shaun White brand by delving into the other less well known side of White’s career - skateboarding. Whilst better known for his snowboarding accolades, White has proved his chops in the board-on-wheels realm by winning many awards, such as the Action Sports Tour Champion in 2007. The extreme sports icon is excited about the new project in development by Ubisoft’s Montreal division, and looks forward to its release later this year - “I can’t describe how excited I am about the skateboard game...We’ve been working on it for a while now and it’s ready to melt minds.”

White’s old buddy Tony Hawk, who gave him a helping hand early in his career, may not be quite so enthusiastic. The ‘Tony Hawk’ name in video games has taken a bit of beating in recent years, with a noticeable drop in quality since the glory days of Activision’s Tony Hawk Skateboarding games from the late 90’s. Last year’s Tony Hawk Ride had a lukewarm reception from critics and was viewed by many gamers as a gimmick for its faux plastic skateboard. Once the only name in town, Tony Hawk had a stiff competitor with EA Sports’ ‘Skate’ franchise, which seemingly re-invented the genre with a completely different style of gameplay. We’re yet to see whether the new Shaun White game fits in between the smooth realism of Skate or the over the top tricks-focused arcade style of Tony Hawk games, but with a solid developer like Ubisoft behind the game, the world of skateboarding games is set to become very competitive indeed.

Source: Press Release