Round Up: Skate, Game Dev Survey, NBA 07 Music

Today's round-up includes news of a new Tony Hawk rival from EA called Skate, an online student survey covering game development, and the soundtrack listing for EA's forthcoming NBA 07, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Major publisher and developer Electronic Arts announced plans to develop a new skateboarding title simply titled Skate for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game, which is obviously being positioned as a direct competitor to Activision's wildly popular Tony Hawk franchise, will feature professional skaters such as Danny Way and PJ Ladd, as well as what the company calls “a reactive city and relevant in-game cameras,” and a control scheme that “captures the true feel of skating.” Other features promised by EA include "physics-driven animations" which will ensure that "no two tricks will ever be the same." Skate is being developed by EA Black Box, and is scheduled to ship in 2007. - German Communication & Media Management student Patrick Streppel has created an online survey as part of his thesis titled “Project Management in Games Development.” According to Streppel, the thesis currently focuses on “the matter of reliable estimation and planning,” and will cover the differences between game development and general software development. In addition, Streppel noted that the survey, which is aimed at game developers, is to “compare different plan-driven and agile methodologies in theory and then try to evaluate how useful they are for the production of games.” The ultimate goal of the thesis, according to Streppel, will be to “identify practices that work with certain game projects and to combine this with the theory on agile methodologies.” To participate in the survey, visit the website. - Electronic Arts has confirmed the lineup of musical tracks that will be included in the upcoming release of NBA Live 07, which is scheduled to ship for the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP, and PC on September 25, with a version for the PlayStation 3 to debut alongside the console for its November launch. The soundtrack includes an eclectic mix of old favorites, as well as breakout artists such as Gnarls Barkley and Brazil's Braza. In total the game will feature 23 tracks, including: Army of the Pharaohs - "Gorillas" Bossman - "Hand Clap" Braza - "Son Do Braza" Citty - "Them Ballers" Damizza feat. Butch Cassidy - "In 2's" Feezy 350 feat. Shauna K - "Mr. DJ" Ghislain Poirier - "Mic Diplomat" Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy" Jurassic 5 feat. Dave Matthews - "Work It Out" Lady Sovereign - "A Little Bit of Shh (Adrock Remix)" Lupe Fiasco - "Kick Push Dead Prez Presents M-1 - "Til We Get There" Mark Ronson feat. Alex Greenwald - "Just" Murs & 9th Wonder - "L.A." Pigeon John - "Higher" Raptile - "Neva Eva" Redrama - "I Don't Know What to Tell You" Rhymefest - "Some of These Days" Robert Randolph & The Family Band - "Thrill of It" Sergio Mendes & The Black Eyed Peas - "Mas Que Nada" Talib Kweli - "Listen" Ten Days Till - "Get Them Hands Hi" The Coup - "My Favorite Mutiny" - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a profile of developer Giant Bite, pictures taken of arcades in Japan, and Jeff Tunnell's comments regarding Xbox Live Arcade development costs. - The latest updates on Gamasutra's sister site Serious Games Source include an exclusive interview with PIXELearning co-founder and managing director Kevin Corti on eLearning and serious games. - News on Gamasutra's game education sister site Game Career Guide includes a new feature covering 'Brain Wave Gaming', and news on a grant to run a game club and observe the effects of violent games. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from BioWare Austin, Blizzard Entertainment, Blue Fang Games, Planet Moon Studios, Rockstar San Diego, Volition, and the Walt Disney Internet Group.