ea’s skate 2 integrates and creates skate stuff
Posted by Benny Torres | January 13, 2009
Skate 2 releases later this month – and some pretty smart product integrations are starting to become apparent. First thing that caught my eye was these fantastic looking Etnies RMV “Skate 2″ shoes. Although I’m not a huge skater (although I do miss longboarding) I am a huge shoe guy. I think these things manage to represent the Skate franchise well without looking garish or over the top. I’d certainly buy them – and I think my fellow bright-shoe fanatics are down the halls of Denuo would agree. But it doesn’t stop at skate shoes with Skate 2…
When I brought the shoes to the attention of Eric Bee – he pointed me to EA’s pre-order page for Skate 2. EA is featuring an edition of the game packaged with a limited, custom-designed skate deck by Control Skateboards. They’re charging $85 for the package – and only making 350 total. This could’ve turned into a very cheesy package – but EA dodged a bullet by pricing it moderately and making it extremely limited.
Both of these brands are, no doubt, integrated into the game itself. Although it’s nothing groundbreaking – both integrations are really well done. They keep their core audiences in mind while representing (and not selling out to) the larger Skate 2 brand. This kind of stuff will only help stoke the Skate 2 hype. And, perhaps more importantly, it helps EA continue to add credibility to the larger Skate 2 brand in the face of the Tony Hawk franchise. Well done.
