E3 2008: Shaun White Snowboarding Impressions

Under a giant Mii head of himself, gold medalist Shaun White, aka the "Flying Tomato," easily recognizable with his curly red hair kicked off Nintendo's E3 press conference with Cammie Dunaway, the executive vice president of sales and marketing, with a demo of Shaun White Snowboarding.

Expanding on Wii Fit's snowboarding game, Shaun White Snowboarding takes advantage of the balance board to mimic the moves of a snowboarder to enhance gameplay. Working closely with Ubisoft, White explained that like a real snowboard, the Wii balance board is similar to the real deal whether you decide to tuck your butt in or lean side to side. White's involvement with the game was mostly to describe the experience of snowboarding by giving his point of view of the hill.

The demo gave us some footage of the game, which looks like previous SSX games but more on the cartoony side, except without the gravity-defying stunts. Dunaway also hopped onto a balance board to take it for a test run, asking whether this game is meant for anyone and everyone. She managed to pull off a few tricks before doing a face plant.

Shaun White Snowboarding is also available on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 but the Wii version is an original game that approaches snowboarding in a different way--not just because of the peripheral but because it has more of an arcade feel rather than a focus on realistic visuals. Check out our preview for Shaun White Snowboarding and come back later for updated impressions as it is slated to come out by year's end.