I knew my prayers were being heard!

In the morning edition of the Great Falls Tribune is an interview with Neversoft's president, Joel Jewett. In the midst of a fluff piece about how the Montana-born game studio founder has managed to become successful despite having been one of those filthy skateboarders all righteous people loathe in his youth, Jewett has given the first confirmation that his company will no longer be pounding all the joy that once existed out of the Tony Hawk series.

Neversoft plans to release more sequels to the "Guitar Hero" series — including the much-ballyhooed "Guitar Hero: Metallica" set for release during the first quarter of this year — but the company has let the Tony Hawk series go to another developer.

"It's probably best for the franchise ... it's time for someone else to add fresh ideas to it," Jewett said.

As someone who at one time in his life would dedicate hundreds of hours to racking up multi-million point combos in the early iterations of this franchise only to find the experience far less satisfying once the series made the move to consoles in the generation preceding this one, it's about goddamn time. Perhaps a new developer could put a new spin on things or at least come up with some level design that makes me want to crank out a wicked chain of grinds.

Now, while I have you here, Jesus, could you do something about Sonic the Hedgehog?

[Via GiantBomb]