Shred with the makers of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground from 6:30 P.M. - 8:30 P.M on November 15!

We’ll all be hopping online, ready to play games of Walls, Horse, Trick Attack and more! You’ll be able to find us at the following gamertags:

Look forward to seeing you there!

Attention Tony Hawk Proving Ground Fans!

This is Tina and I have some awesome news to talk to you about.

On November 15, from 6:30-8:30pst, the Neversoft Crew will be on Xbox Live, playing online games of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, with YOU! We’ll be handing out more information as soon as it comes down the pipe from Microsoft, but we wanted to keep you posted. Unfortunately, this event will be only for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to look for ways to connect to fans on the other consoles. Everyone in this community matters to us, and we look forward to challenging you guys online!

Thanks for all of your support, and we hope to see you there!

Hey, it’s John Sahas again. I lead the goal design team on Proving Ground.

I took some time last night to check out the state of the video editor leaderboards on Xbox 360. I’m stoked to see people out there doing creative things with the editor so I wanted to send out some props. I’m liking what I’m seeing. It’s good to see some creative create-a-skaters out there. Some great lines, innovative use of the editor, and creative use of rigging up custom stuff to skate. The Skate Lounge video are extra fun to watch because it’s cool to see how people have set up their custom space. So keep filming and editing out there. We’re watching and stoked on the results!

As of around 9PM (PST) last night, there were a good amount of videos on each of the 4 leaderboards. I took some notes on the top 3 for each board:

D.C. Leaderboard

1^st place

Gamer Tag: GODdzntLOVEyou

Score: 37035

Comments:

Overall a sweet looking video. Good use of Nail the Trick and Tail the Grab. Some crazy combo lines going on showing off good skills. Nice custom camera angles. Crazy create-a-skater (love the green!). Good tune selection. Cool intro with the video overlay boarders.

2^nd place

Gamer Tag: xB1Tt3RxB3iNG97

Score: 34909

Comments:

I think this was my fav of the top 3 on this leaderboard. Really killer lines being skated here. Nice combos. Great heavy tune that matched the hardedge create-a-skater and killer grey filter effect. Love the use of the static effects it made for a really edgy look.

3^rd place

Gamer Tag: ND Dynamite

Score: 27185

Comments:

A lot of clips from Arto’s filming goals in DC. Excellent Nail the Trick work. Way to kill those goals! Good tune selection as well.

Philly Leaderboard

1^st place

Gamer Tag: MasterShake34

Score: 18075

Comments:

Cool looking create-a-skater. I love seeing the different skaters people create (dig the Guitar Hero shirt). Some decent camera angles add spice to the edit. Some very cool combo lines going on as well.

2^nd place

Gamer Tag: SilentSuperior

Score: 16246

Comments:

Great tune, I love that one. Cool looking create-a-skater (I love the afro). Some really nice Nail the Grab into Nail the Manual into Nail the Trick moves. Way to master the system! Watch this one to see what’s possible in NTx.

3^rd place

Gamer Tag: ericskates25

Score: 14656

Comments:

Another sweet tune. Everyone is picking sweet background songs. Really nice subtle depth of field effect going on that softens the background visuals and makes the skater pop. Cool, creative use of rigging up rails and kickers and incorporating them into the lines. Some really good Nail the Trick into Nail the Manual combos as well as Nail the Grab into Nail the Manual. Good job! Out of the top 3 on the Philly board, this was my favorite.

Baltimore Leaderboard

1^st place

Gamer Tag: xB1Tt3RxB3iNG96

Score: 29680

Comments:

This player looks like the one to beat out there. High ranking on 2 leaderboards right now and making some great looking videos. Take note of their techniques if you want to create high scoring edits. Loved the hardcore tune selection. Again, great create-a-skater. Sweet combo lines! Love the effects, nice looking stuff that adds pizzazz without going over the top. Sweet spine transfer over the footbridge in the harbor!

2^nd place

Gamer Tag: Blind 03

Score: 16614

Comments:

Some cool looking effects in this video. Great combo lines here showing off solid skating skills. Nice looking custom camera angles. Some decent Nail the Trick and Nail the Grab work going on. Good use of rigging up some custom stuff to skate on also. I like that. I want to see more videos of cool stuff people have rigged up on their own.

3^rd place

Gamer Tag: cheese gravy

Score: 16176

Comments:

Crazy looking create-a-skater (the guy is all red!). Very sweet camera angles. I loved watching this one. Sweet Nail the Grab sequence off the QP by the footbridge in the harbor near the bridge to DC. Great trick and great angle on that one. Rounded out by some great looking effects. Overall, this was my favorite video of the top 3 on the Baltimore leaderboard.

Skate Lounge Leaderboard

1^st place

Gamer Tag: michaelperez1

Score: 40212

Comments:

Overall, this was my favorite video across all leaderboards. Watch this one. It rocks. I’m glad that it was also the highest scoring (re-assuring that our scoring system has value). This one has a sweet intro with some cool camera angles that show off this player’s Skate Lounge. Love the posters on the walls! Some really nice effects and overlays going on in this video. The killer custom camera angles on every clip are what make this one. Good pacing in the editing with nicely timed cuts between clips. Solid tricks that make for a cool variety compared to most other combo line videos (although I love combo lines as well). I love the manual line across the bar!

2^nd place

Gamer Tag: GonzoMaster

Score: 34883

Comments:

This is another great video. Some really nice camera angles going on. There is an awesome Nail the Trick intro that sets the tone for the whole video. Lots of cool effects going on. I love the background tune. Really solid set of tricks as well.

3^rd place

Gamer Tag: Twistedfatal

Score: 7660

This is a weird one (hence the low score) but it is still worth watching. There’re no custom cameras going on. There are no effects. There are no cuts. This is just one long flatland combo where the player isn’t even moving. Still, it’s cool to watch and I gotta comment the guys balance. Some people say flatland is a cheesy way to rack up base score and multiplier but it takes some co-ordination and I dig how it looks personally.

Hi all,

Tina here with an update.

The game comes out tomorrow and we are all completely stoked. We can’t wait till you guys can check it out first hand! Personally, I’m curious to see whether you guys are most excited about Hardcore, Career, or Rigger.

The game is getting a lot of coverage, and for those who will be watching football tonight you’ll be able to see our first THPG commercial as it airs on ESPN’s Monday Night Football coverage starting at 8:30 Eastern/5:30 pacific.

We’re not entirely sure *when* during the show it will come on, but if you watch the show from beginning to end, the commercial for THPG will be in there somewhere… I know that I’ll be watching!

We’re all excited for our launch tomorrow! Thanks again for all of your support!

Brian here with some good news for you.  We’ve gone gold on all versions of the game and it is slated to hit the stores on October 16.  Look for the first TV ad to run during Monday Night Football on the 15th.  I’m sure you all will have finished Halo 3 by then and be ready for some grade a a$$ kicking by our own andyTHPS online.  I know our Producer, Wyzeone is itchin’ to get the final game so he can cross 40000 achievement points.  Tina’s ready to invite peeps to her skate lounge and show off her design sensibilities.  I’m looking for some head up Nail the Trick battles to get the 1000 online games won achievement.

Anyway, get ready because there’s only 2 weeks left until launch.

Hey everyone,

This is Tina.

We at Neversoft, are finalizing the last bits of work on Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, and I wanted to stop by, and give you guys a few updates.

As a reminder the demo is available for download on the Xbox 360 Marketplace and the PSN in the US. We are still awaiting word from Sony as to when the PSN demo will go up worldwide, so that the non-U.S. folks will be able to grab it. As soon as we know more, it’ll be posted up here.

We definitely haven’t forgotten our fans in other countries, which brings me to some of the things I’m really excited about this year!

For example, Proving Ground will have localized story audio in French, Spanish, and German for our international players, even in the demo. I am really looking forward to providing this expanded experience (because the poor folks outside of English-Speaking country often only get subtitles on their games). We definitely also took an extra look at skaters all across the globe, and we snagged some of the best this year, including the return of Dustin Dollin, Bob Burnquist, and some new faces like Arto Saari from Seinajoki, Finland, but we didn’t forget to throw some other new faces in the mix. Have you guys seen the stuff that Jeff King does?! I never thought a guy would sand down a log, to create a natural flat box. He also does some work with a shopping cart that needs to be seen first hand! You can check out these guys and all of the Proving Ground crew in depth at the THPGonline.com skaters page located here: http://www.thpgonline.com/gamefeatures-skaters.php.

Well, I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks for keeping this community lively. Can’t wait until the game comes out so that you can all give it a try!

Hey everybody! I’m Tina Stevenson- a member of the Neversoft Production team here with an update.

The Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground demo is now live on the Xbox!

(*Insert covert messaging suggesting that you should start the download while you read this!*)

For all of you who were eager to try it out, thanks for your patience. Microsoft had some issues, but they have worked out all the kinks, so that you and your friends can grab a slice of the game this morning.

The demo will let you try out new features first hand, such as Rig-A-Kit, Agro Kick, Nail the Grab, and a brief look at our new video editor. There are also some videos showing off other gameplay and mechanics as well.

We’re really excited to give you a glimpse of what the full game will offer. With three playable real world cities, three unique classes (complete with different stories, unlockable clothing, mechanics, and goals), a deep video editor, sponsor selection, your own customizable skate lounge, and more, it’s hard to make a demo that shows off everything that will be in the full game, but we’ve tried to give you a taste.

As for me? I’m most excited for the full game’s ability to let you be a part of the skate world. From the moment you first create your skater, you’ll see him in cutscenes, interacting with pros, legends, and other characters in the game world. If you’ve been doing well, you may get a few sponsors interested in you. Your style is represented in the companies that want you to join their team. They may give you some new gear, or let you in on a few opportunities. If you’re career based, you’ll be faced with showing what you can do to the media, or nailing comps, which can get pretty intense. Rigger minded? You can create new lines whenever you feel like an area can use a little “sprucing up”, and then use your skills to really make it work. My favorite is hardcore. Something is really satisfying about knocking people out of your way (even though I giggle every time I do it), and skating the bowls with Lance Mountain is pretty sweet, too. After all, a skater’s gotta do, what a skater’s gotta do to get his (or in my case… her) game on. And through it all, you’ll be seeing the story… well, YOUR story, as it unfolds. (I’m really proud of the character art, cutscene, and animation teams because the story really does feel … well… real!)

We’re all very proud of the work that the team has done, and we can’t wait to get feedback from the fans.  So go check it out on the Xbox 360 today!

-Tina S.

Hey, Brian again.  Sorry for the delay on the demo.  I was ‘assured’ it would be out yesterday, but Microsoft did a big backend update on Live the night before and apparently are having issues propagating our demo on the marketplace.  We’ve had this demo done for weeks now and I can’t tell you how frustrating it is for us to have these delays.

As soon as I get more details on the exact time for the demo, I’ll post it here.

What’s up people? Brian Bright here and I just wanted to let all of you know a couple of juicy details:

There should be a demo of Proving Ground on XBL today. This was supposed to go up this morning, but Microsoft has had some problems on their end getting the demo out to you all. Let’s hope it gets resolved today. There’s a PS3 demo that *should* make it out to the PSN this Thursday for all you Sixaxis freaks.

The demo gives you a taste of the three different skater classes, as well as primes you in the use of the video editor. It takes place in the Philly slums area of the game, and also teaches you the Rig-A-Kit controls, Agro Kick, and Nail the Grab.

The team is in the final weeks of submission here at Neversoft. It’s amazing how difficult it is to get through Microsoft and Sony’s QA departments. They must have superhuman testers to be able to find the most bizarre, random bugs that we can’t find even after thousands of hours of testing at both Neversoft and Activision.

Once you ‘finish’ a game the game gets sent off to Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo for a few weeks of testing. For most of the guys on the team those three weeks are a cakewalk, but for QA, the online programmers, and production it’s a major pain. It feels like we are over the mountain now, reaching the finish line, but then the finish line is actually being towed behind a moving truck… a slow moving one, but moving nonetheless.

I’ve been told there will be a forum on thpgonline soon. I’ll try and push for it to go live this week, the sooner the better. Also a heads up there will be a new Rigger Abilities going up on IGN this week (Wed. I think) that will get you a slice of what you’ll experience in the Rigger storylines and abilities in Proving Ground.

That’s all for now, I’ve got to get back to work!

The word on the street, and in the press, about Proving Ground

August 9, 2007
Hands-On Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
“Proving Ground is the most in-depth Tony Hawk to date” (more)

August 9, 2007
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground Update
“What we’ve seen of the game so far looks very solid” (more)