EA Skate It for the Nintendo Wii is coming soon.  The video above shows a few tricks from the game and the associated controller/balance board techniques used to achieve them.

The video does make the game look pretty good – although I feel that overall the idea is flawed and the Wii Balance Board is only a gimmick.

The best bit is where the (human) person steps off the board mid rail slide and the skater falls and mashes his face!

Nice.

EA Skate It for the Nintendo Wii is scheduled for a mid November release.

Your best skating buddy has been kidnapped by Virus, your arch-nemesis, and only you can save him! Become a skateboard master as you zip between hover cars, grind on rails, and pull sick trick combos throughout a futuristic metropolis. Hidden bonuses and items will help you impress the evil captor in order to free your friend. Your grappling laser and trusty skateboard are all you need to smack down your nemesis and restore peace to the city!

Holy crap.  You couldn’t invent this rubbish!

Zoo Games are planning to roll out a new skating game for the Nintendo Wii at the end of October called Skate City Heroes.  The game, to be used with the Wii Balance Board will feature futuristic skating action, unique missions and mini games too.  You can even battle against others in a few different multiplayer modes.

Please… pass me the valium..

Head over to IGN for some great images of this game.
Check eBay for good prices on Skate City Heroes.

Head over to WiiFanboy to watch a video from EA on how the balancing and tricking will work on the new EA Skate It for the Nintendo Wii.

I still think this game will suck big time and will result in muchos broken Wii Fit Boards – but hey.. I might be wrong.

You know how your deck’s tail gets worn in that same place where you ollie all the time?
Imagine the Wii Fit Board with the same issue – wonky balancing and mushy sensors ahoy.

I just scanned the mini impression of Skate IT for the Nintendo Wii over at ArsTechnica, which features the use of the WiiFit Balance Board as a control method.

To say this takes a little while to get used to is something of an understatement. Skate It just doesn’t pull the execution off well enough to
justify the balance board’s use. While the game may get better with
more practice, it should make you want to practice more. I just wanted to walk away.

This confirms my suspicions about the choice to use the Fit Board as a controller – a poor idea.

The Fit Board does not have any feedback when using it to turn left or right like you would have on a real skateboard and will feel totally alien to anyone who has skated. Also, the way they have decided to do the ollie – by crouching and popping up quickly without leaving the board at all just seems odd.

EA Skate was praised for it’s revolutionary control method when they announced the FlickIT control scheme.

This just seems like second best. Let’s hope they allow for a “controller only” option.

EA – you don’t HAVE to do it, just because it’s there!

More information about Skate IT DS is arriving from IGN.

It seems that there will be a picture of a skateboard in the lower portion of the screen which is used to swipe the moves on.

No doubt the shoulder buttons on the Nintendo DS will be used to perform grab tricks and the buttons will be used for other more complicated tricks in conjunction with the swipe controls.

In comparison, Skate IT for the Nintendo Wii is also featured at IGN, but looks pants to me.

You have to sort of “flex” your legs to perform an ollie and then use the Wii controls to perform tricks.

It looks a little crappy to me.

Although, in one of the Skate IT videos, it looks like the skater is at the infamous London South Bank skate spot – one that I have skated quite a few times in my life.

That would be worth getting the game for.

I think I will be sticking with Skate IT DS for now. It looks amazing!

It seems like the Skate it game for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii will be quite interesting. It seems to feature skating in a city destroyed by an earthquake or giant Japanese lizard monster. As we all know, even the smallest kerb causes our favorite EA Skate characters to bite the pavement – so who knows what a load of rubble will do to us!

Check out the trailer and teaser videos below – and pray they don’t make it crap!

EA Skate It- Wii Teaser Trailer IGN

Skate It Teaser (Wii)

Kotaku have had hands-on fun with the new EA Skate It game for the Nintendo Wii at a recent Electronic Arts event.

It uses the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board as an input device (controller) to play the game, including being able to push too. There were a few niggles over the design and the fact that the gamer might get “off balance” when playing – but EA admitted that they were considering a “snap on” addition to the Wii Fit board that will help people play the game better.

Maybe they should let us bring a real deck into the living room with the WiiMote strapped onto the bottom. Never mind people smashing their TVs when playing Wii Sports – try doing a laser flip on the spot without breaking something.

The press release we have ALL been waiting for has finally hit the streets in the usual EA “all – and nothing” style.

Skate 2 is coming! 

The facts as we know it are:

• Skate2 will be developed for the PS3 and Xbox 360
• Skate2 is “in development” – no firm information as yet
• Skate It will be released for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii
• Skate It WILL feature the use of the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board
• Skate It will be released in 2008

Here is the EA Press Release in full:

GAMERS SKATE BACK INTO ACTION… THIS TIME ON NINTENDO WII AND DS
‘Skate It’ Delivers Popular Flickit Controls and Introduces Support for Wii Balance Board to Deliver Unique Skateboarding Experience

GUILDFORD, UK. – May 12, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced Skate It, a new game in the award-winning Skate franchise that taps into the heart and soul of being on a skateboard. Designed exclusively for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems, Skate It has Nintendo players riding with the skate pros, owning the best spots in San Vanelona and pulling off the sickest tricks using the popular FlickIt controls. Loaded with all-new gameplay features, Skate It breaks new ground by introducing innovative support for the Wii Balance board which gives players a fresh way to create their own signature skateboarding style.

“We knew it would be an exciting challenge to bring the soul and feel of skateboarding to the Wii and Nintendo DS,” said Scott Blackwood, Executive Producer – Skate franchise. “With fresh new designs and gameplay components built from scratch, we’ve been able to, once again, capture the true experience of skateboarding in a completely innovative way.”

Skate It unleashes the FlickIt revolution on to the Nintendo platforms, letting gamers use the Wii remote or the Nintendo DS stylus to string together their best tricks for the ultimate skate line. The Wii remote becomes a skateboard and reacts to gestures that mirror actual skate flips and moves. Players can also deepen this experience by planting their feet on the Wii Balance board. Skate It brings the hit Skate franchise to a new level of creative ingenuity and gameplay excellence.

Skate It will ship in 2008. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Separately, Skate 2 is also currently in development for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system.

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.electronicarts.co.uk. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at www.electronicarts.co.uk/press.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. PLAYSTATION is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Nintendo DS and the Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The internet monster that is Kotaku is running a post that refers to a (now removed under threat of ninja-lawyer-death) mention by EA via IGN that a product called “Skate It” is in the works.

Skate It will be a “spin off” game for the Nintendo DS and Wii with the possiblity of support for the new Wii-fit Balance Board too.

I suggest they read my Skate DS posting for ideas, then turn the Wii-Mote into a fingerboard and let us play like that!