Tony Hawk HD Deets

Activision has confirmed that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD will come out on PC later this summer. While the Xbox Live Arcade version comes out on July 18 as part of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade, the PSN and PC versions will hit a few weeks after – exact release dates to be announced soon.

The single-player campaign in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD will feature a combination of all-new game modes alongside some of the classics. Fans of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground will be pleased to see that Hawkman has made a return: a game mode where players fly around levels collecting a series of colored pellets before time runs out (think Pac-Man on skateboards). A brand-new mode to the series is Big Head Survival, where players have a head that's constantly growing and the only way to stop the swelling is to perform tricks before it gets too big and explodes. Throw in Free Skate and a never before seen list of PROjectives, new, harder objectives unlocked upon completing the game's original objectives, and there's plenty to keep gamers coming back for more.

Beyond career mode, online play offers its own assortment of specific game modes. Trick Attack is the classic, two minute battle where the player with the highest score as time runs out reigns victorious. Old favorite Graffiti mode also returns and gives players two minutes to "tag" as many objects as they can by performing tricks on them. Making its online debut is Big Head Elimination, a hilarious game mode where players will have to perform tricks to shrink their ever-growing heads and keep their noggins intact longer than their opponents. Free Skate is another online mode and allows players to skate around openly and practice tricks without any goals or time restraints.

Also, to clear up some speculation: You can do manuals as part of trick combos in THPS HD. Given the fact that this game combines the best gameplay from THPS1 and THPS2, reverts will not work as part of trick combos in the initial launch of THPS HD as that mechanic was not introduced until THPS3. However, reverts will work in the post-release DLC for the THPS3 levels, as those levels were originally designed to accommodate this.

Two new slow-motion videos of the game have been released, one of street legend and THPS veteran Eric Koston getting burly on the helicopter in the Hangar, and the other a Downhill session with new school dominator Chris Cole. These videos were produced to show the technical nature of what goes into linking a few epic tricks in THPS HD.  The HD sure makes slow motion tricks look pretty.