E3 09: Tony Hawk: Ride controller looks like a skateboard

Tony Hawk himself — the man, the myth, the legend — was on stage at Microsoft’s E3 press briefing to show off the skateboard controller for Tony Hawk: Ride, and you can take a look at the scale of it above. Unlike many videogame peripherals meant to represent real things (see: Guitar Hero/Rock Band instruments), the Ride controller actually seems life-sized. (There’s a full-size shot in the gallery below.)

During the press conference, we saw a new trailer for the game featuring skaters like Ryan Sheckler — we’ll have that for you later — and we learned that the Xbox 360 version of the game will be on the show floor. We’ll be sure to let you know what we think when we get our grimy paws all over the board.

Tony Hawk: Ride is scheduled for release in 2009 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. For more information, be sure to check out our live blog of the Microsoft conference.