May 22, 2007

Calling Out to EA Sports BIG. Please Revive the Wakeboarding Genre, Your Way.

My wife and I recently had a baby girl, my new favorite pastime is spending time with her and of course my wife. But I haven't let my interests in my hobbies fall by the wayside, and The Wakeboard Report's flagship boat is launching Friday - rain or rain. The baby is ready to go too - already outfitted with her own JetPilot infant vest, available at Boardstop.com.

Along with outdoors activities like wakeboarding, wakeskating, snowboarding and mountain biking - one of my favorite hobbies has always been video games and still is. Yes, even as a 30 year old with a corporate job and a mortgage - and there are a lot out there like me. But my gaming time is spent differently now, mostly with my Nintendo DS at night after the little one is asleep. On this rainy weekend that was originally slated to kick off the summer, I had a chance to spend some time in our TV room having my ass handed to me in 1080i high-def goodness playing the public beta version of Halo 3. It is a pretty neat opportunity, and one that was offered to everyone who purchased Crackdown for Xbox 360.

But after fighting with the controls, my lack of talent in first person shooters, and a general lack of gaming talent altogether, I decided to actually attempt to have fun, and inserted my favorite game of this generation, Wakeboarding Unleashed Featuring Shaun Murray, and played it for about 3 hours straight. Although it is a few years old now and is beginning to show its age graphically, I believe this game was simply put, a gift to wakeboarders. I own all 4 versions of it: PC, Playstation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance. Although it didn't sell extremely well, among the gaming community it is widely considered to be a solid game, with a deep level of complexity, plenty of replay potential, and an accurate take on the sport. Aside from some picky items such as a lack of an open level without any obstacles and the fact that Collin Wright is in the game as a playable character, it is the best wakeboarding game ever made - far and away surpassing Darin Shapiro's Big Air Wakeboarding and BursTrick by embarrassingly high factors.

The problem is, we're likely to never see a sequel to the game, despite the fact that it was well received and positively reviewed by critics. Activision simply didn't sell enough copies on any of the aforementioned platforms to warrant a sequel. Wakeboarding Unleashed is built on the Tony Hawk game and control engine; the fans of which enjoy a new version of the game almost every year; in fact there are 2 Tony Hawk games slated for release this year alone. But there is no sign, no rumors, no indication whatsoever that Activision will revisit the sport of wakeboarding. There was one highly publicized and well funded houseboat trip supported by Microsoft and was said to be the kickoff party for a Scott Byerly wakeboarding & wakeskating game. However during tough times in the original Xbox's early life, the Byerly game project was axed.

With the emphasis game developers place on realistic water appearance and physics in many game genres, combined with the popularity of extreme sports action sports games, it would seem a match made in heaven for the right developer to come along and give the sport of wakeboarding another chance. In a sense, I view the return to wakeboarding in video game as a matter of eventuality, not simply possibility.

Who though? That answer comes so easily. My vote would be the Electronic Arts' BIG division, who is responsible for creating the SSX series of snowboarding games, and has subsequently enjoyed a reputation for creating the best snowboarding games ever made. Like Wakeboarding Unleashed, the SSX series of games are not "simulation" style games which tend to be too rooted in reality for many causal gamers. They are over the top, arcade style games that appeal to a vast audience despite portraying a niche sport. And serving as a system capability showcase and launch title for the PlayStation 2, EA Sports released SSX and the game served as a system seller for many - including me. SSX Tricky, SSX 3, SSX On Tour and SSX Blur have been released thereafter - all building on the solid groundwork put in place by the original game.

If Electronic Arts undertook project and picked up on some of the nuances of wakeboarding; then added their personal flair to game design, the possibilities for an enormously fun and popular title emerge. EA has already proven their ability to conquer the snowboarding genre of games and a wakeboarding game would be fantastic next step for them.

There is interest out there in reviving this sport in a game, and EA has the talent and resources to knock it out of the park.

Posted by erik