SSX Blur

[Nester the Lark]

Being the only SSX fan here, I suppose I'm the only one who's excited about this, but I decided to let you guys know about it anyway.

As you know, a lot of publishers scrambled to support the Wii after Nintendo's bigger-than-expected E3 appearance. Among the batch of games EA announced over the summer was a new SSX game for the Wii. Now, hot on the heels of the news that they've formed a new studio specifically for the development of Wii games, they've premiered a trailer for their new SSX game, titled "SSX Blur".

The trailer debuted last night on Spike TV's "Game Head". It can be viewed here, introed by game journalist Geoff Keighley (standing next to Reggie Fils-Aime who said he hadn't seen the trailer himself). A higher-res version can be downloaded here.

The trailer is interesting in that it really doesn't show much. The course being shown is exactly the same as a course from SSX 3, but the blur and slow motion effects from SSX: On Tour are being used, and the HUD is entirely new. It really looks more like a tech demo, as if they're reusing old stuff for experimentation. Conspicuously missing is any demonstration of how the Wii Remote will be utilized, but I guess it's safe to assume it'll follow in the footsteps of Excite Truck and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.

As of now, SSX Blur is exclusive to the Wii. I'd say it's also a possible candidate for 3PS next year. What's funny is that I finally picked up a copy of SSX Tricky last week just a couple of days before I even knew about this. Talk about karma.

...Heh. I never really contributed much to the analysis of the SSBB trailers, but throw a boring SSX trailer my way, and I'm all over it! ;D

[Dances in Undergarments]

I'd like to see how this thing controls, as I think snowboards could be pretty easily emulated through the Wiimote.

I'll keep my eyes on this thing when we know more.

[Smashchu]

Its nice to see a snowboarding game, let alone on thats exclusive for the Wii. I did like Tricky, so I may rent this. My mom might even like it.

[Nester the Lark]

Today came EA's official announcement of this game. EA producer Alex Hyder said they were going to "Wii-ify" the franchise.

It's being developed at EA Montreal instead of Vancouver (where the original development team is). It's also currently scheduled for release next March. That seems a bit soon to me, so I hope it's not something they're just slapping together.

[Nester the Lark]

EGM magazine did an article on SSX Blur and went into detail on the controls. As it turn out, it will not work like Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam or Excite Truck. Instead, it uses a combination of the nunchuck and remote. You tilt the nunchuck to steer, tuck, slow down, and jump. Once you're in the air, you use the remote to do tricks by "drawing" shapes on the screen. (You can actually see this done in the trailer.) The more complex the shape, the more complex the trick. The author of the article said it actually felt much more intuitive than Downhill Jam.

It also said that the game would take place on a single mountain (as SSX 3 and On Tour did), but it would consist of a combination of tracks from previous games. Sort of like a "greatest hits" compilation. No word yet on which characters would be returning, or if the create-a-character mode would return (which was pretty lousy, so I hope it doesn't) or would possibly use Mii's.

[Dances in Undergarments]

Control scheme sounds interesting - I was expecting it to be a simple case of the Wiimote acting like a toy snowboard - basically like a larger version of those tech-deck things, in a way... and with it being a snowboard and not a skateboard, however this system does seem quite nice as well.

Will continue to have my eye on this.

[Nester the Lark]

IGN has posted a new interview for SSX Blur, although it doesn't say anything particularly interesting. What is interesting, however, is the new trailer that explains the basic controls. I can't wait to try this thing!

[Smashchu]

Im glad EA is putting some effort into this game. I hope it works out for them. And the controll sceme is definatly creative.

[Nester the Lark]

smashchu2 said:

Im glad EA is putting some effort into this game.

As much as I'm looking forward to this game, I wouldn't count on that just yet. The fact that most (if not all) of the tracks are being recycled from previous games, and that the current release date is set for March, doesn't instill confidence. Personally, I'd feel better if the game was delayed until next fall.

Did I just type that?

Still, if development is proceeding swiftly due to ease of porting materials from the Gamecube versions to the Wii, I can't complain about that. I just hope EA is really putting effort into it.

[Nester the Lark]

Gamespot has posted a new preview of this game and revealed a few new bits of info. There will be twelve tracks spread across three mountains. Most of the tracks will be from previous games with a few new ones mixed in. Similarly, There will be 12 characters with 10 returning from previous games. (They specifically mention Mac Fraser.)

They also seemed to imply that this was the first time in an SSX game that the in-game music was mixed on the fly, but that's actually been done in previous games (except SSX: On Tour).

IGN has also posted a new trailer for the game that shows how Uber Tricks are done by drawing shapes with the remote. I was surprised to see that the nunchuck was also being used for drawing. I didn't know it was capable of stuff like that.

EDIT: I just realized Gamespot also has a video interview with one of the developers, and he mentions a few extra things. The game has multiplayer but not online. Mario & Co. will not be making an appearance this time. The current release date (for the US) is February 27. (Wow, did they actually move it up?)

[Dances in Undergarments]

12 tracks? This seems to me like a low amount, but then the only snowboarding game I've played is 1080 Avalanche, and though 1080 has less tracks than Blur (...I think. I guess it depends how you count the harder versions set in the same place. Actually thinking about it they probably count as different tracks, though). Anyhoo, my point is that seems low for a racing game. I'm also not digging this only two player split screen nonsense, either. It can't be that hard to implement 4 player split screen, is it?

I'll still be keeping my eye on this, but its not looking as appealing as it once was. Shame, really.

[Saim]

This game looks awesome. I loved SSX Tricky and this looks just like that except with a different graphic style and motion-based controls.

[Nester the Lark]

12 tracks is about average, I think. Tricky had 8, plus two bonus tracks. SSX 3 had 8 race tracks, 3 Freestyle (trick) tracks and 3 short Big Air (kind of like a series of ski jumps) tracks. On Tour had 12 tracks.

The sound of the number is a little misleading, too. Some of the tracks (especially in SSX 3) were very explorable, with multiple paths and hidden areas. There's often plenty of variety in the individual courses. (SSX 3 in particular felt a lot bigger than it sounded.)

I don't think any of the SSX games ever supported more than two players, either. The PS2 version of SSX 3 had online, and even then I think it was limited to two people.

I think split-screen multi-player in any game is more technically intensive that you think. It takes a certain amount of processing power to render the game world once. Split the screen in two, and you have to render it twice. Some games compensate for this by halving the frame rate.

[Nester the Lark]

A lot of bits and pieces of info about this game have been popping up this past week. Some of it is stuff that only a fan like me would care about (like who the returning characters are, as well as the surprising and very welcome return of DJ Atomika). However, Shacknews has posted a fairly insightful preview that reveals an interesting bit of info: apparently, SSX Blur was originally intended to be an X-Box game!

"At first I was really reluctant to play with the remote," said Guerin, who unexpectedly explained that SSX Blur actually started out as an Xbox game before moving to Wii, "but now I don't understand how I would ever want to play it with a normal pad." He explained that when the project was in development for Xbox, the team began to start working with effects that were easier to implement on the Wii hardware, and eventually it was determined that for a variety of reasons it made sense for the game to be a Wii exclusive. Said Guerin, "We felt this console was the best for this game, definitely."

For some odd reason, this raises my confidence level. I'm also happy to learn that Blur will be more like SSX 3. Now I feel like going back and playing it again (even tho I've played it to death).

[Smashchu]

Seems that this game may have been in production for a while.