Gone are the days when it was only developer Neversoft's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater that offered a solid skateboarding experience. Now that Electronic Arts has Skate to contest Activision's franchise, publishing president Mike Griffith realize Tony Hawk has to learn a few new tricks.

Griffith recognizes Skate as a capable competitor that split a stable market, which pushed Activision to conduct reality checks. After a "significant amount of consumer research and testing" to figure out what the fans want from the brand, Activision found out that the Tony Hawk brand is still appealing. Griffith admitted, however, that innovation is required to breathe life into the franchise.

In a recent conference call with investors, Griffith revealed that six months already went into re-engineering the Tony Hawk brand. It may be too early to tell if Activision will introduce something as refreshing as Skate's controls and mechanics, but in the end, it's us gamers who'll be left with more skateboard games to choose from.

Part of Activision's plans for a successful 2008 is the release of two new Guitar Hero titles, and one of these could easily be the Guitar Hero 4 the British band The Answer was talking about. The line-up for this year also includes the movie tie-ins of Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 2, Monsters Vs. Aliens, and the next Spiderman.

A sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance and an enhanced Tony Hawk's Pro Skater are also scheduled for release this year. For more details, click on the Via link below.