Sam Brown actually pointed out the d-pad down trick just after I posted this (via Twitter). Works great! Wish I had known about it earlier, but at least now I can get those assholes out of my way!

I totally forgot about the "no skate zones" in Skate 2, and the lack there of in Skate 3. Indeed, this is a very good thing! Some of the best spots in Skate 2 were protected and could only be fully enjoyed in freeskate mode with guards turned off. Also, I hated how the camera pulled so far back when they started chasing you. Made it really hard to focus on your tricks.

I think we had completely opposite experiences with the demo. I had recently just spent a few weeks with Skate 2 (checked out from our local library for free – what?) and liked what was new (from 1), but felt the dirt and orange was a little tired. I was psyched to see the clean (almost Mirror's Edge) environments and switch to blue for the interface elements. In 2, I had pedestrians in my way at all the wrong times, but in 3 (demo), I never had that issue.

Speaking of, Jason Lee's character tells you that if peds are in your way to hit down on the d-pad to run them off (out of your line).

The other great thing to love is that the environment is designed with the contrivance that it's FOR skaters, not that you're trying to get away with anything. It makes everything a lot more enjoyable and lowers the stress (when guards start chasing you).

I haven't been able to get any games going online (playing PS3 version), but the real draw for me with 3 has to be the park editor. I could see myself spending months creating parks and skating them — not that I have the actually have the time.