IGN skate it hands on, playing this game with the board will be great

[yushire]

http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/886/886083p3.html

 

US, July 3, 2008 - At Electronic Arts' pre-E3 event, we got to check out the progress that is being made on Skate It. The game is still pretty sparse and light on actual gameplay, but the balance board controls have been advanced and we got to spend some time getting used to them. Skate It is definitely going to come with a learning curve for many people. Then again, we're not skaters, ourselves. Pro-skater Danny Way has plenty of experience, though, and when he stepped onto the balance board for the first time at the event, he got the hang of it almost immediately. So maybe all you skaters out there will find it to be an intuitive representation of the real thing.

Last time we saw Skate It we were only able to play with the remote. This method works well and should be a perfectly viable option for anyone who doesn't own the balance board. The A button will give you a push. Once you're going, gesture maneuvers will allow you to pull off any trick in the book. Most of these gestures are intuitive: lift the remote straight up to ollie, lift it up and tilted to perform a heelflip or kickflip, make a circle in various directions to do different pop-shuvs, and so on.

What sets the Skate franchise apart from its competitors is that performing tricks is all about timing rather than button combinations. To grind a rail you simply ollie onto it, but you have to time your jump accurately. Playing with just the remote might be easier than the "flick it" analog stick controls of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games.

As well as Skate It handles with just the remote, it's the balance board compatibility that really makes it stand out. You won't be able to completely abandon the remote -- the A button is still used to push. With the board turned sideways, like a real skateboard would be, there are four zones you can lean into. Leaning left or right will steer, and putting your weight forward or back will lift the skateboard into a manual. This is where the learning curve kicks in, as it takes some time for your body to figure out how much weight to apply.

For tricks, the balance board has been divided into six zones. A quick push of pressure on these areas will hop your virtual board into the air and perform a trick. These are mapped to parts of the balance board that make sense. To do an ollie, just bounce on the tail end of the board like you would in real life. All of the tricks found in the original Skate for PS3 and 360 can be triggered with the Wii balance board.

So the balance board controls for Skate It are shaping up nicely. Now, we just need to see some gameplay. So far Electronic Arts has been showing one minimalist environment we can skate around in and get used to the controls, but we haven't had a go with any actual objectives or tasks, yet. The developers are also being tight lipped about details behind the game's premise. We know that it takes place after the original Skate and a disaster has taken place, causing the player's home town to be evacuated. This has to be one of the cleverest ways to avoid programming AI a developer has ever come up with. If you played Skate, you'll be able to revisit familiar areas -- only now that they've been destroyed you can approach them in new ways. Eventually, you'll leave your hometown to skate in real world cities, meet pro skaters, and get sponsored.

To start off, players will design their skater. Female skaters can be created, an option not found in the original Skate. You might notice your creation is silent -- as he or she skates and falls he doesn't utter the slightest grunt. He doesn't recite prose during cut scenes. Voice work was originally recorded, but the developers felt hearing someone else's voice hurt the player's connectivity with their avatar. Instead, you'll be hearing from your camera man who is following you around, documenting your performance. He'll give you tips and act as your agent throughout the game.

Multiplayer modes are being implemented, but players won't be skating at the same time. The developers believe part of the fun to be had with Skate It involves you and your friends checking out each other's moves, and that's hard to do when you're all skating at the same time in split screen. So the multiplayer modes will have players taking turns, maybe heckling each other. If you prefer playing with the balance board, you can only have one connected to your Wii at a time, anyway.

Check out the video interview too!