Been waiting a while to share this one. First, some background. 1UP Presents is the bimonthly print magazine of 1UP.com, but unlike traditional magazines — which sport advertisements, are sold at newsstands, and typically offer subscriptions — it can only be purchased online, with each issue printed on demand by HP when ordered. Unfortunately, all those things combine to make the issues pretty expensive compared with typical magazines, which probably limits its audience a bit. And the third issue is the final one.

I’m very pleased to have a large feature in this issue, in part because it’s such a great issue and (short-lived) publication, but also because of how much work I put into the article. My article, The Tony Hawk Experiment, is located on pages 56-63, and it details the behind-the-scenes happenings from the development of Tony Hawk Ride and Tony Hawk Shred, the two peripheral-based series entries that landed with a thud, weren’t strong sellers (this is a disputed point, based on who you ask), and didn’t leave a very strong impression on players, especially fans of the older games. (Flashback: I reviewed Tony Hawk Ride for GameSpy back in 2009.)

For my feature, I spoke with several people who worked at Chicago-based developer Robomodo, as well as a couple at publisher Activision, to chronicle the conception, creation, marketing, and release of both games. It starts with the genesis of the studio following the closure of EA Chicago (where the principals previously worked) and where the idea spawned from, and then goes through the twists and turns of development on Ride and creation of the skateboard controller, as well as the iffy PR decisions and poor reviews upon release. From there, the article moves into Shred, as the developer tried to improve the experience, even bringing in a “skateboarding physicist” to improve the controls. But as we saw, Activision opted not to market the game to a core audience and didn’t really show it to the gaming press, and the eventual release (last fall) came and went. Robomodo was hit with layoffs, the franchise was put on hold, and that’s where we currently stand. My article unveils the fact that the team was working on a third such peripheral-based Tony Hawk title, but the layoffs came and the project never went into full production.

I’m also based in Chicago, and was a die-hard fan of the series as a teen, so I felt like I had a personal stake in the subject — but I knew this would be a difficult nut to crack. Folks rarely want to look back on and speak honestly about things widely regarded as a failure, especially when it’s a big corporate brand. As such, most of my interviews for the piece were done using “anonymous” sources: current or former employees of the developer or publisher who couldn’t or didn’t want to speak on the record due to potential retribution or bad feelings. It’s not the most ideal situation, as I’d prefer to pair names to opinions, but it’s the way this article had to get done, and I’m really proud of the outcome and the surprising tidbits and revelations that came out along the way.

And while both Activision and Robomodo declined official comment for the article, I did get an approving note from Robomodo’s president after he read the article last week, which was gratifying in the knowledge that I’d done a touchy topic justice. When I started stringing together interviews for the article, it was clear that some people wondered whether I was preparing a smear piece on the games. That’s not my M.O. at all, nor is it that of the publication I wrote it for. I just hoped to shed some light on a couple games that probably haven’t been given a lot of deep thought by most gamers, and I think the resulting piece is one of the best things I’ve done to date.

It’s a bummer that the print issue costs $23, and with shipping, you’re looking at a $30 purchase; which probably puts it out of the reach of most curious readers. While I can’t offer an objective pitch on the issue, I really do think it’s a worthwhile and well considered tome that’s worth the investment for fans of original reporting on video games. I see it as an equivalent kind of publication to Kill Screen, which I’ve also written for. Kill Screen tends to lean more towards personal and emotional pieces than typical game-centric writing (my own Kill Screen piece was about the way my wife related to a Japanese train simulator that featured the train she takes to work every day), but 1UP Presents — especially this last issue — similarly offers a one-of-a-kind collection of great writing you’re unlikely to find elsewhere, with suitably strong production values.

Luckily, the article will be available for free online sometime in December, and I’ll happily share it at that point. I very much want as many readers as possible to see this, and hope it generates some thoughtful discussion on the games. But if you’re interested in the print issue, definitely give that a look. Either way, I hope you’ll check out the piece. I’d do another article like that in a heartbeat, though with 1UP Presents completing its run with this release, I’ll need to consider where to potentially pitch such a piece for the best impact.