PHOTOS: Tony Hawk: RIDE skateboard controller

Feet-on the deck

8 October 2009 9:15 GMT / By Chris Hall

The days of mashing buttons are over when it comes to skateboarding games, as the new controller for the latest Tony Hawk game – Tony Hawk: RIDE – gives you a motion control deck.

Formed to look and feel like a skateboard, the controller features two accelerometers to give you yaw, pitch and roll sensors which will translate into 1:1 mapping in the game. This means your character on-screen will react to the subtle movements you make on the board.

A spokesperson for Robomodo, the game's developer, detailed how they had pulled apart "tonnes and tonnes" of controllers to find the best solution for Tony Hawk: RIDE.

Robomodo focused on creating a system that would allow for grabs, grinds, ollies and flip tricks to be pulled off in the game. This is achieved thanks to the accelerometers and the inclusion of four IR sensors around the deck.

The IR sensors let the board detect peripheral movements, so if you want to pull off a grab, moving your hand into the detection zone of the IR sensor will make it happen (if your timing is any good…).

Covered with grip tape, it feels like a skateboard and is surprisingly solid. It didn't complain one iota about abuse from a 13 stone man and is surprisingly responsive. Note the giant start button on the left-hand edge designed to be kicked to get you into the game.

Hitting Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Wii towards the end of November, we grabbed some pics of the new controller for Xbox, with a couple of Nintendo Wii ones at the end.