During the N64 years, I got hooked on 1080 Snowboarding, much like many other N64 gamers who were hungry for something to play on Nintendo's 3D gaming system. The series sort of kicked off my on-and-off love for snowboarding games. Eventually, I tried my hand at the SSX series, of which SSX 3 remains my favorite snowboarding game to date. Over the years, I've also played a few other snowboarders, including Microsoft's Amped series, which, though graphically impressive, failed to hook me the way that other snowboarding titles have.

I'm not sure yet whether or not Shaun White Snowboarding (SWS), which is coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, will be the next snowboarder to captivate my attention (it's been a while since one has, so I'm ready for one to). The main reason for this is that although I've seen the game being played, I haven't actually played it myself yet. That noted, at Ubidays 2008, a company rep played the game right in front of me on both 360 and Wii, so I have seen how the game plays.

First, let's cover the 360 version. Right off the bat, my first impression of the game is that it looks fantastic. The game runs on the Assassin's Creed engine, giving it a realistic, smoothly-animated look. There are four mountains in the game -- including Alaska, Park City, Japan and one other unnamed peak -- but we were only shown the Alaskan mountain. The scene is gorgeous, complete with more trees scattered from the top to the bottom of the slope than in any other snowboarder I've seen and powder-like snow, which flies up and around you as you carve through it with your board.


Gameplay-wise, things appear to be solid. The game is played nearly entirely online (there is an offline mode too). Ubi hasn't decided on how many players will be allowed per game, but it estimated somewhere in the 16-32-player range. Unlike EA's SSX franchise, SWS is rooted very much in realism. From the animation of your character to the tricks you perform, the game strives for realism in nearly everything that it does. Similarly, Ubisoft says that it's going for a very skill-based design -- something slow-paced and satisfying.

All board movement is handled with the two analog sticks, one for 'sliding' and the other for 'carving'. The triggers come into play during jumps as trick modifiers. Ubisoft didn't show us how it works, but you'll be able to get off your board and roam the game on-foot. At this point, though, we don't have any other information on this feature.

The company also showed us the Wii version of SWS, which is being developed entirely separately from the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the title. In the last year-and-a-half, I've become rather used to seeing ugly-looking Wii games, so when I first laid eyes on SWS, I was surprised to see that in motion the game looks quite good for a Wii title. Granted, it's not exactly difficult to render a good-looking snowboarder (90% of the screen is made up of white snow, after all). But SWS on Wii doesn't look too bad. Like with its 360 counterpart, the press was not allowed to play the game, but a friendly Ubisoft rep did demo the game to us and revealed that it supports the Wii Balance Board. A rectangle on the left side of the screen displays your balance as you lean from left to right to steer down slopes. Bouncing -- but not actually jumping off the board -- triggers an in-game hop. Meanwhile, with the Wii-mote in hand, you control grabs. Although I didn't get to try it for myself, the controls seem intuitive enough and the rep on hand had no trouble controlling the game with the board. For those who just can't stand the idea of using the Wii Balance Board, though, rest easy: you can play the game with the Wii-mote and nunchuck.


Between the two versions, I am more interested in the 360/PS3 game. However, I look forward to at least dabbling in Wii Balance Board snowboarding (perhaps at E3). Once we get a chance to go hands-on with either version, we'll be sure to report back to you with our thoughts.