"Skate 2 sounds like a sequel, but we put so many people on it and our goal was to double the first game. I think we've done more than that," says Jay Balmer, Gameplay Producer for the highly anticipated Skate 2 video game (Xbox 360 / Playstation 3), which is slated for a January 21st release in North America.

Jay Balmer, Skate 2 Gameplay Producer.

Black Box Studios is located in Gastown, downtown Vancouver, and is a branch of video game magnate, Electronic Arts. The Skate games have been produced at Black Box for 3 years—a team of over a hundred are dedicated to the award-winning virtual skateboarding franchise that's giving the long standing Tony Hawk series a run for its money.

"It's a scary responsibility to be making something that we're calling authentic, then going out there to talk to the pros. But they're stoked, and we're happy that we've been fighting ourselves to make sure we're on the right track," Balmer explains. "The team here is super passionate, and we all want to keep building it and making it better. It's awesome to have EA involved. The resources they have to pull a project like this together are amazing."

Jerry Hsu, 360 flip.

Judging by the limited areas of San Vanelona we were able to explore in Skate 2 during a media preview at Black Box, it was enough to get a taste of the faster gameplay and more detailed environments (Skate 2 runs at 60 frames-per-second, versus 30 in Skate).

"The story is that you're coming back to San Vanelona 5 years later after being in jail," Balmer says about the new game. "The city got destroyed and has been rebuilt by this corporation that doesn't like skateboarding, which is a bit more like reality in every major city."

John Cardiel, frontside air.

A major new feature in Skate 2 is the option to get off your board at the push of a button. This opens up a huge window of in-game possibilities like seeking new spots on foot, sessioning spots more efficiently, and digging into a new bag of tricks. The off-board function also provides the option to move and configure numerous objects around the city to skate.

I managed to corner Jay Balmer for a little insider Q and A during the late '08 media sneak-peak of Skate 2:

How has the pro character roster changed?
There were 19 pros in Skate, and not everyone is returning. This year we've added a bunch, and our total pro roster is 28. Cardiel's in there because, well, it's much respect having him in there. From what we heard, Koston turned down the Tony Hawk game last year because he heard we were making a game and thought we'd ask him. We didn't ask him [laughs], which we felt bad about, but he's in Skate 2. Marc Johnson, Mark Appleyard, Darren Navarrette, Jake Brown, Lucas Puig, Ray Barbee, and Braydon Szafranski are in. Gio Reda was sort of your filmer background voice in Skate, and now he's come forward as a full character that interacts with everyone. There's a lot more vocal interaction between characters in Skate 2.

How does getting off-board translate in the new game?
We really wanted off-board to blend because it's part of skating. In Skate there's two push buttons, which was very intentional because I wanted to make sure we could save those buttons for Skate 2. Now you can do one-foots, no-complys, fast plants, bonelesses, and hippy jumps with them. You can hippy jump and kick away your board, stay off it, run across things, and jump back on your board because it's still rolling by itself and doing its own thing. You can do airs, grab your board and pull it out from under you for dismounting, then caveman to get it back under you. You can throw it ahead to run and jump on it. It is a video game, so if you do have your board flying super far away from you, you can just retrieve it using "the force", so to speak, and it'll fly back into your hand...Or you can run and go get it.

Mark Appleyard, switch heel.

What's the most enticing new gameplay detail in Skate 2?
The potential of objects is the most amazing thing. We don't even fully know the scope of it yet. You can collect 50 objects into some crazy pile and make something to skate out of it. We're just starting to play with that, and there's so much potential for what's possible. Someone could spend a couple hours just making some crazy set of things. You can save what you've created as a "created spot", and post that online for other people to download and try with the creator's ghost showing its highest scoring line at the spot.

You mentioned the game memory being pretty tech, which is great for all the objects you can move and create custom spots with.
There's 100 unique objects, like a dumpster, but there might be 200 dumpsters spread around the world. There are thousands of objects around the world to collect and move around, and they'll pretty much stay where you left them. They'll reset to where they belong if you leave them on the road, or drag them into a no-skate zone.

The Goofy vs. Regular course.

How about contests and challenges?
There's head-to-head Thrasher "Hall of Meat" battles to see who gets the most points in a wipe-out. There are tons of downhill races, a street series, and a bowl series where Cuz [Chris Parry] is the host as he is in the Vancouver Bowl Series. There's also the GvR contest. The X-Games isn't part of the game this year, so we got to build our own over-the-top super arena contest with multiple mega ramps, so there's criss-crossing in the air.

What are some different ways you can use in-game money this time around?
There are a few services you can call in like pool and fountain draining, and a service to remove skate-stoppers. The third one is Big Black, who's a security guard to get rid of security guards. If you want to skate a spot that's a bust, you can pay Big Black to tackle security and clear a path so you can skate. It's super funny. He'll deal with Jocks or anyone that's mad and chasing you. There's also the Monster park, which is a place downtown that's under construction. It's a warehouse you can buy that becomes a skatepark.

Chris Cole in Skate 2's video editor: camera angle option screen.

What's the craziest video part you've seen that was recreated using Skate?
Different people recreated all the parts in Fully Flared out of Skate. Just the fact that our game holds up and the animations look good enough to capture that level of detail—it's amazing. In Skate 2 you can position the camera anywhere you want to around the skater. You can also detach the camera from the skater and place it on a tripod, so there's opportunity to create something closer to a skateboard video instead of only being able to watch from a game camera point of view. The videos will leap in quality.

Marc Johnson, crooked grind.

*All screen shots and videos courtesy of Electronic Arts.

Skate 2 hits North American stores on January 21st for the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms. If you're already on Xbox Live or Playstation Network, you should be able to download the free playable demo right now.

To see more, visit the official Skate 2 website by clicking right here.

Other Skate 2 videos:

Skate 2 Graphics Creator
Skate 2 Replay Editor
Skate 2 Roster
Skate 2 Original Trailer

Related:
Skate It, video (Nintendo DS)
Skate It, Bail video (Nintendo Wii)
Skate It, Career video (Nintendo Wii)
Skate It, Multiplayer video (Nintendo Wii)