Skateboarding in the Living Room

When I picked up this birthday present (for my husband, a skateboarder & gamer) I had no idea that I was purchasing a Yves Behar design....but but I was. This new controller (just launched yesterday - we preordered) looks and feels like a skateboard sans wheels and makes your carpet into a full fledged skatepark.

Designed by Behar, it comes packaged with the new Tony Hawk Ride game and is available for the Wii and Xbox 360. It is equipped with motion sensors that allow you to control the game as you would with a "real" skateboard, by pushing off for speed, tilting the board and shifting your weight to steer and do tricks.

After dinner last night, we all gave it a go and following some back and forth about the best way to get it set up (my son liked regular style, my husband rides goofy foot) we were doing the "Ride" versions of ollies and flip tricks while skating down the L.A. river.

This is by far a much more physical controller than any we've tried before, including the Wii Fit balance board. We shifted the coffee table and side chairs out of the playing zone completely as we realized that we were veering somewhat wildly around the carpet while virtually skating, although we're hoping to gain a little bit more control as we improve our skills - I'm guessing we need to get a lot more mellow about it all to improve our skating!

I love this new era of gaming, where the whole experience is designed to allow you to enjoy the physicality of the action along with the challenge of the game. It is similar to Rock Band (another favorite in our home), where part of the fun is that you feel like a drummer or guitarist because you are "rocking out" while playing. It adds another dimension of gameplay when you take on the physical mannerisms of the character you are inhabiting while playing, be it a Beatle or a pro skateboarder.

Things we liked: