February 21, 2012 – EA SPORTSTM today announced that the highly anticipated demo for EA SPORTS SSX is now available on Xbox LIVE® and the PlayStation® Network in North America. The demo will feature two tracks for gamers to experience: a race event in the Rockies and a trick event in New Zealand. The online enabled demo* will allow players to get a taste of the competition provided in the SSX main game mode – Explore. The demo will only be available for download until March 20, 2012. SSX is now featured on 15 ‘Most Anticipated Games of 2012’ lists including IGN and Videogamer.com. SSX launches on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game system on February 28 in North America and by March 2 in the rest of the world**.
Mimicking the Explore experience that will be in the final product, as players post race times and trick scores in the demo, ghosts of those runs will be uploaded to the SSX server. These ghosts are exact replicas of a player’s run, from the line that they took, to the tricks that they performed. Players will then be able to challenge their friends’ ghosts or let their own ghosts chalk up wins and losses, while they’re away from their console.
“When crafting the online experience for this new SSX, we wanted to design something that took into account people’s busy schedules and addressed the issue of not always having friends to play online with you at the same time” says Todd Batty, Creative Director, SSX. “The Explore game mode, which allows you to challenge your friends’ times and scores on your own schedule, is one part of that online design. The other half of our online design, Global Events, is built around the idea of constant ongoing live tournaments against real people in real-time, with the added flexibility of letting you drop in and out at your convenience. We think that when any gamer gets their hands on SSX they are going to have a lot of fun with our modern take on this classic franchise.”
A modern day reinvention of one of the most critically acclaimed arcade franchises of all-time, SSX will allow players to experience the franchise’s signature fun and adrenaline-packed gameplay across iconic regions all over the world. Using NASA topographical satellite data, SSX has a massive world for players to explore. Throughout nine expansive regions, SSX packs reality-defying gameplay into every run letting players Race, Trick, and Survive as they descend huge open mountains. In addition, Explore, Global Events and RiderNet – the SSX recommendation engine – headline an online feature set that will redefine social competition for gamers, making it fun and easy to compete with friends with no lobbies or wait times.
*Internet connection and Origin account required. Must be 13+ to create an account.
