[Q&A] Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
We plug Activision with a handful of (repetitive) questions about how the move from the Wii to the PS2 is going.
Published: April 12, 2007
TotalPlayStation.com: We suppose the first and most obvious question is why? Why move a game that was designed for the Wii control scheme to the PS2? We're sure install base and the desire for more sales were major factors, but did the PS2 present any other advantages beyond a ton of potential customers?
Kragen Lum: Fans of the Tony Hawk series have come to know and love the control scheme from those games, particularly on the PlayStation 2. We wanted to give those fans the opportunity to play Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam as well, with a familiar control scheme on a system that they already own. In addition, we've added 10 new events, 3 new playable characters, new multiplayer modes and new live action movies, all of which are exclusive to the PS2 version.
TPS: Oh, good so there are some new goodies. Is anything being tweaked to compensate for the PS2 controller's obvious lack of motion sensing ability, or is this pretty much a straight 1:1 port?
KL: The controls have been configured so that fans of the Tony Hawk series will feel right at home playing Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. The main difference is the control method though, as I mentioned, there are a number of exclusive additions to the PS2 version.
TPS: Drilling into that a little, how have the controls been tweaked to feel more at home with a DualShock 2? The Wiimote obviously isn't loaded with buttons, and the DS2 is pretty much made of buttons (and sticks), so were the button assignments just straight mapped or did things get widened a bit?
KL: When re-mapping the controls for Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, we really tried to be faithful to the previous games in the Tony Hawk series with the button assignments set up just the same way. Our goal was to give fans of those games something that they can pick up and play right away.
TPS: How did the SuperVillain Studios folks get involved? Were they pitched the project or did they come to Activision first, and was there any particular reason for getting them involved vs. a group like Shaba who are internal and have worked on past Hawk ports?
KL: SuperVillain Studios has worked on a number of Tony Hawk titles in the past, mostly in supporting roles. They have a very capable development team and were excited about the opportunity to work on Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.
Kragen Lum: Fans of the Tony Hawk series have come to know and love the control scheme from those games, particularly on the PlayStation 2. We wanted to give those fans the opportunity to play Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam as well, with a familiar control scheme on a system that they already own. In addition, we've added 10 new events, 3 new playable characters, new multiplayer modes and new live action movies, all of which are exclusive to the PS2 version.
TPS: Oh, good so there are some new goodies. Is anything being tweaked to compensate for the PS2 controller's obvious lack of motion sensing ability, or is this pretty much a straight 1:1 port?
KL: The controls have been configured so that fans of the Tony Hawk series will feel right at home playing Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. The main difference is the control method though, as I mentioned, there are a number of exclusive additions to the PS2 version.
TPS: Drilling into that a little, how have the controls been tweaked to feel more at home with a DualShock 2? The Wiimote obviously isn't loaded with buttons, and the DS2 is pretty much made of buttons (and sticks), so were the button assignments just straight mapped or did things get widened a bit?
KL: When re-mapping the controls for Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, we really tried to be faithful to the previous games in the Tony Hawk series with the button assignments set up just the same way. Our goal was to give fans of those games something that they can pick up and play right away.
TPS: How did the SuperVillain Studios folks get involved? Were they pitched the project or did they come to Activision first, and was there any particular reason for getting them involved vs. a group like Shaba who are internal and have worked on past Hawk ports?
KL: SuperVillain Studios has worked on a number of Tony Hawk titles in the past, mostly in supporting roles. They have a very capable development team and were excited about the opportunity to work on Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.