Latest news with #Activision
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
'The Damage Has Been Done' – Bam Margera Won't Go Back to Jackass
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Skater and movie star Bam Margera has said that he's likely never going to feature in Jackass again, after a falling out with Jackass co-star Johnny Knoxville and director Jeff Tremaine during the production of Jackass Forever. Margera revealed the news in an interview with DBLTAP, where he talked about his physical and mental recovery after a long history of alcohol abuse in the spotlight, as well as his last-minute inclusion in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, a newly launched remake of the third and fourth games in the popular skater series. Bam Margera skating in the Suburbia level in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 Bam Margera skating in the Suburbia level in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 Activision The skater is best known for his contributions to Jackass, a long-running film series that sees people doing stupid things on camera — sometimes ending in bodily harm. It's a lot of high-octane slapstick fun, and while Margera was a mainstay of the cast for most of the series' history, he was absent from the most recent film, Jackass Forever. Margera says that he's unlikely to return to Jackass anytime soon after being cut out of the filming process for the film, which he says was "supposed to be us reuniting as a tribute" to Ryan Dunn, who worked alongside Margera and Knoxville on Jackass before his death in a car crash in 2011. "The damage has been done with that," Margera told DBLTAP. "To put me away in treatment and make me pay for it, and then secretly be filming the movie behind Hollywood's back, my back, and doing it without me. Something that I invented, and I get replaced by a guy named Poopies... Ryan Dunn's rolling over in his grave right now, saying, 'Why, Jeff? Why?' It was supposed to be us reuniting as a tribute, to get the band back together and create a cool thing in memory of Ryan Dunn, and now, what is it? It's not the same anymore, and you couldn't offer me enough money to be a part of that again." For now, at least, it sounds like Margera is more than okay with focusing on himself. He's been sober for over a year, he says in the interview, and he's turned his life around, picked skating up once more, and is finally in a place where he's having fun again. "Did I go to hell and back? Absolutely," he says in the interview. "But there was a point in time you could have told me that Metallica is playing across the street, and I have VIP passes. And I'd say, 'I don't feel like it. I've seen them before'. Everything made me bored. But when you get out of treatment after three years, everything becomes new and fun again. I'm in a convertible driving down the street with a pal listening to music. I'm at the beach having a coffee at a Starbucks outside. This is awesome. Everything became fun again." Bam Margera is available as a free unlockable character in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Is Here—And Tony Turned His Office Into a Real-Life Level
The long-awaited Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 is officially out now, and you know The Birdman himself is celebrating the drop in a way only he could. Tony's team surprised him with a custom 'real-life level' inside his office—complete with goofy obstacles and nostalgic nods to classic challenges from the game (like a real-life secret tape). "Do not try this at home," Tony joked on Instagram. "Unless you have a rainbow rail and a lemon loaf." You'll see. Take a look: View the to see embedded media. 💻 💻 "Everything you loved is back," it mentions on the official THPS game website. "But revamped with more skaters, new parks, gnarlier tricks, eardrum shattering music, plus a whole lot more." From Bam Margera to Andy Anderson, Nora Vasconcellos to Jamie Foy, and countless others, the amount of new players is exciting in itself. But all the new levels do look pretty fun. The attention to detail is those who don't know, the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series was a game-changer when it dropped in 1999. It played a huge role in shaping skate culture and arguably introduced skateboarding to a global audience like nothing before it. Personally, I played both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 religiously when I was a kid. And even though I was already pretty obsessed with skating at the time, the game really amplified that obsession. Safe to say the new THPS 3+4 will have similar results. Welp, it's finally here. Visit for more info and start playing today! Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Is Here—And Tony Turned His Office Into a Real-Life Level first appeared on Skateboarding on Jul 11, 2025
Digital Trends
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 gets a visual upgrade but stays wonderfully familiar
The year was 2001, and I was flat on my back in the middle of the street after bailing hard from a failed ollie. Once I dusted myself off, I decided to try again, but in a safer, more digital aspect. Two decades ago, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 devoured my free time, and now the remake is back and doing the exact same thing. An excellent remake, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 brings two classic titles to a modern audience but adds little to the original experience in a way that leaves the game feeling curiously anachronistic. Recommended Videos THPS 3 remains largely untouched aside from a much-needed graphical update (my memory of how the game looked does not match reality). On the other hand, THPS 4 has been stripped down significantly; it no longer features a Career mode, and the larger, more open nature of its maps has been scaled back to fit the same two-minute gameplay timer as THPS 3. You can think of it like a level pack for the third game. In essence, THPS 3 + 4 is the same game with more levels, homogenized to fit a more streamlined experience. For series purists, this is a major downgrade. THPS 4 marked a turning point in the franchise, leading to later titles that were more open-world than the objective-focused gameplay of the first three. But if you want more of the same style of gameplay, the changes to THPS 4 are like a large cake: it's the same flavor, but there's more of it to enjoy. Dropping in to Canada felt like going home again, and revisiting Suburbia was like stopping by an old friend's house. Things looked a little different, but felt familiar and comfortable. All nine of the original THPS 3 levels made a comeback, but THPS 4 lost Carnival and Chicago, instead gaining three all-new maps: Waterpark, Movie Studio, and Pinball. These new additions make a near-perfect landing into the game with all the over-the-top shenanigans I would expect from a Tony Hawk level. Waterpark, with its empty, perfectly-shaped pools and endless grind-worthy slides, feels like such a natural fit that it's hard to believe it wasn't always there. But it's only familiar because I spent so much time with the franchise. For a newcomer to the series, the remake fumbles things. While a tutorial guides you through the basics, a full trick list is hidden inside the menu screen and divided into different sections. While that makes a certain amount of sense from an organizational perspective, it took far too long before I realized where it was. When most of the park goals include performing a specific trick, I turned to Google. The game would be better served by including a full trick list from the pause screen, in much the same way fighting games do. Every few levels is a heat, a set of three minute-long competitions between skaters where they're judged on performance and style. The game does a poor job of explaining how the system works. The key is to pull off a variety of tricks without bailing. Your overall total score, while important, doesn't have the same influence. You can rack up 50,000 points, but if you wiped out ten times while doing so, you're going to score low. The Game Mods options can lend a hand, though. You can turn on cheats that give you perfect balance during different tricks, ensure your Special bar is always full, and much more. Even with multiple cheats enabled, I struggled to beat some of the top performers. And I am fully aware it was a skill issue. What feels most out of place is the game's culture. When THPS 3 launched in 2001, it helped usher skateboarding culture to a wide number of people. It landed at a time when emo and pop punk bands exploded into the mainstream, with Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance dominating the airwaves. Many of the park-specific goals and the humor of THPS 3 + 4 feels like something you would find in an early 2000s movie, but it feels like it's missing something without the greater cultural context surrounding it. And it's hard to reconcile the soundtracks. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4 has more music than its original two games combined, but it isn't the same. Only six of the original 20 songs from THPS 3 made the cut, and a trifling four out of 35 returned from THPS 4. As glad as I am to hear Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades' playing while I grind a rail, the lack of The Ramones' 'Blitzkrieg Bop' leaves a glaring hole in the music. For the Tony Hawk franchise, its soundtrack is as iconic as the gameplay itself. To see such a massive change to the lineup is a bummer. I wouldn't have been opposed to new additions, but I found myself wishing old favorites would return. I only briefly looked into the multiplayer mode, but it seems promising. The Create-A-Park tool is sure to bring a lot of replayability to the game long after I've mastered (again) the single player modes. All in all, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4 provides a satisfying (and at times challenging) experience that feels fitting for modern gamers while still delivering a heaping blast of nostalgia for those of us who grew up with the franchise. The lack of the original soundtrack is a disappointment, but new players will find the added songs match the vibes of the game. The gameplay seems straightforward at first, but leaves a lot of depth for those who want to master every map and learn to push their score into the millions. Plus, playing a skateboarding Doomguy was just plain fun.
The Verge
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
The new Tony Hawk remaster is a good sign for Switch 2 ports
One of the pleasant surprises of the Switch 2 launch was how well the hardware managed big games not made by Nintendo. It's something the company's underpowered consoles have often struggled with, but the Switch 2 is a good place to play technical showpieces like Cyberpunk 2077 — though that originally debuted in 2020. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, which is launching simultaneously on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and both versions of the Switch, makes for an interesting test case of what's possible on the Switch 2 with a new game. I've been playing it on both the PS5 and Switch 2, and from what I've seen, the remake bodes well for the future of Nintendo's newest console. For the uninitiated, the latest Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is a sequel of sorts. In 2020, Activision released a remaster of the original two games in the iconic series, maintaining the tone and structure but also modernizing the experience with updated graphics and controls, online features, and an expanded cast featuring the current generation of skateboarding stars. It did a remarkable job of keeping the best parts of the games while also making them feel current. THPS3+4 does the same thing, but for the third and fourth entries in the series. There aren't too many surprises if you've played the original, though THPS4 has a more rigid structure compared to the open-ended nature of the original version. Performance is an important aspect of any skateboarding game. These titles are all about linking tricks together in creative ways, which can be hard to do when the game chugs or the frame rate stutters. So the thing that struck me the most with the Switch 2 version is just how smooth it is. It may sound boring, but the best part about it is that it just works. I haven't experienced any technical issues in handheld mode, and that's true whether playing in a simple indoor stage or something more elaborate, like the light-up show that is the Tokyo course from THPS3. It seems that the developers at Iron Galaxy — who have taken over the series after the original studio, Vicarious Visions, unceremoniously became a Blizzard studio — prioritized substance over style, and it was the right choice. THPS3+4 looks fine on the Switch 2, but the main difference you'll notice on a platform like the PS5 is how much more detailed everything is. The backdrops feel more lively, though you might not notice it so much as you're speeding through levels. The biggest difference is the characters. On the PS5, skaters like Tony Hawk and Aori Nishimura look like themselves; on the Switch 2, they're slightly blurry approximations of their real-world counterparts. The differences between platforms are largely cosmetic, though, which makes them much easier to tolerate, even in a genre where style is an incredibly important part of the experience. I'll note that the various decks and clothes you can unlock still look pretty good on the Switch 2, so it's not like you're totally sacrificing the cool skater vibes. More importantly, THPS has always been an excellent series to play on the go — the Game Boy Advance iterations of the franchise have no right being as good as they are — and that remains true here, where the short runs are perfectly suited for portable play. That being said, while THPS3+4 is a good showcase for the Switch 2, it's not exactly a 'next-gen' game. It's a rare experience that was built to span multiple generations of hardware from all the major platform holders. So it's not exactly a sign that Grand Theft Auto VI or other tentpole blockbusters will make their way to the Switch 2. But the latest Tony Hawk game at least shows that the console won't always be left behind when it comes to the newest releases.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Video game actors' strike officially ends after AI deal
Video game actors have voted to end a year-long strike over artificial intelligence (AI) protections. About 2,500 members of US union SAG-Aftra were involved in the action against 10 of the biggest companies in the industry, including Activision and Electronic Arts. Both sides had spent months hashing out a deal over the use of AI to replicate an actor's performance - and "guardrails" to prevent this from happening. The union said 95% of those who voted had backed the agreement, which also included changes to pay and health and safety protections. Both sides had already been locked in negotiations for about 18 months when the strike began last July. At the time, SAG-Aftra said they had agreed on 24 out of 25 disputed areas but the sticking point was using AI to replicate human performances. The big barrier was a disagreement over motion capture actors whose work was treated as "data" rather than as a performance. In a statement released after the vote to end the strike, the union said a new contract secured "consent and disclosure requirements for AI digital replica use". Performers can also withdraw consent in the event of future strikes, it said. Audrey Cooling, spokesperson for the video game companies negotiating with SAG-Aftra, said they were "pleased" members had approved a new Interactive Media Agreement. She said it included "historic wage increases, industry-leading AI protections, and enhanced health and safety measures for performers". Ashly Burch is a video game actor known for her performances as Tiny Tina in the Borderlands Series and Chloe in adventure game Life is Strange. Speaking to BBC Newsbeat after the strike was suspended so members could vote, Ashly said performers didn't want a total ban on AI in game development. "We just don't want to be replaced by it," she said. She said AI was "arguably a bigger threat to voice and movement performers" than actors in film and TV, and the strike's main goal was guarantees around "consent, transparency, and compensation". "Basically you have to get our consent to make a digital replica of us," she said. "You have to tell us how you're going to use it, and then you have to compensate us fairly." One of Ashly's best-known characters - Aloy from Sony's Horizon series - became a talking point during the strike when an AI-powered prototype of the character leaked. She said the response from fans to the model - which showed the character responding to prompts from a player - was reassuring. "To a person, everyone was like, 'I don't want AI performances in my games,," she added. Ashly has also worked on live-action projects such as Apple TV show Mythic Quest and her recent web series I'm Happy You're Here, focused on mental health. She said both reminded her of what human beings can bring to a role. "And that, to me, as a person that loves games and loves art, is the big risk of AI, that we're going to lose out on really interesting, evocative performances." The video game actors' strike did not affect the entire industry and mostly applied to workers and projects based in the US. And unlike the all-out 2023 Hollywood strike, video game performers were still able to work with companies that signed an interim addressing concerns over AI. Veteran voice actors Robbie Daymond and Ray Chase, who set up their own games studio, tell BBC Newsbeat the arrangement allowed them to continue work on their debut release, Date Everything! The game features a cast of roughly 70 well-known performers who were able to work on the project thanks to the interim deal. But Robbie, who's appeared in Final Fantasy 15 and various anime series, says it has been a tough year for performers in the US. "This was a long strike, and it has been heavily impactful for everybody involved," he says. Robbie says he is aware of people whose income took a hit in an industry where many performers do short stints on multiple projects. "I just hope people understand that when a strike goes on this long and people are talking about how serious it is for them, that it has a real human impact," he says. Video games strike rumbles on in row over AI Esports World Cup: The contest teams can't afford to miss Xbox producer tells staff to use AI to ease job loss pain Ray points out that voice actors had the option of taking work outside of video games, but the strike was especially hard for actors who specialise in motion capture. "If you came out to Los Angeles to be a motion capture actor, then your entire existence is being threatened by AI," he says. "Those guys are heroes for sticking out this long." Ray also points out that the strike will have affected video game developers if they weren't able to hire actors as easily. "Strikes are never easy on on workers. They're never easy on anybody," he says. "We're just so happy that we've found a peaceful resolution, for sure." Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
