When it comes to video games based on extreme sports, I’m usually pretty ambivalent. They’re a lot of fun at first, but tend to get repetitive or turn into button mashers. Oh, awesome, I just punched the controller and flipped into the air for the hundredth time. While at GameX, the Binge Gamer crew got to check out Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage. The name alone didn’t give me much hope until I realized that this was the Shaun White title demo’ed at E3, making use of the Wii’s balance board. That actually intrigued me, because it seems like a really smart and potentially fun use of the peripheral.

I can tell you what I thought of the game, but instead, I thought you’d be interested to hear about it from someone who actually snowboards (as well as games). From Mike Ardoline, Binge Gamer’s special guest for the weekend:

Actions sports and video games have a tenuous relationship at best. Clearly there’s a balancing act between simulation and fantasy; think EA’s Skate versus Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage for the Wii is clearly in the vein of the latter. It has all the same complaints from the core rider’s standpoint: incorrect trick names, nonsense physics, etc. But these complaints fall away when you consider one thing: it’s actually pretty fun.

The balance board adds a great feel of real snowboarding to the game in a way that equals out the unrealistic gameplay. Once the board is calibrated to your weight distribution, it controls much like a real board. For the non-snowboarders in the audience, the majority of turning and control on a snowboard comes from the ankle and below which translates surprising well through the Wii balance board.

Sadly, the game only has a small selection of tricks and leaves out many that would have been really fun on the balance board. Basically, everything that makes this a snowboard game is greatly lacking, but the fun of the balance board aspect makes it fun enough for me to ignore that. Only play this game with a wii-mote alone if you want something to hate.

It’s nice for balance board owners to have another game to make use of that peripheral. Will it be something you play every day? Probably not. Will it be fun at parties? Absolutely. And that’s part of what the Wii is all about – getting together with friends and family to game together. I know that you Nintendo fanboys out there are cringing, but it is what it is. The Wii is finally beginning to successfully add titles to its library that satisfy its core fanbase on one level but still attract casual gamers on another level; Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage does just that.

You can pick up the game on November 8, 2009 or preorder it right now for $49.99.

Perry also tried out the game. Here are some pictures of him playing, along with screenshots:

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