By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 1, 2012
Although it’s tough to say when exactly it happened, the amount of extreme sports games being released has dwindled to almost nothing in the last couple years. A classic extreme sports series, SSX, is hoping to buck the trend with its first sequel in five years (SSX Blur was released February 2007 for the Wii). With SSX scheduled to release on February 28, the question remains: is the market for extreme sports gone, or did people just need a break from the oversaturation the genre faced a few years ago. Chances are good that with the right innovations and a little bit of nostalgia, the genre could make a bit of a comeback, but if SSX tanks, it could be the final nail in the coffin.
“‘Extreme sports is a dead genre.’ Over the past three years I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this,” said SSX creative director Todd Batty in a statement, who has been playing games for over 20 years. “As a huge fan of games like SSX and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (THPS), it is also something that I refuse to believe.” It might be an expected thing for the director of the game to say, but it represents the fearless attitude that is characteristic of the genre. “Spending hundreds of hours with my friends stringing together endless combos in search of the ‘perfect run’ in SSX and THPS is easily some of my fondest gaming memories,” he said. I have to give him nostalgia points for that, because I can’t help but agree.
The original THPS kicked off the “extreme sports” fad in 1999 and for an entire decade the world could count on a new iteration of the skateboarding series every year. Snowboard racing game Cool Boarders, released in 1996, also deserves some credit for the genre’s original popularity. The genre has expanded over the years to include: BMX, surfing, motocross and ATV, among many others. There have been arcade-like and hyper-realistic versions, but what really caused the genre to “jump the shark” is when the THPS series began releasing expensive skateboard peripherals to try to cash in on the craze that Rock Band and Guitar Hero started. The subsequent failure to sell copies resulted in the series going on hiatus.
However, in December a $15 download-only Tony Hawk HD was announced for a summer 2012 release. The game is set to feature only the seven most beloved levels from the first two THPS games, completely rebuilt in high definition with new, crisp textures and polygon counts worthy of a PS3 and 360 release. The game intends to be more fan-service for fans of the original than an attempt to re-invent the genre.
SSX is taking a completely different approach for its first PS3/360 release – even using NASA imagery to digitize real-life mountains for a never-before-seen level of freedom to explore on the slopes. The game will also include wingsuits to allow players to soar over otherwise-impassible chasms.
Regardless of whether this approach or the approach taken by Tony Hawk HD proves more successful, there is a possibility that one or both of the games could spark a new era in extreme sports gaming. Or, maybe the genre will finally just settle for the occasional gem. Whatever the case may be, it should prove to be an interesting divergence from the types of games that have begun to dominate the gaming sphere of late.
