Birdman Grounded

Skateboarding extraordinaire and world's most familiar man Tony Hawk has noted that a "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4" remake was on deck, but was ultimately canned when Activision merged developer Vicarious Visions into Blizzard.

As you'll recall, in 2020 Vicarious released its critically acclaimed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, rebuilding the two classic PlayStation titles from the ground up while maintaining 1:1 gameplay to the legendary original releases. The remake would go on to become the fast-selling entry in franchise history, raking in a million sales in just its first week of release. Naturally, this led fans to hope that both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4? would receive similar attention i??n the near future.

But, speaking on a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Twitch stream this past weekend, (as spotted by Okami Games), The Birdman himself has suggested that while further remakes were planned, the controversial merging of Vicarious Visions with Blizzard has most assuredly put paid to t??hat idea, and perhaps permanently.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVbpHqiwO4

"I mean, that was the plan, even up until the release date of this, [Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2]. We were going three and four, and then Vicar??ious got kind of absorbed and they were looking for other developers and then it was over," explained Hawk. "I wish I could say we had something in the works, but you know Vicarious Visions kind of got disbanded and Activision's going through all their stuff, so I don't know what's next."

At the time, Activision came under heavy criticism from the gaming community, who saw the Vicarious merger as a sign that creativity and variety was being reduced in favor of getting every studio behind company cash cows franchises such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Around the same time, Sony had begun its own studio consolidation program, merging multiple smaller teams into support squads for itself and The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog.

Of course, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise is an enduring and high?ly successful series, if one mired in its own ongoing corporate con?troversy. So never say never. Still, it seems that The Birdman may have taken his final flight, at least in the digital realm.

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Their Twitter account seems to be dead from here on out

While the Vicarious Visions Blizzard merger situation has been in the books for a while, it's actually official this week. On April 12 the company tweeted out that they've "officially merged with Blizzard Entertainment," and will "remain in Albany, NY, and [will be] fully dedicated to Blizzard games." As a reminder, they're actually "Blizzard Albany" now.

Again, this was in the works for some time, but it's another thing to see them go quietly into the night. Their Twitter account held an Extra Life event back in November, and they were promoting Diablo II: Resurrected for most of the fourth quarter of 2021. But after "inviting fans to follow the official ??Blizzard Entertainment Twitter account," it seems like the last semblance of Vicarious Vision's company identity is offic??ially gone.

I'm going to pour one out yet again figuratively for Vicarious Visions. While they got their start in the late '90s working on portable licensed games, they made their mark on the industry in various ways. They were one of the several studios working on the Skylanders series, and managed to craft some interesting Destiny content as a support studio. They were just getting started as a remaster/remake operation with the well-received Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 projects when the Blizzard merger news came. And of course, they handled the similarly successful Diablo II: Resurrected. To say they were cut down in their prime is an un??derstatement.

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Studio to be renamed in transition process

According to a report from Polygon, Vicarious Visions is set to lose its studio name as part of the developer's merger into Blizzard Entertainment. The Tony Hawk developer is to become a support arm for the World of Warcraft studio presently.

Polygon's report cites employees at Vicarious Visions, who claim that they were told of the name change in a "ligh??t and quick" meeting earlier this week. While the studio's new name has not been officially revealed, the Vicarious Visions employees have posited that they expect to be renamed "Blizzard Albany", in keeping with the umbrella company's naming conventions for its satellite studios.

"For all of the leadership's talk about? being more transparent in response to the lawsuit and resulting fiasco, the fact they decided to blinds?ide us all with this feels about as far from transparent as you can get," said one employee.

Vicarious Visions was reassigned to Blizzard Entertainment by publisher Activision in January of this year. The move came as a surprise to fans following the studio's excellent releases Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2. The team, which consists of around 200 employees will work on providing support to Blizzard products ??going forward. No staff layoffs are expected at this time, which is something of a relief for the talented developer.

Activision and Blizzard Entertainment remain embroiled in ongoing lawsuits with the State of California and the Department of Employment and Housing (DFEH) over accusations of harassment, discrimi?nation, and a gener??al toxic work environment for Blizzard employees. A Californian judge recently denied the publisher's efforts to pause the lawsuit. Earlier this week, it was announced that the annual Blizzcon gathering would not be taking place this year.

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Vicarious Visions was not implicated in recent lawsuit

Vicarious Visions, the development studio behind Diablo II: Resurrected, has suggested that fans "Do what they feel is right" in regards to purchasing the upcoming release. The comments were made during an interview with Axios Gaming.

The developer is, of course, referring to the current controversy surrounding publisher Activision Blizzard, who is embroiled in a lawsuit with the state of California over allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination within the World of Warcraft studio's walls. Vicarious Visions, developers of Diablo II: Resurrected, were not specifically named in the investig?ation, nor the adjoining lawsuit, but understand the mor?al ramifications attached to purchasing the title.

"It was definitely very troubling to hear these types of things," said design director Rob Gallerani, referring to the allegations. "And? we really wanted to support our colleagues and our co-workers." Gallerani also no??ted that the lawsuit had caused the studio to look inward at its own employee behavior, reaching out to the team for feedback on what standards could be improved for the Vicarious Visions workforce.

"We heard a lot of really positive th?ings, but I don't think that we ever get a pass on that," said Gallerani. "We always need to keep asking."

Diablo II: Resurrected will be the first release from Activision Blizzard since the Californian Department of Employment and Fair Housing (DEFH) filed suit against the publisher back in July. The lawsuit, which follows a two-year investigation into the company, alleges that a culture of misogynistic and other discriminatory behavior exists at the studio, resulting in the frequent harassment and abuse of women employees, i?mpromptu and obnoxious "hard-drinking" sessions in-house, and an imbalance of pay and workload between team members.

Since the suit was filed, Activision Blizzard employees arranged a walkout to protest both the studio's behavior and its response to the lawsuit, while several high-ranking employees have either left or been ousted from the company. Activision chose to remove its branding from the early marketing for the upcoming Call of Duty Vanguard, (a move the publisher called "a creative choice"), only to reinstigate it a month later. Fans have called for a boycott of Activision Blizzard products, while some media outlets have chosen not to cover the studio's games until definitive change is ??ef?fected at the company.

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Switch style

The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remasters are finally making their way to Ni?ntendo Swit?ch, so yes, you'll soon be able to ride switch on the Switch.

Activision announced today that last year's great remaster of the first two Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games is coming to Nintendo Switch on June 25. This will be the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to debut on the Switch,  and it's arr??iving with everything included: all original levels, skaters, and the sick tracks.

Grab your board and #NintendoSwitch, and get ready to drop in to @TonyHawktheGame 1+2 on June 25th!

Skate through all the classic levels with some of your favorite pro skaters and a wh?ole lot more?.

🛹: //t.co/H4HKkmgysa pic.twitter.com/WBUMpz7CDV

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 5, 2021

According to the Nintendo eShop page, the Switch version will also have Create-A-Park and Create-A-Skater, as well as online multiplayer and leaderboards. The GIF in the tweet above also shows the game in action, and it looks fairly smooth. Hopefully the transition to Nintendo Switch holds up well, because I don't think you'll need to twist my arm to get me to play some Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the go.

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Now you see the year 2000, now you don't

_{[Narrated by Dan Vincent]}

There is a part of my head, some reptilian section of my brain, that just loves watching numbers go up. It finds joy in methodically kiting and whittling down enemies, clearing the area of loot, an??d moving on to the next; like a farming simulator for pillaging and plundering.

Because of that, Diablo should be right up my alley. And while I've enjoyed a? fair bit of time with the third installment of the series, I have only the faintest memories of Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction. Diablo II: Resurrected felt like the right opportunity to revisit those distant blobs of memory, and u?nderstand better the reverence that fans ?hold for this particular dungeon-crawler.

On?? boot-up, I thought it looked pretty nice. There were all the old sights and sounds, a campfire and a ring of adventures gathered around it. I could only pick from three specific characters: the Barbarian, the A?mazon, or the Sorceress. Obviously, I picked the one that launches fireballs from her hands, and set off.

It didn't take long for me to start using those fireballs either, because Diablo II really drops you into the thick of things. After a few short paragraphs of expository text, you're given free reign to wander out from the makeshift camp that's been established and start slaying monsters. It might seem sparse by modern standards, but there's a certain degree of reverence I hold for this. Diablo II knows what you came here to do, and it isn't going to take several tutorial missions and guid?ed segments to get you there.

As I wandered around the plains outside the encampment, blasting Fallen monsters and irate undead, everything was certainly enjoyable. Most of my points were going into making my Fire Bolt better, but that was okay; there's a lot of enjoyment to be had in the simplicity of early-game Diablo II, as I simply kite around enemies, dancing around?? attacks and slamming back potions.

It's easy to note the absence of Diablo III's additions, like the dodge roll. Other parts might feel a little arcane, like playing inventory Tetris, but they fit—being forced to manage all the gear I was picking up and decide between a club I could sell for gold or a charm that gives me bonuses when it's in my pack is a fun little decision to make in the heat of the moment. Inventory space made me realize how easy I had it with the console version of Diablo III, and now the older Diablo is giv??ing me a newfound appre??ciation for a well-managed backpack.

Really, the magic of this remaster is in one single keystroke. For a solid 30 minutes, I had enjoyed Diablo II: Resurrected as it's presented. But by pressing the G key, I could swap the game back to its original look and feel. Up until that point, I thought Diablo II: Resurrected looked like Diablo II, and then the G key remi?nded me what&nb??sp;Diablo II really looked like back in the year 2000.

Good lord. It's a magic trick, and a good one at that. Other games, like the excellent Command & Conquer remaster and Halo: The Master Chief Collection, have offered options that let you swap between the new and original graphics, and it's just as strik??ing, if not more so, here.

The work done by Blizzard and Vicarious Visions—who developed last year's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remakes—is incredible. It might sound cheesy, but Diablo II: Resurrected really does look like you remember Diablo looking. The disparity is easy enough to show in side-by-side comparisons, but seeing it in action is really wonderf?ul.

As I blew through more que??sts in Act 1, I found myself constantly hitting the G key to see the differences. Areas morphed, enemies changed, but all of it remained structurally similar. It's the same geography, the same experience, but it looks altogether different thanks to this aesthetic revision. I almost died a few times just because I saw a named enemy running at me and immediately started graphics-swapping instead of running.

Also, death! It happens a lot more often in Diablo II. Aside from not having a dodge roll, Diablo II: Resurrected just feels altogether more challenging in a good ?way. Early fights saw me chugging magical concoctions just to keep up my Fire Bolt spam, as I ran circles around a horde that would strike me down if I stopped for more than a second. It never felt like too much though, and once I got more accustomed with the way I should be allocating my stats, fights kept up a steady balance of tough-but-fair.

Really, Diablo II: Resurrected feels like a good example of what to change and keep the same about an old game when remastering it. The gameplay that made Diablo II such a standout in the first p??lace remains, and it's just as compelling as it was two decades ago. Meanwhile, the updated g?raphics can make it feel all new, and offering the ability to time-travel to the original look and back adds an extra bit of fun, either for curious newcomers or nostalgic veterans.

Diablo II: Resurrected was already on my radar as a means to fill in a barely-formed hole in my gaming memory. Now, after spending a couple hours with its opening areas and experiencing the joy of blasting Fire Bolts in modern resolutions, I'm even more intrigued. As an historical record, it's a mark of how different gaming is from 2000, and what Diablo IV could look like in the future. But for the gameplay, it's a testament that Diablo II still withstands the test of time.

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