Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage (Wii)

Players begin SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING: WORLD TOUR as the 100th ranked boarder in the world. Through a series of stages including New York's Times Square, France, Canada, Japan, and other locations, you'll accumulate a crew of new riders for your team. Courses have both racing and aerial trick challenges, and players have the option to choose different boarders (each with his or her own strengths) for every stage. There are options for cooperative play with two boarders or competitions for up to four. The Wii remote is used for almost all the tricks and "steering" the boarder. The game is compatible with the Wii Balance Board as well. This peripheral device performs much like the Wii Remote, but players use their feet instead of hands. 

This is a very good game. The simple, intuitive controls let players perform a huge variety of spins, twists, flips, grabs, and well as basic carving maneuvers. The game does a great job conveying the exhilarating sensation of speed and height, and the exotic and varied stages keep things interesting. There are multiple modes to mix things up. Of note is the cooperative mode which allows two players to play together and add their total score together, so more advanced players can help novices win competitions by compensating. On the minus side, there are many snowboarding and skating games on the market now (including last years version of this title), and this game doesn't distinguish itself quite enough from those. Still, a worthwhile, fun experience.

Online interaction: Player scores can be posted to a leaderboard accessible by others. There is no actual head-to-head interaction available.