"NO SKATING ONLINE" for PS3's Tony Hawk
by Kevin Kelly 
{ Sep 18th 2006 at 5:55PM }
In another setback facing the PS3 launch, Activision and Neversoft confirmed to Joystiq last week that there will be no online gameplay in Tony Hawk's Project 8. While the Xbox 360 version will feature up to eight players online, as well as persistent leaderboards and possible future downloadable content, the PS3 is getting no joy.
Possible reasons for this: Neversoft had gotten final hardware from Sony less than three weeks ago and they have yet to receive final software libraries. Hard to build a house when the lumber ain't there yet.
With Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam having already been confirmed as not having online play on the Wii, the Xbox 360 version is your only option if you want to kickflip with your buddy in New Jersey while you sit comfortably in Topeka.
[Thanks for all the reminders, readers]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
LordMinogue @ Sep 18th 2006 6:08PM
For the love of grammer fix this post!!!
"feature up to eight multiplayers gaming online"
"only got final hardware from Sony less than three weeks ago"
"they had not even received the final software libraries yet"
Stop giving us bad news within cryptic verb tenses
la @ Sep 18th 2006 6:13PM
Ok it's me again. Attention joystiq bloggers I know negative things about the PS3 gains readers but, honestly now I think I have a suggestion why not have a daily round up of all the reasons a PS3 sucks and post it like every hour that way I cann time you guys better. We/I get it down with sony and all that good stuff. Every other blog albeit with the negative press at least try sometime to post something positive. With you guys its like down with sony 24/7 what happens after launch? Shameless dick riding? Only good thing about the internet is when you guys change face all the crap written will still be there for to to get quotes from. All together now SONY SUX!!!!!!
Me @ Sep 18th 2006 6:13PM
I really don't care if this game has online play or not because i will be to caught up in the awesomeness of RESISTANCE and WARHAWK baby !!!!
RiemannMeetLebesgue @ Sep 18th 2006 6:17PM
la,
They've posted plenty of bad stuff about the Wii and Xbox 360. Stop complaining. Negative news gets lots of responses.
Canadian Geese @ Sep 18th 2006 6:18PM
I think we will see more and more of this. Microsoft has committed the 360 to online play, while Sony has committed the PS3 to Blu-Ray.
Development for the PS3 alone costs enough already, and until there is a large install-base with online-enabled games getting purchased at a fast enough rate to pay for the development and upkeep of online play, I expect that our best source for online gaming in consoles will be on the 360 (not the PS3).
SuicideNinja @ Sep 18th 2006 6:51PM
Actually, as a gamer who favors the Xbox and 360, I'm a little annoyed at this news. Tony Hawk is one of those few games where you just need a good d-pad, which the 360 just doesn't have. I would have bought this for the PS3 just for the controls.
Unless they got privy to a new control scheme which is doubtful...
Radiant @ Sep 18th 2006 6:25PM
Online gaming was main feature I was faiting for. Well, I hope they will make it in next version...
Subnet6 @ Sep 18th 2006 6:31PM
I agree with geese that online will not be a large focus for PS3 devs until the PS3 online starts to grow a bit. But even if they wanted to go online they couldn't if they don't have the libraries.
The same can be said of the Wii. What are Sony and Nintendo thinking by not having the online libraries in the hands of major third parties yet?
Am I missing something?
m3mnoch @ Sep 18th 2006 6:33PM
"For the love of grammer fix this post!!!"
ahhh.... the guiltless irony. mmmm, tasty!
m3mnoch.
socrates @ Sep 18th 2006 6:33PM
If this was still 2000, back when I cared at all about Tony Hawk games, I might have been a tad upset!
But it cannot be denied: if you absolutely have to get the most out of the mediocre games that are hitting until decent next-gen games start showing up, you'd best get a 360.
la @ Sep 18th 2006 6:35PM
How about a Header "PS3 achieves 1080p launch titles" or "It seems all PS3 titles cept EA's can't fit on DVD9" or "Virtua fighter 3 Arcade perfect" or "Bioshock and Oblivion apparently coming to PS3" I mean if i had the time I could probably find lots more point is you say there isn't anything positive on the PS3 but site like 1UP that were down on sony since the price announcement played the games and have something positive to say. Since the $600 announcement this site has posted nothing but negative press. Its like Tony hawk has no online but never fear the XBOX does. Resistance is supporting 40 players at launch was there a post stating PS3 launch game achieves 40 players online at launch??? Call me whatever you may I say the biased reports or becoming silly.
I have a 360 and but december i'll know for certain if it will be for sale. I just hope after TGS and launch the negative posts keep on coming.
Arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics even if you win your still retarded.
Jameyt @ Sep 18th 2006 6:38PM
I know what a fanboy's response will be, but for everyone else: if you're given graphics that are pretty much the same, longer load times, NO ONLINE PLAY for most third party games, and are asked to pay an extra $200 or so . . . why would you?
Michael May @ Sep 18th 2006 6:45PM
This is just getting depressing. Could Sony mess up this launch any more?
This is almost as bad as the Gizmondo, but they weren't even trying. Pull your socks up, sony, it's embarrassing.
bob @ Sep 18th 2006 6:58PM
article via http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19756
J.Goodwin @ Sep 18th 2006 6:57PM
Number 12, 40 players are available over LAN. That is the only environment that the media has played Resistance multiplayer in.
Is 40 possible over the internet? Maybe, but I'll believe it when I actually see the reviews.
bandit @ Sep 18th 2006 7:02PM
"12. How about a Header "PS3 achieves 1080p launch titles" or "It seems all PS3 titles cept EA's can't fit on DVD9" or "Virtua fighter 3 Arcade perfect" or "Bioshock and Oblivion apparently coming to PS3" I mean if i had the time I could probably find lots more point is you say there isn't anything positive on the PS3 but site like 1UP that were down on sony since the price announcement played the games and have something positive to say. Since the $600 announcement this site has posted nothing but negative press. Its like Tony hawk has no online but never fear the XBOX does. Resistance is supporting 40 players at launch was there a post stating PS3 launch game achieves 40 players online at launch??? Call me whatever you may I say the biased reports or becoming silly.
I have a 360 and but december i'll know for certain if it will be for sale. I just hope after TGS and launch the negative posts keep on coming.
Arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics even if you win your still retarded.
Posted at 6:34PM on Sep 18th 2006 by la "
Dear la,
Like so many other things Sony says... Prove it! What happen to dual 1080P screens at 120fps? Bioshock and Oblivion coming to PS3? Prove it. Virtual Fighter 3 Arcade Perfect? Not hard considering thats not even a taxing LAST GEN game... All titles except EA's fit on DVD9s? Are you trying to tell me that all crossplatform games including oblivion and bioshock will ship on Blu-Ray? Apparently Ps3 doesnt have the processing power to do real-time texture decompression (tongue in cheek). 40 Players in resistance? MS and Rare promised 64 for Perfect Dark Zero, with was halved at launch. Explain how Sony plans to do more without dedicated servers or unified network structure. (Yes im aware of their places but if you were around in 2000 then you would have heard the EXACT same speech word from word. Seriously I have an example of it somewhere. Anyway, with sony, believe it when its sitting in your lap...
potato @ Sep 18th 2006 7:02PM
reminds me of the Wii
dSboy @ Sep 18th 2006 7:12PM
lol you peeps still supporting the GayStation 3?! oh im sorry i mean the GAYSTATION 3!! lol get over it sony fanboys, we all know the PS3 is gonna flop big time and remain at third place behind the Wii60 combo!
OTAM @ Sep 18th 2006 7:16PM
I thought Wii also wasnt going to support any online play until 07 too?
Justice @ Sep 19th 2006 2:26PM
Ah man no on-line play for PS3..man. Well I guess I'll play THUG1 and THUG 2 online. Not like I'll be missing out on much anyway. It's probally gonna be like all the other TH series.
Darth Pixel @ Sep 18th 2006 7:33PM
Praising Sony and the PS3 can wait.
Right now...there are more Sony fanboys out there...so pissing those off is the best way to generate hits.
Understand it's nothing personal, generating hits is all that matters. Someone has to pay for the electricity this blog consumes.
J.Goodwin @ Sep 18th 2006 7:34PM
Nintendo has announced three online games for Wii: Battalion Wars 2, Mario Strikers Charged, and Pokemon Battle Revolution.
None have been dated for US release yet.
Allegedly, no 3rd party developers have received information on how to do online on Wii.
dick @ Sep 18th 2006 11:27PM
Yeah, pretty crazy. All this hate for Sony because of just one game without online support, when the Wii's online support is going to be non-existant until next year.
Les Doodis @ Sep 18th 2006 7:40PM
Seems more and more that Microsoft's adroitness in the online arena will be difficult for Sony and Nintendo to recreate.
Lekko @ Sep 18th 2006 7:42PM
so, they only got their dev kits 3 weeks ago, and already have the game running on them? well... out the window with the whole "hard to develop for" theory. Or at least "tough to port to".
Considering that 3 weeks of time to port a title from the 360, that's pretty quick. As far as no online for it, well.. does anyone really know ANYthing solid on it yet? I don't really blame them.
But it really is kinda funny how joystiq seems to only be pointing out negative Sony things...
Art Guy @ Sep 18th 2006 7:51PM
Lekko - RTFA. They didn't just get the dev kits, they just got the FINAL dev kits.
Dr.Swiss @ Sep 18th 2006 8:15PM
OMG, SKATE OR DIE 3 IS COMING OUT!!!?!?!?!
Oh, it's just Tony Hawk Pro Skater 15.
B33 @ Sep 18th 2006 8:27PM
"I know what a fanboy's response will be, but for everyone else: if you're given graphics that are pretty much the same, longer load times, NO ONLINE PLAY for most third party games, and are asked to pay an extra $200 or so . . . why would you?"
Look, here's someone who was foolish enough to buy into the bad press. Graphics are not the same, high processing rate, load times are not longer, THERE IS online play for most games (just because it's one game, doesn't mean it's all of them), and it's a $100 more then the 360.
Tony Hawk isn't getting online play mode because Sony is still trying to get the online service finished. It's not that big of a deal. The 360 was lacking in the online department at first, and no one whined about that. Get over it. Stop buying into the bad hype many consoles recieve...
Also, I find it interesting that Joystiq posted this, yet skipped over the article that stated Activision would sell their games for $60 each... Which punches a hole in the crappy fanboy theory that games will cost $80 a pop.
Steve @ Sep 18th 2006 8:32PM
Possible reason:
Because Neversoft is behind on their schedule, and when the dev units finally arrived, they realized that they couldn't get it all working on launch day. And they know the title is weak enough (Ridge Racerrrrrrr) that it will only sell as a launch title. So they dropped online to remain a launch title, knowing no one is going to be buying it based upon quality anyway.
These are the same guys who had a 360 launch title that was no better than the Xbox version (TH Wasteland 2 I think). They are likely applying no more effort into the PS3 port than they did with the 360 port.
And Sony probably put them at the bottom of the dev kit list knowing this.
Also note, I got this news last week, they got final dev kits 4 weeks ago at least that means. Given that 360 was shown on Macintoshes at E3 and Sony showed real hardware, I can't imagine the (front line) developers got final hardware a lot earlier during the 360 launch then during the PS3 effort.
Anyway, in short, the ramblings of one developer, especially one making what's likely to be a poor quality port title does not indicate much about the state of the platform.
B33 @ Sep 18th 2006 8:36PM
"lol you peeps still supporting the GayStation 3?! oh im sorry i mean the GAYSTATION 3!! lol get over it sony fanboys, we all know the PS3 is gonna flop big time and remain at third place behind the Wii60 combo!"
If Peter Moore told you to go play in traffic, you'd probally do it... I find it interesting that many fanboys say "WII60!!!" only because Moore said it... Sad... Make decisions for yourself. Don't make decisions based on some ___hole who gets a new tattoo every time a big game is announced.
Cage @ Sep 18th 2006 8:55PM
"The 360 was lacking in the online department at first, and no one whined about that."
Uh...which magical 360 did you get that online didn't work out of the box?
Sony's PR is out in full force. There really cant be this many people believing their bullsh!t. Sony has had what...5 years to come up with a Live equivalent?!?
spoo @ Sep 18th 2006 9:03PM
["Look, here's someone who was foolish enough to buy into the bad press. Graphics are not the same, high processing rate, load times are not longer, THERE IS online play for most games (just because it's one game, doesn't mean it's all of them), and it's a $100 more then the 360."]
Graphics at this point are the same it is yet to be seen what the 360 or PS3 can truely do. So yes as far as we know the graqhics are the same.
Load times will be longer on the PS3 simply because the 2x BRD < 16x DVD.
I hope this will not be a trend of 3rd party PS3 launch games skipping out on online for the sake of gaming.
And last but not least, the last I checked the PS3 is $200USD more then the 360. $300 + $200 = $500
Matt @ Sep 18th 2006 9:10PM
#31:
"Sony has had what...5 years to come up with a Live equivalent?!?"
Correction: "Sony has had, what, five years to blatantly rip off Xbox Live?!" ;)
p-diddy @ Sep 18th 2006 9:22PM
@suicideninja:
>> Tony Hawk is one of those few games where you just need a good d-pad,
>> which the 360 just doesn't have. I would have bought this for the PS3 just
>> for the controls.
From what I've read, neversoft is trying to change this. They've said that the studies they do people over 25 use the D-pad all the time and people under 25 use the sticks. As a result, people under 25 don't like the controls of TH. To address this they're supposedly making the stick work just as well as the D-pad, so fret not that you'll NEED the D-pad.
QFT in the paragraph halfway down the page:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/732/732671p2.html
-p-
B33 @ Sep 18th 2006 9:22PM
"Graphics at this point are the same it is yet to be seen what the 360 or PS3 can truely do. So yes as far as we know the graqhics are the same.
Load times will be longer on the PS3 simply because the 2x BRD < 16x DVD.
I hope this will not be a trend of 3rd party PS3 launch games skipping out on online for the sake of gaming.
And last but not least, the last I checked the PS3 is $200USD more then the 360. $300 + $200 = $500"
Resistance: Fall of Man's graphics surpass all of the 360's launch titles, in terms of graphics.
Based on E3, load times were short. And the hard drive will lower load times.
It's not a trend... It's only because Neversoft is behind schedule.
The $300 360 is useless. You need a hard drive for backwards compatibilty, playing online, and saving games and extras. You'll end up spending the extra $100 either way. $500-$400 = $100. Not $200.
Steve @ Sep 18th 2006 9:43PM
Cage, I think the comments about networking having problems on 360 at launch are accurate.
Kameo didn't have any networking code at launch.
Call of Duty 2 had networking that was complete crap, it had myriad problems, while the PC version worked fine.
I would say it is quite accurate to say that networking had teething problems on 360.
Nowadays it works fine, mostly. Listening to the reviewers at one website ask if anyone has ever got an online game to work in Saint's Row is not a ringing endorsement of Live. In the end, they found out why they couldn't get it to work. It's the same reason that Test Drive Unleashed has two pages explaining how to adjust your network to get it to work right. Live was supposed to take care of all of this for us. It hasn't quite worked out that way.
Live is good and I'm sure MS will make it better. But this all just underscores how it isn't perfect and wasn't perfect on day one.
spoo @ Sep 18th 2006 10:35PM
["Resistance: Fall of Man's graphics surpass all of the 360's launch titles, in terms of graphics."]
So we are comparing launch games? Using your (flawed) reasoning the PS3 will always be a year behind of the 360 then or since Gears of War will look better then anything on the PS3 the 360 is the superior system.
["Based on E3, load times were short. And the hard drive will lower load times."]
I'm sorry to tell you but at E3 all games were running off of a HDD not a BRD.
["The $300 360 is useless. You need a hard drive for backwards compatibilty, playing online, and saving games and extras. You'll end up spending the extra $100 either way. $500-$400 = $100. Not $200."]
...All that doesn't matter when you want to play Tony Hawk P8 you can spend $300 to play it or you can spend $500 to play it. THE PS3 is $200 more then the 360 what part of this don't you understand?
fahmi @ Sep 18th 2006 10:41PM
Dear B33,
1) nope. if resistance fall of man has better graphics, it's because of developer tools and skills. most developers said, there's no visible difference between the two.
2) E3 demos ran on A COMPUTER, and it has harddisk. you lose. with 2x BR-drive, it'll run slower.
3) same goes with $500 PS3. try compare apple with apple next time, kay?
Tim @ Sep 18th 2006 11:48PM
who in god's name still plays Tony Hawk? let alone online.. this is one game i wasn't planning on getting anyway for the PS3 - so no loss to me.
bandit @ Sep 18th 2006 11:51PM
dick, thats because for the majority of people the PS3 will be none existent til next year
Embassy @ Sep 18th 2006 11:57PM
when will yall understand that joystiq is an equal oppurtunity hater...
remember all those dam xbox 360 annoyances #1-5850595?
yeh..exactly...
or all those revolution/wii name change articles...???
thought so.
now it sonys turn..get over it.
Aaron @ Sep 19th 2006 12:06AM
It's like a race to see what publisher can get their rushed games to the $19.99 bin first.
Cage @ Sep 19th 2006 12:16AM
"Cage, I think the comments about networking having problems on 360 at launch are accurate."
"I" dont find that accurate at all. "Mine" worked just fine at launch. To use someone elses claims off the internet is NOT a good way to prove your argument. Of course I only played COD2 and not Kameo. Has anyone heard of games off the PS2 being able to work ONLINE on the PS3?
Steve @ Sep 19th 2006 1:03AM
Cage, I don't know where you got the impression you did. I owned a 360 day one. My experiences came from what I had and what my friends were experiencing. I did not buy Call of Duty 2 (I don't wish to play FPS on consoles, I'm a WASD guy).
I did buy Kameo, and the online didn't work at all. It was patched in later.
PGR3 did work pretty well. That's the game I played the most.
I suppose you had at least noticed that despite maps designed for 20+ players, the 360 version of Call of Duty 2 only does 8 players in a game. And it is was difficult to host a game so your friends could get in with you.
I don't get your last comment about PS2 games on PS3. PS3 is fully PS2 compatible, so there's no reason to thing that the online games on the PS2 won't be online capable on the PS3.
But I don't see how that is relevant.
I expect PS3 will have online teething problems, just like 360 did. You can't test how your system will act with 100,000 real players online before you release it. But I don't get this defeatist attitude, that PS3 couldn't possibly match Live 360. Live 360 is good, but it's not so astounding that others couldn't match it. I see no reason why Sony's online service can't start off good and get better as it goes along.
fahmi:
E3 demos ran on a PS3, not on a PC. Yes, they did run off HDD, not BD. PS3 has an HDD, so for sections of the game that are critical to run fast, I'm sure they can be loaded to the HDD temporarily for speed, just like PGR2 does on Xbox.
We'll see how fast a PS3 using BD is compared to 360. It depends on the transfer rates are, how the access rates are and how well the developers use the drive.
I would note that that the 360 has a 12X DVD drive, not 16X. And it is CAV, which means that only at the edge of the disc is the transfer rate 12X. In the inside it's less than half that. The PS2 has a 2X BD drive. 2X BD is 9MB/sec. A 12X DVD-ROM will be 7.5MB/sec at the center and about 15MB/sec at the edge. Note that recording starts at the center.
All in all, the two are close enough to each other that the difference will be largely decided by the efforts of developers. As an example, Gran Turismo 4 on PS2 loads faster off DVD-ROM than Forza Motorsport on Xbox runs when loaded to the hard drive.
bob @ Sep 19th 2006 1:57AM
dont get why people want a xbox live service on PS3.....i aint gonna pay to play shooters online like some certain retards who already do (**Cough** xbox fanboys*Couuugh***).....i been happy gaming for free on PC shooters/games and hope sony can bring a atmosphere like that on PS3 Online.
they can hawk and sell all their sony movies/music all they want on PS3 online...as long as the online play is free, i wont be complaining
Paul Gale @ Sep 19th 2006 3:33AM
I've already got a pre-order of Tony Hawk's Project 8 for Xbox 360 and the game's looking great in my opinion. Even if the PS3 version did have an online mode, I'd probably go for the Xbox 360 version because of the controller's rumble feature.
When it comes down to it, if future games look identical on both systems, or if the PS3 version is a tiny bit better, I'm going with the Xbox 360 game because of the controller's rumble capabilities.
To some people, the rumble may not seem like a big idea, but I played PlayStation 3 at E3 this past May, and not feeling any feedback when slamming my car in Gran Turismo against a wall, after getting use to feeling something in the controller for the last 9 years, kinda sucked.
Paul Gale
1up.com
KilgoreTrout XL @ Sep 19th 2006 9:20AM
The news reflects more upon the state of the PS3's online, rather than the game in question. Tony Hawk was always a (very good) single player game, as far as I'm concerned.
As an aside, if anyone here believes that online multiplayer games will be available to PS3 owners free of charge, you will, I think, believe anything.
B33 @ Sep 19th 2006 2:38PM
"So we are comparing launch games? Using your (flawed) reasoning the PS3 will always be a year behind of the 360 then or since Gears of War will look better then anything on the PS3 the 360 is the superior system."
Actually the PS3 is the superior system. The processors alone beat the Xbox 360... And Metal Gear Solid 4 and Lair both beat Gears of Wars in graphic terms... In the end, graphics aren't the only thing that is important. The PS3 can process much more then the 360.
"I'm sorry to tell you but at E3 all games were running off of a HDD not a BRD. "
Who told you that? Another supposed "expert" from Microsoft?
"...All that doesn't matter when you want to play Tony Hawk P8 you can spend $300 to play it or you can spend $500 to play it. THE PS3 is $200 more then the 360 what part of this don't you understand?"
So your telling me that I can play Tony Hawk P8... But If I want to save and play online, I can't do that because I need a HDD... And if I want to take a break from Tony Hawk and play a couple old Xbox games, I can't do that either... You'll end up spending a $100 anyways. $300 + $100= $400... $500-$400= $100. The PS3 is a $100 more then the 360. Get over it. Stop trying to use common fanboy remarks to bash the PS3. Go shine Peter Moore's shoes or something.
niels @ Sep 19th 2006 11:42AM
$600 is not much.
in a time where 17 year old kids spend $60-70 a month on phone bills and $250 on a new phone, a new TV is $2000, an ipod and various other small handheld gadgets are around $300...whats $600 for a console? im not justifying the price, im saying people who say its expensive need to wake up and smell reality. in this day and age, *everything* is ridiculously expensive.
Delive @ Sep 19th 2006 3:31PM
Honestly, I could care less. Throw tony hawk in free so I can trade it in before I leave the store. Though some like it and will miss the online. I became bored with TH about 4 versions ago.