Inside EA - the Making of skate (pg.2)

EA's skate, the revolutionary new skateboarding video game for Xbox 360 and PS3 is on the way! It's a brand-new, super-cool way to pull the moves that have, so far, been all about Tony Hawk and his video games. Gary managed to sneak all the way through EA's air vents into the office of Jay Balmer, one of the three people behind skate. They chatted about how the game was made - here's the 411 on the creation of skate!

skate - Parties and Fun

Was working on skate filled with endless parties, skating down office halls, pranks and fun? Not quite! But, the team did have some fun...

They rented a skate park to take the whole team skating.

There were team bowling nights to add some hanging out time to the project.

They hooked the game up to a movie screen so the whole team could see it in action.

They made the EA-only Eat Crete magazine to let the team rant about skateboarding, making the game and anything else they wanted to say.

It wasn't a total party scene, but they had fun! As Jay Balmer put it, "Making a good game is like playing a good game."

skate - Team EA, Hard at Work!

Robin - Working Hard at EA

Under Robin's Messy Desk

skate - Bug Hunt!

The final stage of making a game is the bug hunt where over 100 people play the game, testing everything to make sure it works and won't delete your memory card or anything awful like that. Some bugs are funny, like the one that made all the shoes the size of a high school gym, or the one that made one haircut bigger than a bus! But, most bugs suck and it's a huge battle to squish 'em all before someone drops $$$ on the game, which is why EA spends so much time making sure everything works!

skate - September 2007: The Launch

On Sept. 13, 2007 skate dropped for the Xbox 360 and on Sept. 24, 2007 the PS3 gets a dose of the action. Why no Wii version? Two reasons - the Wii isn't very powerful and skate is a Godzilla-sized game! Plus, skate was designed for regular game controllers and the Wii is a freak. Seriously. "I think the Wii's great, we just have to find a way to make it work for skating," Jay Balmer said.

skate - Big Risk! Big Reward?

skate is two and a half years of work that started with three guys and turned into a team of 120. The early stage involved the Flickit control system being tested with no graphics (just a readout that said "Ollie" or "Kickflip") - but it was still so fun that the team stayed up late playing it! Next came teaching the entire team the basics of skating and more. After playing skate for a year and a half, the team at EA is excited about this game. Why? Because they still love it. The people that made it are still playing it and love seeing people posting videos of their skating moves online with the skate reel, becoming a legend with the story mode of the game, or just having fun by skating around the massive city of San Vanelona.

skate - EA's Hardware and Signed Pro Boards

3 Xbox 360s and 3 PS3s!

Signed Boards From the Pros!

skate - Fun Facts

The voice of the in-game announcer "Cuz" is Chris Perry, one of the founders of skate!

skate was supposed to release on Sept. 12, 2007 for Xbox 360 but Microsoft took two extra days to test it!

Before working at EA, Jay Balmer was a fan of their SSX Tricky snowboarding game.

If you post a video of your moves online, anybody can watch it!

The skaters who worked with EA donated signed boards to hang on the office wall!

skate was designed to be "the skater's game", but fun for non-skaters too. "I hope more people actually get excited about skating and understand it more," Jay Balmer said.

skate - The Legend Begins

For more info on the making of skate, including the origins of the game, head to Inside EA - the Making of skate.

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