Apparently there is an activity that adults enjoy but most people think of as a toy, fad, or a phase to grow out of. Sound familiar? Although they both spin and have axles, I’m talking about yo-yos, not skateboards. Who knew there was a crossover? (Wait, isn’t that a yo-yo trick too?) Yo-Yo Nation is offering these limited edition skateboard and t-shirt combos featuring artwork “..based around a trick invented or pushed to the next level by the artist himself.” More pics and an amazing Hail Mary Gratuitous Tony Hawk Appearance after the jump.

Seriously. I had a hard enough time with Defender, so when Defender Stargate came out it was just too overwhelming. That’s how I feel with the video games these days. Too many button combinations to remember to be able to freaking enjoy playing. That’s why simple games like Guitar Hero are the best. Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam is available fro two platforms, Nintendo DS and more importantly in this case, The Nintendo Wii. Why? Because with the gyroscope motion sensitive controller you can use the involuntary muscle spasms and body movement to your advantage when pretending to skateboard. There’s a video showing how it works here. It’s actually kind of cool. That one guy might be related to Weird Al.

The marketing juggernaut for Tony Hawk’s Project 8 video game is already ramped up. Fileshack.com is a site devoted to all imaginable types of downloads concerning video games. In this case they they have a bunch of behind the scenes footage in the development of Tony Hawk’s Project 8. Project 8? How about behind the scenes footage of the guy who green lighted that name getting fired? I don’t think this footage is proprietary to the site though. You’ll have to endure multiple attempts and guilt trips from Fileshack.com to get you to sign up for an account and to get faster downloads. Whatever. Let me download it or not, quit making me jump through hoops. They have a bunch of videos on Project 8 (Genius!) available. The still above are from a motion capture session. Check it out.

Retarded UK video game magazine Edge declares Danny Way better than Tony Hawk. Well, at least it does in a short magazine graphic. The article is about an upcoming Danny Way video game called “Skate” which is also supposed to be Better than Tony Hawk.

And Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Hold on. I just had a terrible thought. The Tony Hawk Foundation did actually donate $1000 to Skaters For Public Skateparks in Portland. If that’s a typo, and the money actually went to the original acronym owners Skaters For Portland Skateparks, then we are in trouble. In any case. The squashed design above will be available (un-squashed) on T-shirts and possibly skateboards on opening day, October 14th, 2006. MC made it. He’s also got some more good pics of the park progress as does the original SPS.

Rounding out three gratuitous Tony Hawk posts in a row is this chronologically challenged bit on his appearance at the grand opening of the Missoula Montana skate park. Now that we’ve got an insider or two (Photo Credits: Top left – Bryan Southard Bottom – Chris Swan AKA Bone Man), I don’t have to poach pics from the newspaper web sites, but I will anyway. More pics and links, including The Grind That Never Was after the jump.

Did I say smite? I meant smiles on Montana. Man, when Tony comes to your town, better stop the presses and shoot that frontside grind. Especially if you have a Darth Vader helmet at your local park. What a great name for a newspaper – The Leader & The Advertiser. Also, please applaud the fake highligter marker effect.

Excuse me. The caption reads “…tries out a move…” which begs a few questions. What move did he try, and did he indeed like the move? Was he able to return the move without a receipt? Did he buy the extended warranty in case he had the misfortune to bust a move? Links and more after the jump.

This late 2004 press release is old news but I can’t find the NHS press release from June of this year online. Basically, NHS is supposed to distribute new exclusive skateboard helmets, including a new Tony Hawk signature model that was promised way back in 2004. Let’s hpe it looks like the one onthe far right. I don’t have a pproblem with Bell Helmets making a skateboard helmet. They’ve been making them for motorcycles for years. If you are going to wear one, you might as well pick one that works.

From 2001 in the heyday of the “Michael Jordan of Skateboarding” hype. This is a kids book which looks to be a dumbed down and probably cleaned up version of Hawk’s bio. For the kids… You know? Did you know that he made skateboarding a bona fide sport almost by himself?