14 DAY TRIAL // Sports games have been around for quite some time and have tackled almost any imaginable discipline out there. We've seen everything from American football to European soccer and even golf or basketball, but extreme sports, especially skating, have also been featured in quite a few games.
The fact that skating has appeared in a lot of video games has made the discipline very popular and has brought it new fans, at least according to skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, who is also pretty popular with gamers for his video game franchise, developed in partnership with Activision. He recently talked with the Los Angeles Times about the fact that video games are very good for people and that they give them the chance to get acquainted with things or sports they haven't even experienced, like skateboarding for example.
“I really like how [video games] represent skating,” says Hawk. “I like how they brought skating to a new level. In the past, the only fans of skating were skaters themselves. With the success of our games, people have learned to appreciate the sport without actually skating themselves. That’s crucial to the longevity of our sport.”
The famous skateboarder then goes on to say that these games can be as real as the players themselves want them to be. Despite the fact that you can't really get hurt if you fail to perform some of those moves, a lot of realistic aspects are portrayed. “It’s as real as you want it to be. All the locations, riders and tricks are there. The difference is that, in real skating, you can’t fall off two story drops and get up and do it again. There are combinations of tricks that you couldn’t do in real life, but that’s what’s fun about it.”
It definitely seems that Tony Hawk has come to terms with video games and really sees the positive impact they have on each of the gamers across the world. Let's hope that more and more personalities realize that games can help people become interested in sports or other activities if they can portray them in a fun and easy way, like skateboarding is in the Tony Hawk and Skate franchises.