eat.sleep.geek.

While defining the action sports game genre for a decade, the Tony Hawk series has gone through a variety of evolutionary steps (including that ill-advised Hawk-vs-Bam debacle). But with the arrival of Skate to push realism the Tony Hawk franchise took a year off without a release and spent two years developing the latest edition. Tony Hawk:Ride. But the biggest surprise is the console wide addition of a full on skateboard controller. Hawk dropped the surprise on his Twitter feed this morning and GameTrailers.com has exclusive footage, including the E3 trailer. Check out the video for footage of the game, Hawk in action and the evolution of the controller from prototype to reality.

Gametrailers.com has all the details.

The controller includes all the buttons to set up the system and get the game running, but from then on its hands-free gaming. Unlike the WiiFit enabled Shaun White Snowboarding there are no controller dependent trick modifiers. Its all done with your feet, including grabs being detected by infrared detectors on the board.

While I’m all for moving away from endless button mashing combos I think a test ride of the board is going to be the litmus test. Ring up the game and the added cost of a new controller and it won’t be a cheap experiment. Ride needs to deliver.