skate. (Retail) - Review it!

[B Leisle]

Picked it up today at EB. The look on the lady's face working the counter was something like this . I think because someone bought a game other than Halo 3 today. LOL

Took about 5 minutes to install onto the HDD. I only tried a little of the freeskate option, which allows you to select from 4 or 5 different default player models. It looks like the Pro skater skins are unlockable, and you can customize your skater when you select the Create A Skater.

I went to the Art Museum and freeskated for about 20 minutes (had to do some work today ) and it is truly incredible. I could probably spend a week just in this one little area and not find all the cool transitions and runs, let alone all the other main areas and the go-betweens. The voices of the other bots (pedestrians, other skaters, security guards, etc.) in the SP game are really well done, not to mention an awesome soundtrack. I actually got tackled by a security guard, it was pretty funny.

I'm not a skater, although I tried to be when I was a kid , and this game is a blast. The reviews that say you need to be a skater to enjoy this or that it's technically difficult make no sense to me. IMO, this gameplay is so much more enjoyable than the button-mashing, cartoony play in the Tony Hawk game. I just wish there were better MP action. Maybe EA will give us an update to better the MP aspect.

Being the first PS3 game to buy for myself, I'm thrilled!

I took this quick shot getting ready to roll down the ramp into the full pipe. Good times!

[Benkrishman]

Good to hear! What resolution are you running the game at? I played the demo and loved it, and will be purhcasing the game soon. The one thing that I didn't like was the demo seemed to have some slowdown to it, nothing that would interfere with the gameplay, but it got a bit annoying at times. My set is 1080i only, so I'm not sure if it was running 720p with a 1080 upscale, or running at full 1080p. is there any slowdown in the game you've noticed so far? It's not going to keep me from buying the game, or enjoying it, I'm just curious.

[B Leisle]

No framerate issues so far. Box says supported HD resolutions are: 480i/480p/720i/720p/1080i*. There's an asterisk annotation after the 1080i that below says: "Video output in Full HD 1080p requires an HDMI cable and a 1080p native display with an HDMI input supporting HDCP." So, if you have the supporting hardware, this should play in 1080p. My 50" Panny plasma is 1366x768 and I'm running in 1080i.

[Benkrishman]

Good to hear, I'm glad it's running smoothly. I got a chuckle out of 720i listed on supported resolutions though, haha.

[rahzel]

so i guess the game defaults to 1080i. the game is most likely rendered in 720p and upscaled to 1080i so i'm curious how it looks at 720p vs 1080i (R6 Vegas brings doubt to all games now).

[jhaines]

Originally Posted by rahzel

the game is most likely rendered in 720p and upscaled to 1080i so i'm curious how it looks at 720p vs 1080i

The demo looked like it was upscaled 960x1080 like Virtua Fighter 5 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, not upscaled 1280x720 like Warhawk.

- Jer

[rahzel]

i'm not sure how good the scaling is in Warhawk (it defaults to 720p for me). but i heard VF5/NGS scale well, so i'm assuming thats a good thing?

edit: just tried warhawk at 1080i for the hell of it... its almost as bad as Vegas!

[jhaines]

Originally Posted by rahzel

i heard VF5/NGS scale well, so i'm assuming thats a good thing?

Upscaled 960x1080 looks better on a 1080-native HDTV than upscaled 1280x720 because the horizontal doubling doesn't introduce any pixel blur -- the image stays crisp. And 960x1080 still offers about 12% more pixels than 1280x720, so you don't lose any image detail overall vs. 720p.

That said, Warhawk looks just as good as any 720p source would look on a 1080-native set -- it just handles the upscaling for you instead of putting it off on the TV, and that's a great thing for people whose TVs can't accept a 720p signal.

- Jer

[rahzel]

960x1080 may have higher pixels, but it has considerably less vertical lines of resolution. i always thought R6 Vegas used the 960x1080 method and i was under the impression that the PS3 could only scale 960x1080 to 1920x1080 and not 1280x720 to 1920x1080? but then i wondered why R6 Vegas looks so bad at 1080i compared to other games that are scaled to 1080i.

i wish developers would just default to the resolution that looks best so we don't have to worry. if you have a set that only supports 480p/1080i, it will use 1080i anyway if you have 720p unchecked.

[Benkrishman]

Can't say for VF5 but both Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Warhawk look excellent upscaled to 1080i on my set. I've heard bad things about Rainbow six, but have not had a chance to play it, though it sounds like it's the exception, not the standard.

And thats not true rahzel, many games do not support 1080i output if regardless of whether 720p is checked. The devs must have 1080i output in mind, the ps3 will not scale on it's own.

[rahzel]

i was talking about games that support 1080i.
Vegas seems to be the only exception (i know, i've compared 720p vs 1080i) but like i said, Vegas has me worried for every game, especially the ones that default to 1080i.

[speng9]

I am hoping the thread keeps on the review of SKATE and not derailed

I am seriously thinking about getting the game, the demo was a lot of fun.

[Benkrishman]

Originally Posted by rahzel

i was talking about games that support 1080i.
Vegas seems to be the only exception (i know, i've compared 720p vs 1080i) but like i said, Vegas has me worried for every game, especially the ones that default to 1080i.

Ah, ok, I just misunderstood you. Sorry about that.

I just really hope developers pay more attention to the issue in the future, as it has limited the games that I buy. I was very happy to see that the skate demo played in 1080 for me, and looked great. Lets just hope EA keeps it up, NBA street and skate have set a good example for the rest of the company, lets just hope some of EA's other dev studios take a hint and implement 1080 support next year.

[B Leisle]

The cut movie when you create a new profile is pretty well done and humorous. The only negative is you can't skip it if you're creating another profile and don't want to watch it again.

Setup my profile - wow, talk about tedious. You select, stance, style, and gestures. Then you select build type (muscular, skinny, fat), skin color, hair style, hair color, eye/brow structure (double/single lid, shape, etc), cheek/nose structure, chin structure, facial hair, facial hair color, hat, shirt, pants/shorts, wrist wear, shoes, board/trucks/wheels, truck and wheel settings. All accessories like clothes and board stuff cost money, which you get around $250 to begin with, and some accessories are available and some are locked - presumably, they will be unlocked as you progress in career mode.

I noticed some slight framerate drops in certain areas, not exactly sure if it's due to anything or anywhere in particular. I've been roaming all over, so it will take more time to see if it's still noticeable in some areas.

I now realize why there's a warning in red on the box that says:
WARNING: IF YOU HAVE A HISTORY OF EPILEPSY OR SEIZURES, CONSULT A DOCTOR BEFORE USE. CERTAIN PATTERNS MAY TRIGGER SEIZURES WITH NO PRIOR HISTORY. BEFORE USING AND FOR MORE DETAILS SEE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRODUCT.
I actually found myself with slight dizziness in some instances - mostly when the camera angle swung around rapidly due to a direction change. I know I'm sensitive to this; for instance, there's no way I can ride a merry-go-round with my kids, I'd yak, so this is not entirely surprising.

There is soooooooooo much terrain to explore. While the skate.ea.com website only shows the main attractions in each zone, there's just as much terrain in between. I went behind someone's house in the burbs and found an empty half-pipe pool in their backyard, then hopped over a wall and landed in a sweet, downhill luge pipe.

You can almost literally continuously ollie and be guaranteed to land on something. I rode a grind down a hill on the street curb for about 90 feet.....LOL.

Beware of the black sedan with the license plate "SKATE", he does everything possible to take you out. I was riding behind him and he slams on the brakes all of a sudden for no reason and I hear his voice say something to the effect of "damn skaters".

The only thing I'm not fond of so far is the camera angles sometimes make it difficult to navigate, particularly when making tight turns. That and sometimes I want to change directions, but my character continues to try and go straight ahead.

[Benkrishman]

From playing the demo I can see what you're saying about the camera angles, it's nothing that bothers me personally, but I can see how it would get to people.

But I believe all video games have that seizure warning on the back of the box, I'm not 100% though.


edit: Looks like I was wrong about that, I just checked the MGS2 and MGS3 boxes(only games I have at the moment) and neither have the warning, though I know I've seen it on many games.

[rahzel]

i just realized the demo runs at 1080i by default. i guess i can test to see how it looks at 720p vs 1080i myself.

[Benkrishman]

Originally Posted by rahzel

i just realized the demo runs at 1080i by default. i guess i can test to see how it looks at 720p vs 1080i myself.

Yeah, definitely report back. See if you can notice any perfomance differences in 720p vs 1080i, I'd be interested to see if some of the slowdown experienced in the demo is still there in 720p, or if they run about the same.

[rahzel]

judging by the demo, the game is definitely scaled, but its one of the better scaled games. the textures at 1080i are slightly less sharp compared to 720p (like all the games that are scaled). most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference. other than that, overall sharpness and performance (fps) seem to be the same.

the reason scaled games are slightly less sharp is because like i said before, there is considerably less vertical lines of resolution at 960x1080 compared to 1280x720 so textures usually take a hit (albeit, not much).

in this case, i don't mind that they defaulted to 1080i (i wish they defaulted Vegas to 720p... i wonder what the f'ed up and why it looks so bad compared to other scaled games). but i still wish they would default to 720p if the game is not rendered at 1080p (if you have 720p checked).

[CoreyM]

Does installing it on the hard drive solve the load time issues the 360 version has when using session markers?

[jhaines]

Originally Posted by rahzel

960x1080 may have higher pixels, but it has considerably less vertical lines of resolution.

It has 3/4 as many pixels horizontally, but it has 50% more pixels vertically, so it more than makes up for it. The only side effect is that each virtual pixel is fatter than it is tall, so steeply inclined diagonals will look a little chunkier.

i always thought R6 Vegas used the 960x1080 method and i was under the impression that the PS3 could only scale 960x1080 to 1920x1080 and not 1280x720 to 1920x1080? but then i wondered why R6 Vegas looks so bad at 1080i compared to other games that are scaled to 1080i.

R6:V is the exception to the rule. I haven't personally seen it in action, but some have suggested that it might render to a 480p buffer, then upscale that to 1080i.

As for upscaling arbitrary resolutions, the PS3 can certainly do that, but it has to be accommodated by the developers instead of being done transparently in hardware like on the 360. Arbitrary upscaling takes more memory, because you have to have a source buffer and an output buffer in memory simultaneously, and that can take up a significant chunk of your resources when a 1920x1080 output buffer uses up 6 to 8 MB of space (depending on bit depth). They obviously had the space to spare to do it with Warhawk, but that's not always going to be the case.

The difference with the SDK-supported 960x1080 mode is that you don't need a second buffer -- the PS3 will apparently do the horizontal pixel doubling transparently at display time, so you only need to increase the buffer space by 12% over 720p, which would amount to less than 0.5 MB of extra space.

i wish developers would just default to the resolution that looks best so we don't have to worry. if you have a set that only supports 480p/1080i, it will use 1080i anyway if you have 720p unchecked.

Again, R6:V was the exception to the rule here. Most games that are 720p native but support 1080i will only kick into 1080 mode when 720p is unchecked. Ideally you'd be able to select resolutions on a per-game basis, but we're not there yet.

As for Skate, the demo looks like it's doing 960x1080 because it doesn't have the softness of dual-axis scaling and it's slightly chunky on steep diagonals. It also looks like the text boxes are scaled a bit sloppily in the horizontal direction, which would make sense with 960x1080's fatter pixels. The game still looks quite good, though -- far better than it would at 480p.

- Jer

[rahzel]

for the most part (in most cases), the horizontal resolution makes up for the lack of vertical resolution, but 1280x720 is just a much more natural resolution than 960x1080 for a 16:9 image so it always actually looks slightly sharper (albeit not much).

its true that Vegas is the only exception where the scaling results in a quite softer image. but even if the difference is minimal, i would much rather have it set to the visually better resolution by default. there are some games that support 1080i but default to 720p, so it is possible. you would think the developer would want to default to the best resolution possible. i'm sure Vegas got knocked for its visuals because of the visual quality at 1080i in some reviews.

i actually tried Warhawk at 1080i for the hell of it and its almost as bad as Vegas, menus and everything just looks softer. i agree skate looks great at 1080i, very comparable to 720p. like i said above, some textures just don't look quite as sharp, but other than that, everything seems to be identical.

[jhaines]

Originally Posted by rahzel

for the most part (in most cases), the horizontal resolution makes up for the lack of vertical resolution, but 1280x720 is just a much more natural resolution than 960x1080 for a 16:9 image so it always actually looks slightly sharper (albeit not much).

That doesn't make any sense at all. 1280x720 will look sharper on a 720-native HDTV, and 960x1080 will look sharper on a 1080-native HDTV.

i would much rather have it set to the visually better resolution by default.

Yes, but the "better" resolution depends on the native resolution of your TV.

i actually tried Warhawk at 1080i for the hell of it and its almost as bad as Vegas, menus and everything just looks softer.

Warhawk always works from a 1280x720 image, so it should look sharp on a 720-native HDTV, but softer on a 1080-native HDTV, just like any 720p source signal.

- Jer

[so's your face]

played the demo last night and LOVED it! if the demo is any indication, i might have to go buy this game tonight...

yes or no?

[WYSEGUY]

Originally Posted by so's your face

played the demo last night and LOVED it! if the demo is any indication, i might have to go buy this game tonight...

yes or no?

real games even better

[freestyle]

Originally Posted by CoreyM

Does installing it on the hard drive solve the load time issues the 360 version has when using session markers?

Yes. The install is long (maybe 4-5 minutes)... but once in the game there is very little loading... Session markers are pretty much instant. Everything loads quick.

I have noticed a lot of framerate chugs when I get going particularly fast. .. it is a bit annoying, but not a total killer.

I'm pretty sure I've only played in 720p... I think that's what I left it in last I checked. But I'll have to test it out in both 1080i and 720p res to check...

Other than that, I think the game is REALLY solid... It really captures that aspect of skateboarding where you keep trying to perfect moves and tricks...

There is also a pretty fun online aspect to the game (only 4 players max though)... But there are different modes of play... you can freeskate with friends. There is chat support... And you have a little virtual "Sidekick" (thanks T-Mobile?) and you can actually have pretty good access to your friends list and send invites to people outside of the game... messages too. And in game you can receive invites and then jump directly into your friends games.

There are also some good film editor and clip saving that you can upload for the community to check out and even rate. (still clips too).

Good stuff.

[rahzel]

Originally Posted by jhaines

That doesn't make any sense at all. 1280x720 will look sharper on a 720-native HDTV, and 960x1080 will look sharper on a 1080-native HDTV.

not true... i've seen Ninja Gaiden Sigma on a 1080p native set running at 1080p and 720p, and the textures still look sharper at 720p. someone also posted pictures over at beyond3d in the old Ninja Gaiden Sigma thread if i can find it ill post it here later.

i know resolution doesn't directly translate to aspect ratios, but i still think 1280x720 is better suited for a 16:9 image than 960x1080 upscaled, meaning it will always look better than 960x1080 scaled. but it will definitely look better than 480p and comparable to 720p.

edit: here
yes i realize they're low res captures, but you still get the idea.

[Jaren613]

Wow, we really need to get off the resolution discussion in this thread. More posts about resolution than the game here!

Originally Posted by CoreyM

Does installing it on the hard drive solve the load time issues the 360 version has when using session markers?

Most of the time session markers load instantly, like literally instantly. Once in a while though I still get some that take a few seconds to load.

This game is really awesome so far and I really can't even compare it to TH. The flickit! controls are revolutionary and have me wondering why this wasn't implemented years ago. It really gives you that feeling of full control in the game of both the board and your body. I have never skateboarded in my life, but I am an avid snowboarder and wakeboarder. My grinding experience on snowboards is where I get a good feel for comparison from real life to in game controls. I feel like I have complete control in a grind. I can grind for hours in this game and not be bored! Love it.

Anyway, graphics are good, nothing amazing, some of the lighting and textures do grab your eye though. The only real complaint I have so far is annoying framerate issues. I never really cared for a while as it never seemed to interrupt gameplay, but I found a spot last night that lagged the whole time, whether I was moving fast or not. It was in Old Town near a Owned spot, can't remember which one. I didn't know if it was near a transition spot or not, but that's what I passe dit off as.

Anyway, awesome game, well worth the $60!

[jhaines]

Originally Posted by rahzel

not true... i've seen Ninja Gaiden Sigma on a 1080p native set running at 1080p and 720p, and the textures still look sharper at 720p.

Well, you're entitled to your opinion, but it makes no rational sense, and it doesn't line up with my own experiences.

someone also posted pictures over at beyond3d in the old Ninja Gaiden Sigma thread if i can find it ill post it here later.

The only appreciable difference between the two pictures is that the 1080 one looks fuzzier, which suggests to me that the pictures are from a 720-native HDTV, since the game is razor sharp on my 1080-native system.

i know resolution doesn't directly translate to aspect ratios

Actually, resolution mapped to a specific physical shape defines the aspect ratio.

i still think 1280x720 is better suited for a 16:9 image than 960x1080 upscaled, meaning it will always look better than 960x1080 scaled.

Again, you're entitled to your opinion, but it makes no rational sense. A pixel of 960x1080 is slightly smaller than a pixel of 1280x720, even though its shape is different -- and images rendered at a TV's native resolution will always be more crisp than images rendered at a lower resolution and scaled up in a way that will add pixel blur.

If you render at 720 and upscale it to 1080, the textures will always look softer because everything will look softer. Because of this, a 960x1080 render is pretty much guaranteed to have crisper textures on a 1080-native TV than a 1280x720 render that's upscaled.

but it will definitely look better than 480p and comparable to 720p.

I can at least agree with you on that much.

Back to the Skate demo, I have to say that I've been coming back to it over and over again, and I enjoy it quite a bit. I haven't picked up a skateboarding game since THPS4 on the PS2, but I just might grab this one when it comes down in price or I hit a major gaming lull. The action is fun and the wipeouts can be hilarious...

- Jer

[rahzel]

Originally Posted by jhaines

The only appreciable difference between the two pictures is that the 1080 one looks fuzzier, which suggests to me that the pictures are from a 720-native HDTV, since the game is razor sharp on my 1080-native system.

well, if its fuzzier, not only will it not look as sharp, the textures will look worse too. and no, his set is 1080p native. but there is a thread at beyond3d saying NGS is actually 1280x720 native and somehow scales to 1080p (EDIT: nm, i guess Quaz was going by the NGS demo... the full release was most likely scaled from 960 to 1920). there are actually a few PS3 titles that are scaled in different ways, some actually using software scaling and some using the horizontal scaler. the horizontal scaler is actually a little more versatile than most of us thought. it can scale 960, 1280, 1440 and 1600 (in 320 increments) up to 1920 (previously i thought it could only scale 960). also, some PS3 games are actually scaling from 720 or even lower resolutions like 600p via software scaling. heres the thread if anyones interested. it became very popular after this Quaz dude found out that Halo 3 is not 720p, but rather 640p. i personally think its a very interesting thread.

Actually, resolution mapped to a specific physical shape defines the aspect ratio

true, but sometimes there are tricks involved, like for DVD's/VCD's. they don't have the correct resolutions for 4:3/16:9 (720x480) but they have flags to tell the DVD player how to handle them to play on a 4:3/16:9 display. for some reason, i thought thats what you were getting at saying it doesn't make any rational sense.

Again, you're entitled to your opinion, but it makes no rational sense. A pixel of 960x1080 is slightly smaller than a pixel of 1280x720, even though its shape is different -- and images rendered at a TV's native resolution will always be more crisp than images rendered at a lower resolution and scaled up in a way that will add pixel blur.

If you render at 720 and upscale it to 1080, the textures will always look softer because everything will look softer. Because of this, a 960x1080 render is pretty much guaranteed to have crisper textures on a 1080-native TV than a 1280x720 render that's upscaled.

personally, i dunno why, but read through this thread. a few people do tests of which will provide a better scaled image, 1280x720 upscaled to 1920x1080 or 960x1080 upscaled to 1920x1080 and 720 gives better results.
my example with NGS although shows 720p looking sharper, is not an example of the 960x1080 horizontal scaling method (it apparently uses software scaling). thats all the proof i got i guess. if you have a 1080p native set and you say 960x1080 games look sharper than 720p, then i have no argument as my set is 720p native.

[B Leisle]

Ahem, could we keep the thread on track here?

I've come across a few spots with framerate issues as well, but it typically only lasts about 1 or 2 seconds, then clears up.

I've noticed the delayed load times from markers only happens if you've played about 15 seconds or more after reloading the marker. I think the couple second delay happens because the game has the 30 second continuous video capture buffer, and once you go over a certain threshold, it gives the delay when reloading. Try it - load a marker, then reload it in <15 seconds, and your load will be instantaneous. Even then, the load time is not bad, at most, it's around 2 or 3 seconds.

Man, the Old Town area is a big air, grinding paradise. . I love that area. Starting up on top of the hills by City Hall, then grinding down anything and everything as you go down the hills is awesome.

Anyone know if it's possible to save videos or stills to a memory card? It's kind of a bummer the game only allows you to keep 8 video clips and about the same amount of stills (can't remember exactly how many stills). I find myself wanting to keep more vids.

I thought I pulled off some really nice moves on a few of those OWNED spots only to check the leaderboards online and see people with insane scores on them like in the 7,000 range. I want to see what the heck they did to get 7,000 points in one spot!

It would be greeeeeeaaaat if EA could get its act together with the skate.REEL website, it's still buggy. I thought I saw another website that you could use to view the vids but can't remember what it was called if my life depended on it. I thought it used some plugin that used EA's feed....

I can't reiterate how good the soundtrack is in the game - 67 tracks, with roughly 15-20 originals that are actually pretty good.