Tony Hawk fans recreate skateboard video game in real life

13 September 2020, 20:04

A screengrab from a YouTube video imitating a Tony Hawk video game
A screengrab from a YouTube video imitating a Tony Hawk video game. Picture: PA

‘I would really love if Tony Hawk gets to see this video,’ said Eric Ward.

A group of skateboarding enthusiasts have recreated Tony Hawk’s famous video game series in real life.

Skateboarder Nick Heflin, 24, and behind-the-camera pair Eric Ward, 26, and TJ Kolesnik, 27, have earned more than 100,000 upvotes on discussion website Reddit with their video “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater in real life”.

Mr Ward, from California, said he wanted to produce something fun during a difficult time, with 2020 dominated so far by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I wanted to deliver a glimpse of the past and help people realise we can still have some fun during these tough times,” he told the PA news agency.

“I heard about the new Tony Hawk Pro Skater game being released this month and I’ve always had this cool idea of overlaying video game graphics on top of real footage.

“My only goal was to recreate that feeling of happiness playing this timeless game on a Saturday morning without a care in the world.”

The recreated live version sees Mr Heflin complete a number of tricks and challenges, accumulating points and gathering the letters to spell “SKATE” while on his board.

The video also runs through a number of style options such as hats, shirts and sunglasses.

A screengrab from a YouTube video imitating a Tony Hawk video game
(Nick Heflin/@nheflin, Eric Ward/@ericjamesward, TJ Kolesnik/@teejkolesnik)

“Personally, I would really love if Tony Hawk gets to see this video and wants us to recreate this video with him,” Mr Ward said.

“I want us to meet Tony and give him something of value like he gave the entire world with his series of timeless video games.”

By Press Association

More Technology News

See more More Technology News

Elon Musk

How Elon Musk’s influence has grown both online and offline in 2024

Hands holding the iPhone 16

How smartphones powered the AI boom in 2024

London skyline

US investor to snap up maritime AI specialist Windward for £216m

Donald Trump

How will a second Trump presidency impact the tech world in 2025?

Morning drone (002)

Drone project reaches ‘important milestone’ with final trial flights

Prime Minister hosts Chanukah reception

AI tech giants should not be subsidised by British creatives, Starmer signals

Dr Craig Wright arrives at the Rolls Building in London for the trial earlier this year (Lucy North/PA)

Computer scientist behind false Bitcoin founder claim sentenced for contempt

Google has been contacted for comment (PA)

ICO criticises Google over ‘irresponsible’ advertising tracking change

Some 22% of consumers have increased their use of second-hand shopping apps in the past three months (Depop/PA)

Millions of Britons earning average £146 a month on second-hand platforms

ChatGPT being used via WhatsApp

ChatGPT joins WhatsApp to allow anyone to access the AI chatbot

A Facebook home page on a laptop screen

Meta fined more than 250 million euro by Irish data commission following breach

Finger poised above WhatsApp app on smartphone

Ending use of WhatsApp is ‘clear admission’ Government was wrong, claim Tories

Phone with WhatsApp on the screen

Scottish Government to cease use of WhatsApp by spring, says Forbes

Open AI

OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT search engine tool to all users

Most people happy to share health data to develop artificial intelligence

Government launches consultation on copyrighted material being used to train AI

Debbie Weinstein

Google names UK executive as president for Europe, Middle East and Africa