Tony Hawk Franchise Targets Younger Audience With Shred

Over the past 11 years, Activision's Tony Hawk series has focused on the extreme teen audience, but with the latest installment, Tony Hawk: Shred, the publisher is targeting a younger crowd. A press release confirming the game said Friday that the next major installment in the well-established board riding series aims to "get kids off the couch." Activision added, "kids will be actively using their boundless energy while riding as any of Shred's pro skate and snowboarders." Screenshots for the game exhibit a look more focused on the cartoony than the realistic. Shred's new angle comes after the release of November 2009's Tony Hawk Ride, which was poorly received by the typically core-focused consumer gaming press. On Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, the game used a specialized board peripheral that garnered some control criticisms -- but is being used again for this new game with adapted game controls. Consumer game site Kotaku recently reported that a seven-year-old boy was demonstrating the game to reporters in New York City. According to the report, Activision is aiming for an audience between the ages of six and 12. The Tony Hawk series has been around since 1999, originally developed by Neversoft. The game's most restrictive ESRB rating was "Teen" on entries including Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, Project 8, Underground and American Wasteland. Descriptors for those games included "Blood, Crude Humor, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence," none of which will be seen in E-rated Shred. While Activision is making kids the primary target, the publisher insisted in its press statement that the game is meant to be an "active, social gaming experience everyone can enjoy." Like Ride, Shred is under development by Robomodo, which is handling the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, and Buzz Monkey, which is working on the Wii version. Shred will utilize the same board peripheral as Ride, and is slated for launch this holiday.