Skate - John Rattray AU Interview

The location? The Monster Skate Park at Sydney Olympic Park. The scene? A final build of the game, a massive vert ramp and an indoor set-up. The people? A handful of Aussie game journos, some - myself included - clutching boards, and John Rattray, one of the pro skaters featured in Skate. The outcome? A realisation, as I watched John work the park, effortlessly landing in manuals, popping 360 flips and hitting big airs, that I was about to be completely shamed, puttering about the course. And I was. Thankfully, John didn't hold it against me, and we sat down for a chat about the game and skateboarding in general.

IGN AU: To me, Skate feels incredibly authentic, but I'm only someone who has skated on and off over the years, never getting particularly good at it. As a professional who lives and breathes skateboarding, what's your take on the game?

John Rattray: I like the way that the game functions, the way that you have to learn to do basic tricks first, and work from there, so it gives you a good understanding of the progression of skateboarding from a realistic perspective. And you don't have to pull muscles, break ankles, rehab ligaments, any of that stuff, so that's nice too.

IGN AU: Have you played many other skateboarding games in the past?

John Rattray: I've played the classic, the Birdman's game.

IGN AU: How do you think Skate stacks up against those games?

John Rattray: I like Skate better obviously, because I'm biased.

IGN AU: Being in it and all.

John Rattray: Yeah. I think that the guys that have developed it have gone to painstaking lengths to make it realistic and, y'know, give you a sense of what it is to learn to skate, so I think they've achieved those objectives admirably… I also like the diversity of the people from the skateboard industry that they've picked out; a little quirky group of people, rather than just the top guys, the most well-known pros, which was previous skate games.

IGN AU: So how did you come to be in the game? Did the team approach you directly?

John Rattray: I think Danny Way helped them put the team together. He thought I should be in it, for some reason. (laughs).

IGN AU: Is it strange seeing yourself in a game? Have you played as yourself?

John Rattray: Yeah, when I went to the offices in Vancouver and played the game a little bit, I played with myself. I'm sure that's a classic gaming joke.

IGN AU: Did you get hair on your palms or anything after that?

John Rattray: No, nothing like that. It was just odd. It seemed that I could actually skate better in the cyber world than I can in real life. I don't know if that was concerning or what.

IGN AU: How well do you think they captured your likeness? Do you think it really looks like you? Were you like 'well, I should have a bigger package downstairs', for instance?

John Rattray: Yeah I don't know. I think that maybe you should be my mirror. I can't really answer that. What do you think?

IGN AU: You're a handsome devil in the game, I'll give you that much.

John Rattray: Well at least I've got that. That was nice of them.

IGN AU: Did you do any motion capture for the game?

John Rattray: No, I think it was PJ Ladd and a couple of other dudes who did the motion capture and they based everything off that… I think my role in the game is reasonably small, I'm not really sure.

IGN AU: That was going to be my next question. Are you one of the guys just standing around, waiting to dispense a challenge?

John Rattray: There's a skate spot, and it's a pool, and I'm skating the pool. You have to go, find the pool, then we skate together a little bit I think. And then I maybe will suggest to you that you should grind over, from the light, right over the death box, maybe do a frontside standup grind. And once you learn to do that - you have to learn to pump the transition and to get into the grind position - then once you do that, it unlocks the spot and you can go back to the spot as much as you want and mess around there.

IGN AU: Do you do anything else in the game? Take part in comps for instance?

John Rattray: Yeah, I think that there's certainly a downhill street race in it that everybody's in.