Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage Hands-On

The "Flying Tomato" takes the spotlight again in Ubisoft's upcoming Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. Instead of traveling the world to try to locate the elusive snowboarder, World Stage is focused on competition and your quest to be the world's best boarder. At a Ubisoft press event last week in San Francisco, we stopped by Ubisoft's office to see how the latest Shaun White game is coming together and to check out new some new features.

We were taken to a bright and colorful airport terminal--littered with random objects/trophies that Shaun has collected--which acts as your hub. In the main menu, you can jump into the main campaign, ride the slopes for fun, or edit tricks via the arcade trick machine in the corner next to the alpaca. We're not sure how the South American grazer ended up in this airport hub, but it wasn't the only thing that was a bit unusual in the area. Using the Wii Remote, we poked around to see what we wanted to do and decided to start off with the trick machine in the back because it kind of looked lonely sitting in the background when compared to the junk that was piled all across the row of chairs.

To customize and name your new trick, you jump into a mini space-themed arcade game where you have full control a pudgy guy in a yellow-and-blue spandex outfit on what looks like some sort of hoverboard. It's a two-step process where you first record the rotation and then add grabs. As spandex man goes off on his jump, you tilt and rotate the Wii Remote with the Wii MotionPlus add-on as though a snowboarder were standing on top of the controller to do as many flips as you can. As long as you land from a jump, you can move onto the next step, which is to throw in some grabs by using the A and B buttons. When you're done, you'll be asked to choose an icon and then name your crazy stunt. Throughout the game, you can perform your trick by using the right-button combo, but you don't have to worry about doing the actual motion with the remote.

When you're not making up silly names for your tricks, you can compete in a series of championships that will take you around the world to such places as Italy, Japan, and Canada. At these exotic locations, you can participate in 16 different events with a choice of 15 characters--compared to last year's seven riders. There are 75 challenges within these events, and if you like racing, boardercross has been added. Each time to you take part in an event, you're accompanied by a second boarder of your choice, who acts as your camera person and provides you with a power-up. For example, if you're participating in the boardercross event, you can pick a boarder who gives you the ability to temporarily blind your competition. Other boarders can give you bonuses, such as higher jumps, better tricks, or speed boosts. Rider have their own stats, and there's more customization this time in terms of clothing to unlock, snowboards, and stickers that differentiate your board from the rest of the pack.

The controls will feel similar to last year's Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip, in which you used the balance board to control your boarder. While it may not be the same as a real snowboard, leaning forward and backward is fairly responsive, which makes it easy to carve your way down the mountain. By bending your knees and pushing down on the board--without actually jumping off--your character can fly off ramps and do fancy tricks, which are controlled by the remote.

World Stage's colorful visuals look great on the Wii, especially when you're speeding down the mountain because added effects give you a good sense of speed. The game's focus is on you as a world-class boarder, so you'll feel like a star with all the camera flashes going off as you grind rails and execute insane tricks. It looks like Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage is shaping up to be another solid entry to the series, so be sure to check out the game when it is released on November 8.