Ubisoft working on Shaun White Snowboarding sequel

by David Hinkle { Dec 18th 2008 at 5:23PM }

It's no secret that Ubisoft has high hopes for Shaun White Snowboarding. The company said it expects the game to sell a million copies and, so far, the game is flying off retail shelves faster than scrumptious hotcakes, unloading 259,000 copies in the U.S. across the various platforms in November alone (generating $13.6 million for Ubisoft). We'd also like to point out that 40% of that figure is Wii sales.

Ubisoft has liked the reception, apparently, as a sequel to the game is already underway, Shaun White confirmed. "Now that I have the knowledge and I can speak to programmers better and I understand a lot more about what's possible and what's not possible, this will all help with the next game," he said.

So, how many of you picked it up? What kind of additions or changes would you like to see in the next game?

Gallery: Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip

Tags: balance-board, breaking, shaun-white, shaun-white-snowboarding, snowboarding, sports, ubisoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

TrueNRPeace @ Dec 18th 2008 5:40PM

Is it just me, or does Shaun White look a lot like Carrot Top? It's hard for me to take Shaun, his snowboarding/branding "career", and his games seriously.

milan @ Dec 18th 2008 10:32PM

wait are you serious? i saw a Shaun White Snowboarding ad on tv and i thought Carrot Top was just a celebrity cameo in it! That was actually shaun white?? hah

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ Dec 18th 2008 6:10PM

*WARNING: LENGTHY POST AHEAD*

I recently picked up Shaun White Snowboarding, and although my girl and I have just started playing through it, it's definitely dope. It controls are smooth and easy as pie to learn using the balance board, the graphics are clear and crisp, and the challenges are challenging without being hair-pullingly difficult. So far, it's dope. I'll happily take more of the same with new locations and challenges in the sequel.

I actually bought Wii Fit just because I heard that this game and Skate It! were going to use the balance board. So far, I couldn't be happier with my purchases. Shaun White has a great pick up and play vibe, with a little challenge thrown in, making for a great game for my girl and I to play together (she loves it, too).

As for Skate It!, that's a totally different animal. As a THPS player going back to the PS1 days (I've played, 100%ed and loved them all), I have to say that this is the greatest skateboarding game ever made. The learning curve with the balance board is extremely steep, so steep that I can say that it is one of the most difficult to learn games I've ever played. Ever. The work is worth it, though and pays off in spades. Pure skating zen, I can't even go back to playing Skate on the PS3. The challenges range from average difficulty to nearly impossible, and I'm loving ever goddamn minute of it.

Both games are absolute must own titles for any extreme sports fan/balance board owner out there. Incredible experiences, the both of them. I can't vouch for the non-board controls, as I've never played either game without the balance board. I doubt I'll ever be able to go back to playing a snow/skateboarding game with a regular controller ever again. Balance board control is everything I hoped it could be and more. As for sequels? Bring 'em on!

canaroo @ Dec 19th 2008 1:09AM

Thanks for that post. So, I've played Sean White and loved it. I want to play Skate It. And my hopes are high for that game. As a past skater myself (cough, cough), I am anxious to have a go at the Wii skateboard experience. I've heard mixed reviews with Skate It--what makes it worth it to you?

Russ Carroll @ Dec 19th 2008 11:43AM

Seconding the positive on Shaun White with the balance board, it's the most enjoyable snowboarding game I've played. Will never be able to use a joystick again.

After reading your post Skate It is moving to the top of my GameFly list...though my knees are still killing me from Shaun White...it's a workout!

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ Dec 19th 2008 12:20PM

In response to Canaroo...
I think that the main problem people have with Skate It! is that it is very difficult to learn on the balance board. Many people won't invest the time, and the tutorials aren't nearly as helpful as they could be. For almost the first two hours or so of playing, I found myself manualing unintentionally all the time, having difficulty just steering around the world (making half pipes almost impossible), and getting alot (and I mean alot) of messages from the game telling me not to jump on the board (the game seems really over sensitive to that at first). It's all about figuring out what the game is looking for for an input, and also working on your balance and steering. You will be frustrated and even a bit angry at first. Once you finally get it, though, it slowly begins to become second nature, and eventually you find yourself rocking those half pipes, steering where you actually want to go (adjust your trucks!), not getting those annoying do not jump messages, and really just having an absolute blast skating.

I find my street/flatland tech skills to be my strongest suit, and I actually feel like a young Rodney Mullen when stalling, flipping and manualing around on ledges and picnic tables. I can't comment on the regular controls, but I love playing with the balance board now that I've learned how to and gotten used to it. But yeah, I think that alot of the people that didn't like it either lack the balance and coordination it demands, or didn't invest enough time in learning and mastering the game's controls (again, the tuts are of little help for certain things). Also, I love the difficulty! This is, by definition, a hardcore game. You will not be any good for the first two hours. Once you are good, you'll still find many of the challenges extremely difficult. As someone who has completed every Tony Hawk 100%, I get a kick out of hardcore, near impossible challenges, and this game delivers.

So yeah, Shaun White = great casual balance board fun with a little challenge sprinkled in while Skate It! = great super hardcore tough to learn balance board fun that will eventually have you feeling like Rodney Mullen, which is rewarding, to say the very least (he's not a skate God, he's THE skate God). Two totally different styles of games, but I love em both.

CubeGuy @ Dec 19th 2008 6:51PM

I stopped reading after "dope".

K-Dog @ Dec 19th 2008 11:22PM

You Sir, are one dedicated player. I tried to play Skate It with the balance board and loved doing tricks with it (it's extremely responsive), but I could never master simply steering the board. It seemed like by the time I noticed that I was turning, I'd already turned past where I wanted to be, which I found terribly frustrating. I found myself wishing that there had been a Nunchuck (for steering) and Balance Board (for tricks) control setup. That would have been great. Being able to skip bail animations would have been nice too. MAN, they got annoying to watch! I also thought the level structure in Skate It was a bit disconnected. I would have preferred that each level were a single piece, instead of broken up into parts that you have to navigate to through the menu.

Though it may sound strange, I kind of miss the level structure of Tony Hawk 2, where you were simply given a list of objectives for a level and you did as much as you could in 2 minutes. Sure, the trick system was basically "mash buttons a lot" and the physics were stupidly unrealistic, but the basic structure was fun. Come to think of it, Tony Hawk 4, the first game to depart from this formula, was the first game in the series I disliked.

As for Shaun White, I thought it to be very fun to control, but wish it had the depth of Skate It. Then again, one of my favorite snowboarding games is still SSX Tricky, which is not that much deeper than Shaun White. I think in this upcoming sequel that they ought to create a dedicated racing mode in single player. There are a few racing challenges, but the game is more about tricks than anything else. It would have been nice if every section had a racing challenge of some kind (not just each country). Tricky was fun in that the tricks gave the player boost fuel, which allowed you to go faster while racing, a great mechanic for any racing game.

Of course, if the AI you are racing against are poorly programmed, there's no point in having racing at all. There's been way too many times in a racing game that I end up finally winning when I've actually raced WORSE than ever. This makes no sense, and seems to lend to the idea that the AI actually rewards less skilled players (Mario Kart Online, anyone?). But I'm off topic, I suppose...