Penny Time, the side-scrolling action game by Penny Skateboards Austrailia, has just updated with its first free content update. The new update has added a new mode, accessories, and a new character.

While a new character and accessories need no explanation, the new mode added to the game is a competition mode. In Competition Play, players compete head-to-head with other players from around the world. Winners in the competition will receive one of 15 original 22″ skateboards from Penny. The competition ends in a little over a week. Check out the leaderboards here.

Penny Time is a skateboarding game from the Austrailian skateboard manufacturer, Penny. The game is a side-scroller where the player rides a Penny skateboard in search of points and multipliers while doing tricks. And to add the the fun, the skateboard has the ability to freeze time! More, free downloadable content is planned including even more characters, accessories and mode.

$0.99

Penny Time

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-05-10 :: Category: Games

Steve Robert, producer of Electronic Art’s Skate It, released May 10, 2010, is a former pro-skater who helmed the development and creation of the game’s port to the iPhone. I sat down for a phone interview with Steve and spoke at length about the game and its subsequent port from the Nintendo DS to the iPhone. Steve provided us with much insight on the game’s development and how it came to fruition on the iPhone.

Steve Robert (EA) – Well, I grew up in Huntington Beach, CA, which is a coastal town in Southern, CA and, probably as early as 6th grade I got immersed in the culture of skateboarding. It was a very popular hobby in my neighborhood and I had a bunch of good friends who were all into skateboarding. We kept pushing each other to learn and get better and then it sort of evolved as some of my friends, like Jason Lee, who’s a good friend of mine, went on to become a famous actor, was the first of us to go on and get sponsored and turn pro. I skated with him all the time and he got me sponsored by the same company he was. From then on, I started entering amateur contests and then we shot a video in 1989 called Rubbish Heap and everything just unfolded from there. I was attracted to the culture and it was fun learning tricks and being competitive with my friends and progressing in the sport.

Jason (148apps) – It’s easy to hit a plateau if you don’t have people around you who you can learn from.

Steve Robert (EA) – Yeah, absolutely. I think being surrounded by people like Jason Lee, Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzalez and the older, big pros, they all came from Huntington Beach and we would all gather at night at Huntington Beach High School or these schools you see in all the videos, while others were out partying, we would be spending our nights skating at the schools together and you just kind of get obsessed with it. It was everything I did until I graduated high school, it’s all I really cared about. Skating was just kind of a sub-culture because it wasn’t as mainstream back then, as it is now.

Jason (148apps) – How did you come to get involved in developing Skate It?

Steve Robert (EA) – Well, I’ve been working in video games since 1997. I slowly got out of skateboarding and went to college. When I graduated from college, I got my first job at Interplay in 1997. I found it interesting because the culture was very similar to skating in many ways. It’s obviously less physically active, but the people were the same.

Hit the jump for more with Skate It Producer Steve Robert.
Continue reading 4Q Interview: Skate It Producer Steve Robert »