That's something I haven't heard. So... Our focus is just working with what is provided by Nintendo. So there's not an extra piece. You know, it's really about working with the Balance Board. So if you have one, this is another game you can play with it. It's not about fitness, it's about skateboarding and having fun.

There's a video after the jump. Watch it if you like.

EA denies Skate It Balance Board clip-on accessory [Balance Board Blog via Go Nintendo]

Obviously, one isn't required to have a Wii Fit Balance Board to play Skate It. It can also be controlled using only a Wii Remote. And that, somewhat surprisingly, works rather well, too.

Still, it's a bit unnerving at first. It's simple, though, with little in the way of button pressing. Simply press A to accelerate, down on the D-pad to stop and B to perform grabs. Everything else is motion controlled — kicks, flips, ollies, turns, everything.

Turning your board with twists of the remote requires a steady hand. Skate It will require just as much extremity agility and concentration as the original Skate and sticks closely to the formula established by the first. You won't be doing as much wild waggling and joint-killing shaking as some of the Wii's other offerings. Instead, because Skate It's controls are about finesse and precision, you'll find yourself looking a bit more zen as you try to avoid unintentional board slides and the not-uncommon faceplant.

As with the original Skate, I had a bit of trouble shaking off my Tony Hawk Pro Skater past and becoming reaccustomed to EA's approach. But after a few minutes with the Wii Remote and the Balance Board schemes, both rewarding in their own way, it was very much a peaceful, enjoyable experience, similarly sandbox-y and mostly pressure free — editors from other outlets waiting in line notwithstanding.

My only complaints with the control scheme lie in their unfamiliarity. The Wii Remote would perform well in some parts, with nose manuals via a quick remote hop and downward angle working like a charm. But in other instances, I'd find myself steering wildly out of control. It was also pretty easy to lose one's center on the Balance Board and feel the strain of fake skateboarding on the underdeveloped calves. (Perhaps that possible skateboard-like frame could address this, but we'll have to wait to find out.)

Still, I left Skate It pretty impressed, admiring the control scheme and seemingly smart implementation of the Balance Board. We're looking forward to spending more time with it at E3, but for now we'll just soak in the screen shots and become more familiar with the controls in the galleries below.

But I was a bit worried about how the game would make sure virtual boarders weren't slowly moving off the balance board's sweet spot. Scooting was a problem I noticed while playing Wii Fit. The more into a game I got, the more intense it was the more I tended to scoot around on the board over time. After ten minutes or so of intense gaming I'd notice the game wasn't responding right because my feet were no longer centered.

The devs told me that that is a concern of theirs as well. So much so that they're actually looking into the possibility of shipping the game with some sort of form that snaps onto the balance board to give it more of a skateboard look and feel. More importantly, this skateboard frame would help gamers realize when they were scooting off the board's center spot without having to look down, and potential facing into a virtual curb.

Sounds like a fantastic idea to me. [Image Credit]

Boo me off the stage, he insisted, if I do... and then he proceeded to use the phrase.

"If it's not built from the ground up, is it a port? Not really."

Blackwood explained that before Black Box started their work on the Wii and DS versions of Skate, they had to figure out if the controls would work.

"It we couldn't get that great flick it feel, we weren't going to do it," he said.

Later on, while trying out the Wii version of the game for myself, I was told the team spent three to four months working on getting those controls right and for the most part, it felt like they succeeded.

To play the Wii version, you hold the remote flat, facing it toward the screen and then move it around as if it is the board you are standing on. The A button makes your skater push with his foot, and the B makes him hold the board. The rest is done with motion. You turn by tilting the remote side to side, manual and nose manual by tilting the remote forward or back and do tricks by snapping the remote up, to the side or in tight circles.

I was able to do quite a few tricks with the remote, including a new Kung-Fu move requires jumping up in the air and pushing both buttons at the same time, after just a few minutes with the controller. There was a slight lag between the motion and a jump, but it felt like it was something built into the game on purpose rather than a design flaw. The turning was tight and responsive and for the most part if felt like a Skate game.

One very noticeable difference is that in Skate it on the Wii there are no pedestrians. The developers explain this away by saying a series of disasters have struck the city, leaving you with a playground of upturned asphalt, broken signs and bent rails to skate in, but I suspect that some of that decision was also driven by the necessity of developing an Xbox 360, PS3 game for the Wii.

While the game will also make use of the Wii Balance Board, allowing you to steer and do manuals with it by shifting your weight, we weren't allowed to test that out at last night's event.

The game will have you leaving the city and traveling to real cities around the world to compete in skate events, the developers told me.

While the graphics certainly take a hit, the slick feel of the controls, I suspect, will more than make up for that.

I didn't get a chance to check out the DS version, unfortunately, but in the demo they showed how you will perform stunts by tracing lines across a skateboard on the touch screen. Most moves looked like they were made by drawing angles lines or open shapes, like a rough J or U, though one trick required a odd-looking loopdeloop.

Skate It looks to replace the dual analog control scheme from the original skate with a Wii remote-only method that looks serviceable based on the promo video. As expected, the game also plans to use the soon to be release Wii Fit Balance Board, but executive producer Scott Blackwood is light on details. IGN has the full scoop.

Skate It on Wii and Nintendo DS [IGN]

Consider it rumor for now—whilst fantasizing about Wii Balance Board control!—and pretend to be surprised when EA and IGN work out their arrangement on the game's potential public reveal. In the meantime, we'll check with EA to see if there's more substance to this.

Formerly the Home of: Skate Shreds Wii and DS [IGN]