The original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was the best way to pass the time one vacation up in the mountains where the weather turned sour and the conditions were less than agreeable. A few kids were enterprising enough to bring their PS1 along and connected it to the TV in the lounge of the main lodge. I got hooked that one long, rainy day. Seven years later Neversoft says they’ve developed the next iteration from the ground up and from what I’ve been able to read, I’m looking forward this one as much as I was when I went to purchase my own copy of THPS.

I was reading the October 2006 issue of OXM this week, which features Tony Hawk’s Project 8 on the cover with a large feature article inside. Apart from the upgraded graphics and stellar physics engine, the article details a new feature the writer (and Neversoft I think) calls “Nail the Trick.” Being able to control a trick in mid-air, while in slow motion, just by flicking the left and right thumbsticks sounds… like just the right thing to have and sounds like it’s going to be really addicting to see how far you can push it without bailing. Release this sucker already!