Next Tony Hawk game getting skateboard peripheral

Activision is a publisher that knows, and has come to love, peripherals. After all, they've helped drive the "Guitar Hero" franchise to well over $1 billion in revenue. (Unlike MTV, Activision typically makes money on its music hardware, though it did have some hiccups with "World Tour" drums over the holidays.)

Which is why it makes some sense it's going that route with the next "Tony Hawk" skateboarding game, coming this fall. Rumors that the as-yet-untitled game would use some kind of peripheral started last summer. But two sources who have seen the game first hand have confirmed that it will indeed eschew controllers and rely on a board-like peripheral. I'm told it won't be about precise balance (if you want to do that, just get a real skateboard). Instead it'll be about grabbing and manipulating the board to pull of all the tricks for which "Tony Hawk" games are known. Because the peripheral does a lot more than just measure where players are standing, I'm told it'll be available for the Wii version as well -- it won't just rely on the board that came with "Wii Fit," as EA's "Skate It" did.

In addition, my sources confirmed the wide speculation that developer Robomodo, formed primarily by former EA Chicago employees, is making the game.

Skateboarding games have always relied on complex button combos, Switching the interface to be based entirely (or primarily?) on a peripheral is a pretty radical shift. But after poor sales for 2007's Tony Hawk game, it makes sense that Activision is ready to take that risk. And helps explain why it was willing to put its annual franchise on hold last year.

If it's successful, Activision will have a revitalized new franchise that could stand beside its currently dominant trio of "Guitar Hero," "Call of Duty," and "Warcraft." Just as Activision has done with "Guitar Hero," you can be sure it will release numerous "Tony Hawk" sequels, spin-offs, etc. that all take advantage of the skateboard peripheral. Because if gamers love the board as much as they love plastic guitar controllers, they'll want lots more content to take advantage of it after they make the investment.

Activision is probably uniquely positioned to take this jump, since it has already invested so much in the logistics to get plastic guitar and drum peripherals manufactured in China and shipped around the world. Adding skateboards to that system will give it economies of scale that no other publisher could enjoy --  resulting in the kind of big margins that Activision management demands.