Skateboarding video games first made their way into the gaming charts in the middle of the eighties. Naturally, the ’80s were also a great time for skateboarding games and many titles with skateboard action were readily available for the home consoles. Since then, they have been witnessing many changes in their designs, gameplay, graphics, sound and a lot of other things. Today’s skateboarding games transform you into a professional skateboarder, providing complete freedom to create sick trick combinations and unique runs. Some of the skating games and their consoles are mentioned below.

Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland is available on X Box, Playstation and Gamecube, with an updated version for X Box 360 coming out and the versions for Gameboy and PSP on the way too. Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland’s gameplay is exactly the same as every other Tony Hawk video game. There are new tricks and control options. So the controls are slightly more difficult than on Underground II. But if you’ve played any of the other games, you will know what to do with this version. The controls for when you are off of your skateboard are also far better. You can jump, flip and climb to secret places. The game also features a BMX bike that you can jump on and ride. The bike controls are similar to the skateboard controls. So learning how to ride is not that hard. In classic mode, you get to play through six levels, doing all the things that you enjoyed doing back in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Following the success of ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding, the second installment known as ESPN X Games Skateboarding, dares gamers to get huge air and soar over the crowd in the half pipe in their quest for X Games glory. It features eight of the finest professional riders in the world including Bob Burnquist, Chris Senn, Kerry Getz, Carlos DeAndrade, Chad Fernandez, Rick McCrank, Colin McKay and Lincoln Ueda as well as the famous industry sponsors and equipment. Featuring over 12 high-intensity tunes from artists such as Linkin Park, New Found Glory and Voodoo Glow Skulls, ESPN X Games Skateboarding would be available on the PlayStation 2.

Backyard Skateboarding is the first skateboarding game in the Backyard Sports lineup. Its main focus is on entertaining kids. With this game, Backyard Sports has entered into a new field of extreme sports. You will be able to skate around a number of bright and sunny 3D environments to make breath-taking skateboarding tricks like kickflips, backslides, ollies and benihanas. There will be several kid-oriented features like Molasses Time which slows everything down, Tornado and Hot Chocolate. You can select your own skater among the 10 Backyard Kids or create your own as per your preference. In keeping with the series’ tradition of including recognizable stars, you can also play as a junior version of pro skater Andy Macdonald. There will be three game modes, including a tour mode, in which you can assemble sponsors and endorsements from companies like as Melonhead Helmets.

Dipping his wheels into every pavement has been the hallmark of Tony Hawk’s career. He has brought a pioneering spirit to the world of skateboarding, inventing just about half of the tricks in the book, and making a science out of judging skate parks.

A humanitarian, devoted to pushing the limits of human movement, the Birdman has been entertaining crowds with his moves and his team since the original Bones Brigade took the world by storm and set a whole new definition-and spelling-for the word “x-treme.”

The Birdman has been hosting Demolition Radio since its first airing on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Faction channel in July of 2004. Tony Hawk’s Demolition Skateboard Radio airs every Tuesday night, the centerpiece of a line-up geared specifically to the growing numbers of extreme sporting fanatics.

The Faction channel features shows by other top names in skate radio, like Jonny Mosely, Bam Margera and hard-rock queen Joan Jett. Featuring the latest in gritty punk, hip-hop and raw hard rock, the channel is an unabashedly aggressive audio mosh pit.

Skateboarding is usually associated with video, but sound is just as much an integral part of the experience, the friction of wheels scraping the curb, the lullaby of a half-pipe run back and forth, and of course the occasional wincing of a fallen soldier unable to suppress a scream. The rhythm of vert skating is perfectly suited to a variety of musical scores, but heavy beats seem to predominate, and the skating community almost universally prefer the punk, grunge rock, and hip-hop that goes so well with the defiant sport.

This skate radio show has become yet another first for the famous ground-breaker since being assimilated into Hawk’s top-selling American Wasteland skate emulator. Players can listen to show highlights while cruising the peril-ridden obstacle courses of Los Angeles.

The Birdman delivers his show from the field, in a small studio situated directly at the foot of the Boom Boom Huck Jam’s practice ramp in his California pleasure palace, and a natural magnet for extreme athletes of all breeds. Being in his element gives Tony Hawk a natural, settled feel, as he kibitzes about tricks, personalities and events with his trademark laid-back, surfer attitude and of course some of the most entertaining guests in the action sports world.

Unlike mainstream sports radio coverage, which tends to involve third parties debating the merits of various corporate units, skate radio is an independent affair, generated in large part by the athletes themselves, who wear multiple hats, backward and forward, often acting in various capacities as filmmaker, musician, event promoter and spokesperson for a lifestyle which was created by the need for people to get off the sidelines and live life grinding the edge.

The Demolition Skateboard Radio Show is yet another reason why the Birdman is skating’s most visible pro, setting the tone for an independent athletic core that covers it’s own sport and leaves the corporate media eating dirt trying to beat the story coming directly from the Hawk’s mouth.

Some skateboard pros are paragons of dignity. And then there’s Bam Margera. The original Jackass has brought laughs, a disturbingly punk attitude, prankster antics, and down-and-dirty skateboard tricks to cable-enabled screens since MTV unveiled stupid tricks for the masses in 2000.

The innovative skate radio show jumped uncharted territory, combining obnoxious stunts and public harassment for the eager amusement of millions. The show become a hit, due mainly to the opportunity it presented viewers to witness self-inflicted violent mishaps occurring to the most foolhardy daredevils.

Margera got an early start in the art of self-destruction. His grandfather, seeing his potential, tagged him with his nickname because the toddler wouldn’t stop banging his skull into doors and walls.

The pattern would carry on to define Bam’s personality, both his strange success as a human crash test dummy and his personal problems, which have been varied and colorful. He’s been on both sides of the 911 call, facing weapons charges in connection with a set of brass knuckles. His story includes a sundered relationship with his long time girlfriend, which dissolved amidst accusations against her of burglary and vandalism, and an undignified addiction to the prescription stimulant Adderall.

Bam Margera is better known as street and stunt skater than a vert skater, although he’s garnered coveted sponsorships from some of the top brands in skateboarding, including Destructo Trucks, Electric Visual, Adio Footwear, and Element Skateboard. And he was the first street skater to land the legendary Loop in Phoenix.

Jackass evolved out of Bam’s personal production CKY (Camp Kill Yourself), a series of groundbreaking skate videos out of West Chester, Pennsylvania, which was also the name of his brother’s band. This video series set the stage for East Coast punk skaters to steal the scene from clean-cut sport skaters, proving that amazing tricks and stupid ones can be equally mesmerizing.

Having starred in MTV’s three Jackass movies and long-time cast member of the series, as well as directing, co-writing and starring in his own MTV shows Bam’s Unholy Union and Viva La Bam which he also produced. Bam Margera Productions, which was founded with the revenue from the first Jackass Movie in 2000, also produced Haggard: The Movie. With feet in both audio and video multimedia, his empire includes his own music production company, Filthy Note Records.

Skate Radio took a dangerous dive when Bam Margera got access to a daily microphone. Skating the edge of good taste, Bam fills the airwaves with hysterical tales of his bizarre exploits and humiliating bets among his elite crowd of slackers. The audience can’t get enough, of course, and a devoted core of loyal listeners keep their ears peeled to skateboarding’s Lenny Bruce comment on the world of the sport, stunts, and insanity in general.

RADIOBAM expresses an inebriated sense of humor and outlaw sensibility, and was almost cancelled when amidst controversy related to on-air solicitation of prostitution. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the hours with Bam Margera remain extremely popular among both the skateboarding crowd and those who merely like pithy, no-holds-barred radio madness.

                        What you put on your feet is as important as what you put under them. One of the oldest names in skateboard accessories, Vans has been putting style to the toe with world-class footwear for skaters since the very beginning of the sport.

 Van Doren Rubber Company founded by Paul Van Doren in 1966 has evolved into Vans Skateboard Shoes. Based in southern California, Vans began by filling custom-made sport shoe orders and make them right there in the local store. Originally, you actually could watch your shoe being made for you, as business picked up, the gap between order and delivery widened to a few days.

 Vans created the waffle shoe, with vertical, zig-zag lines on the sole of the shoe for grip when they noticed that skateboarders would crack the diamond patterned sole very quickly.

 The brand is embraced by die-hards not only in skateboarding, but among related extreme spots like surfing and snowboarding. Having sponsored events relating to punk and ska music has helped earn the loyalty of those who mix their music and locomotion. The company has sponsored several punk and ska tours, as well as being the subject of love serenades such as “The Vans Song,” by the Suicide Machines and “Vans” from the rap group, “The Pack”.

 The simple four-letter logo is an urban icon of the sports-rock lifestyle that infuses the West Coast, and the brand sponsors an impressive team of pros in not only skateboarding, but BMX biking and surfing as well. The “Warped Tour” has been a must-attend on the agenda for extreme sports enthusiasts and music fans since it was launched in 1995.

 Vans skateboard shoes are synonymous with Southern California, where every other young foot is clad in them. Hollywood star and surfing aficionado Sean Penn added to the brand’s fame, sporting the shoes prominently in his classic role as “Jeff Spicoli” in the comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

 Vans was also prominently featured in the ground-breaking documentary “Dog town and the Z-boys,” which received about $800,000 in financial aid from Vans. The line-up of both pro and amateur skaters has featured a relationship with some of the biggest names in skating, like Stacey Peralta, while today’s team lists such move-masters as Bucky Lasek, Geoff Rowley and Tony Trujillo.

 Vans Skateboard shoes now come in the widest variety of styles, from slip-on and low-cut to boot. The company has been through many changes, alienating many loyalists when they ventured into the arenas of football and baseball shoes. Facing bankruptcy in the eighties brought Van Doren to the edge of solvency, and the company was purchased by McConval-Deluit, a corporate investor who took the Vans public in 1991.  The company is now owned by VF Corporations, a multi-national specializing in lines which appeal to youth culture.

 With a high-top design and skate-optimized sole, Vans are the shoe of choice for serious skaters, who naturally enough wear them all day long. After all, you never know when you might have a minute to hit that stairwell or find a phatty downhill.

                    Some boards are so responsive, so intuitive, that the skater can trust their deck to be there on time no matter how many flips or Fakie are on the agenda for each ride up the quarter pipe. When you want to fly on pure Force like a Jedi, perhaps you’ll find that it’s time to fly Blind.

             In many ways, the history of great skate companies is the story of personal disputes among the integral personalities who rose to become the first stars of the sport. It almost wouldn’t be right if cocky Blind Skateboard did not emerge from such divisive origins.

 Mark Gonzales founded Blind Skateboard Company after splitting with Vision Skateboards, choosing the moniker as a backhand slap to to his old label. Blind Skateboards has been  a full-service skate company since 1989, manufacturing premium trucks, bearings, pads and helmets, wheels, decks, clothes and other accessories crucial to the lifestyle of the skater.

 Like many successful independent skateboard ventures, Blind has since been acquired by industry giant Dwindle Distribution, who manages some of the most prominent brands in skating equipment.

 Blind Skateboards, with the death-head logo adorning every board, is particularly favored by the dark skater contingent, especially punks and metalheads. The outfit boasts an impressive roster of both pro and amateur pipe-riders, featuring some of the hottest vert skaters on the circuit, such as Ronnie Creager and Jake Brown. Past riders have included such luminaries as Guy Mariano, Danny Way, and Jason Lee.

 The company has a bizarre sense of humor that plays especially well in a trail from their popular DVD What If? This video features Blind team’s professional skaters escaping from a pair of Keystone Cops on their decks, evading the hapless flatfoots in a hilarious sequence that comes to a gut-busting climax when Jake Brown, receiving a quick payoff of folded cash from Ronnie Creager, tackles the official skateboard-riding cop and breaks off the hot pursuit.

All of these smirking adult delinquents have something to smile about: riding for the outlaw skater who knows that a board is more than just a way to amaze yourself and your friends with defiance of gravity and other laws of physics…it can also be a way to get moving down the road in case your skating offends the enforcers of more local ordinances.

The original 2005 release of What If? contained a treat for those who were on time to pick up the Blind Video: Video Days. Blind’s legendary indie production from back in the day features founder Gonzales, Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson and Jason Lee, all captured by skate videographer extraordinaire Spike Jonze, co-creator of MTV’s popular show Jackass. The 1991 Video Days production is an essential piece of skating lore, bringing together these classic names for  a truly magnificent parade of old-school talent and lighthearted madness.

 Blind Skateboards is a nihilistic, streetwise label for the urban vert skater who doesn’t need to see where they’re going to know exactly where they want the board to take them.

Since the first video tape recorder was sold in 1951, reality has appeared directly on screens, first in grainy black-and-white, later in color. Today, with digital cameras as common as wristwatches, as websites such as MySpace and YouTube featuring user-contributed and controlled content, just about anyone with a laptop or cell-phone can upload clips from their lives to share with the entire world within minutes.

The art and science of skateboarding was forever revolutionized with the popularity of the home VCR. Released in 1965 “Skater Dater” is thought to be the first movie ever released which focused solely on skaters doing tricks. This revolutionary look at a relatively unknown sport was nominated for an Oscar in 1966 and also won the Golden Palm Award for the Best Short Film category in the same year.

These days it is a standard part of the promotion departments for many skate companies and shops to sponsor skateboarding teams and release skateboard videos of competitions and practice sessions. The availability of these videos represents a quantum leap in the art of skating instruction, making it possible for today’s skater to study directly under the tutelage of the finest athletes in the field. By watching these videos over and again, at different speeds and with the ability to pause those split-second movements, the 21st century skateboarding student can learn in a single afternoon skills which once took months to master.

Notable movie director Spike Jonze, cofounder of Girl Skateboards, has raised the stakes professional skateboard videos. Most well known for his role as co-creator of MTV’s Jackass, his Academy Award nominated film Adaptation, as well as the cult classic Being John Malkovich, Jonze directed Girl’s groundbreaking video Yeah Right! featuring trick skaters doing never-before documented moves captured on film by other skaters.

Famous original Zephyr team member Stacey Peralta has also tried his hand as a director of skateboard videos. Focusing on the history of the movement and evolution of styles more than specific technique tips, his documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, is one of the more significant entries in the field, covering the inside scoop on skateboarding’s key players and pioneering moments.

Vert skating legend Tony Hawk has risen to the edge of superstardom, flying under the sails (and sales) of his popular Trick Tips videos and Secret Skate Park Tour series. Though subject of controversy and fierce opinions, the world champ is undeniably one of the greatest names in the sport, and his DVD’s continue to be highly coveted as well as fiercely defended from critics.

Making skateboard videos is equally the province of amateurs and professionals, who capture with varying degrees of skill skateboard efforts which are also of different levels of skill. A truly compelling video will combine step-by-step instruction with gravity-defying courage and a little humor.

Skateboard videos are consistently among the most viewed entries on sharing sites such as Blip.tv and Vimeo. And no wonder; for action, drama and pure bellylaughs, few sights captured by camera can offer so much as footage of the skater in his natural habitat.

The explosion of popularity that skateboarding has experienced in recent years has led to a proliferation of companies who specialize or sideline in the manufacture of skateboards and related accessories. This development, for better or worse, has defined every aspect of the world of skateboarding. Manufacturers sponsor teams, design gear and innovate engineering that eventually touch every skater’s life.

             Choosing from among the myriad of skateboard brands can be a mind-boggling decision. Which mark you choose will say a lot about who you are as a skater and even as an individual. Your selection will make you friends among aficionados, and perhaps earn you mockery from haters. Regardless, whether you are as loyal as a puppy dog or fickle as a club dancer, you will find that the quality of your gear is as important as making sore that it agrees with your ideas about skating equipment and the world around you.

             Some brands like ZERO started out simply as clothing manufacturers, who grew to include skateboard supplies as a result of the designs’ popularity within the skater culture. Most of the more popular skateboard brands, however, were actually founded by skaters, and were originally focused on manufacturing skateboard-specific items such as decks, wheels and shoes and only subsequently have expanded to include more general products such as T-shirts, hoodies, patches and stickers.

             Each skateboard manufacturer tends to stake out a given niche, appealing to different crowds according to attitude, age and taste of the core loyalists. Most successful companies communicate by the medium of the logo and associated art, publicizing the brand with accessories. The majority of equipment brands also have a clothing, shoe, and poster line as well as decks, trucks, and wheels.

             Another popular means for making a brand synonymous with skating is the amateur or pro sponsored teams. Skateboarding is not a profitable sport for the majority of practitioners, as there are only a handful of cash-prize competitions. Skateboard companies make it possible for the top talents to devote their lives to their sport, and in exchange, the brand receives exposure and endorsements that the skating public trusts.

             Some purists blame skateboard brands for corrupting the independent nature of the activity and for cynically commercializing what began as the countercultural province of fringe risk-takers, breeding an army of soulless posers who only care about image and style.

             Whether or not this is true, advocates contend that these same companies have also made safe and high-quality skateboarding equipment available to the average person, and everybody has the right to skate. Supporters point to the charitable and community activities of these companies, who tend to be more generous than their counterparts in other industries.

             Recently a movement has taken hold among skateboard companies to offer products which promote ecology and sustainable development, including offering clothing line using organic materials and alternatives such as hemp. Participating brands are enhancing the image of responsibility by donating a portion of the proceeds from these premium accessory lines to causes that link the skateboarding public with social conscience and concern for the world we all share.

            Falling off your skateboard may be no fun for you, but spectators tend to love a good mishap as much as a successful execution. Much like auto racing, where the crashes get more replay time than crossing the checkered flags, skateboard bails have become an unintended art form that combines the best intentions with the worst outcomes.

 While entertaining the crowd is not usually the intention or preoccupation of the unfortunate skater who loses touch with the board, some spectators are satisfied by nothing less than a bone-crunching wipeout. As slick and effortless as grinds, pivots and ollie impossibles often look, the necessary combination of luck and timing sometimes fail to make it to the party. The resulting slam can be a great deal of fun for everyone else, although it often leaves the skater wishing he’s stayed home that day and played a video game instead.

             Eating dirt is not necessarily always a bad thing. Jamie Thomas knows this better than anyone; while he fractured both of his legs while attempting an 18-foot jump known as the “Leap of Faith.” His heroic effort made the annals of legend, despite being technically failure, partly because watching the painful footage of his impact has proven so popular.

             Something deep in human psychology is attracted to disaster. We turn our heads at the ugly scene of road collisions, stop to watch houses burning, laugh at comedians’ pratfalls and laugh harder when the falling is done by an amateur. Somehow, few accidents carry this attraction as strongly as a boldly attempted skateboard maneuver gone horribly wrong.

             When something goes wrong on a skateboard, a great deal more than pride can be injured. You’d never know it by watching the reactions of most skaters, however, who are stoic in accepting pain and tend to display the most macho disregard for both danger and the throbbing ache of a body part flung at high speed against concrete or crushed against a metal rail. Concealing suffering is an art form in itself, as well as a consequence of the highly adrenalized state most skaters exist in. The real pain from a skateboard bail will set in the next day.

             The skater ethic is to walk it off without whining. Bruises are considered good for the soul, and while only posers wear their scars like a badge, anyone who mounts a board is expected to bear injuries as part of the price of extreme sport. Therefore, it may be best to take your early bails in private, on surfaces softer than concrete. A premature public premiere of a tough trick can be not only embarrassing, but dangerous.

             Skateboard bails are part of the sport. Newbie or pro, street or trick, the skateboard is a flexible enough instrument to allow for error. The same versatility which makes amazing stunts possible make errors inevitable. Learning how to fall, adapting to rapidly changing conditions of gravity, and getting out of the way of your plummeting board can all help ensure that your next slam is not your last.