With E3 just weeks away, game developers are (understandably) keeping tight-lipped about developments but in an interview with Diehard GameFAN we find out a bit more about Ubisoft's Raving Rabbids TV Party. You can read the entire interview here, but for those of you just interested in the balance board stuff, here's a summary.

DHGF: Raving Rabbids TV Party is going to make use of the Wii Balance Board that came with Wii Fit. We've already seen the clips of the racing game in which gamers will be making ample use of their buttocks. What other mini-games will feature the balance board, and what happens to those gamers who don't have the balance board? How do they play these games?

Ubisoft: We'll be unveiling the next batch of Balance Board mini-games at E3, so you'll have to wait a few weeks to find out what's in store. However, there are also a few games where you get to stand and rest your behind. For people who don't have the Balance board yet, the game allows you the option of using the two controllers at the start of each game. The wii mote and nunchuck are tremendously versatile, so the balance board games are still intuitive and fun and have been developed and tweaked to fit the controllers. But (no pun intended!), the board does add a uniquely fun dimension to the gameplay!

DHGF: It's been mentioned that in both Party Mode and Co-Op that you can somehow sabotage your friends. How will this work?

Ubisoft: Basically if you are playing on the balance board, riding the Wildebeest in multiplayer, your adversaries can toss things to throw you off your butt-balancing. It means that you can still cause havoc, even when you're not the one riding the board.

DHGF: The first Rayman Raving Rabbids was a multi-console title. With the sequel and now TV Party, we've seen the game going Nintendo exclusive, only appearing on the Wii and DS. What was the decision behind focusing only on Nintendo's systems? Was it simply a gameplay decision or something else?

Ubisoft: RRR was designed to explore different controls and the way we prototyped them allowed us to showcase Nintendo’s new controllers. Movement off- and on-screen changed the development and the creative processes and the Wii became a perfect fit for Rabbid humor and gameplay style. This unique style benefits even further from the Balance Board, and we have tried to create weird and wonderful new movements using the board as well continuing to play with the Wii remote and Nunchuk in crazy ways!

So, nothing new there but one of the things that did grab my attention, and kudos to Ubisoft for thinking about this, was the ability for other players to interact with the balance board user within the game. The whole one balance board at a time limitation has already been covered and right now, there's no way around it so we've had to make do with throwing empty cans at the balance board user or trying to poke them with a stick but at least with RRR, other players aren't simply left watching while one person uses the board.

EA Games has just confirmed the release of Boogie Superstar in the US and Europe for October this year but there was no specific mention of support for the Wii Balance Board. According to the press release, "Girls will have a blast belting their favorite tunes into the microphone, and performing real dance moves that are captured on screen using the Wii’s motion-sensing technology".

Wii Board followers will most probably recall that rumours of a balance board compatible release of EA Boogie, initially titled EA Boogie II, have been doing the rounds for some time. Earlier this year, UK NGamer magazine broke the news that the game would actually be titled Boogie Superstar and that it would be balance board compatible. The latest press release doesn't specifically confirm anything although it did say that the game's featured artist is a chart-topping global music sensation who will help promote the game. Maybe she's brushing up on her balance board skills in preparation for a big launch at E3 next month?

Update: Well it looks like despite previous rumours, we can officially scratch Boogie Superstar off the Wii Balance Board Games List. I got in touch with EA Games and asked about balance board support and here's what they had to say:

"Boogie SuperStar will not include game play on the Wii balance board. The game will utilize a microphone peripheral for singing and the Wii Remote's motion-sensing technology for dancing, to provide players with a realistic and enjoyable performing experience."

Here's an interesting idea for skateboarders looking forward to EA Skate It. According to a post on kotaku, EA developers are considering the possibility of shipping Skate It with some kind of add-on form that will snap onto the balance board and give it more of a skateboard look and feel.

Some of you may think it's taking things a bit far but I can see where they're coming from. After some vigorous play, I often find that my feet have moved off the board's sweet spot, making the controls a little erratic. The idea is that having something which more closely resembles an actual skateboard will help users to realise when they're no longer centered on the board without having to look down at their feet.

Bear in mind that the developers are only 'considering the possibility' so it's far from being a done deal, but now that the idea is out there I'm sure that Wii accessories manufacturers are already seeing dollar signs. I'd actually like to see this taken one step further. Instead of a form that's shaped like a skateboard, rather make an attachment that let's you use your own skateboard deck or even a snowboard. Now that would be pretty cool - most probably totally impractical, but cool.

Before you get too excited, no, this is not confirmation that a new version of 1080° Snowboarding is coming with Balance Board support - it could almost be the opposite I'm afraid. In an interview with cubed3, 1080° Snowboarding developer, Giles Goddard, confirmed that his team are working on a WiiWare title scheduled for release this September but he wasn't willing to confirm exactly what the game is. Worryingly, he had this to say:

"Our current game uses the Balance Board actually, and it's due out in September on WiiWare. So yes, much like Theta we came up with several prototypes of games and picked one that we thought was the most uniquely suited to the interface. The interesting thing is that the games you would think would work well with the Balance Board actually don't."

So is he referring to 1080° in that last sentence since you would have thought that it was one of the best suited games. Even Wii Fit's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, mentioned 1080° in an interview way back before Wii Fit was launched globally. I guess we'll just have to wait for the rest of the interview to be published before we really know.

Earlier this month a teaser trailer appeared on YouTube titled Wii Move - Balance Board Innovation. The trailer itself didn't really say much although the the associated tags (wiiware, balance board, independent game, q4 2008) seemed to hint at something but I thought I would just keep an eye on things before posting information here.

Now, a second teaser has been released, this time titled We Move: Pain vs Pleasure and it's all starting to fall into place. How best to describe this? Well it's like Wii Board meets Second Life with a distinctly adult flavour. Looking back at the first trailer, the signs were all there - the scantily dressed women, suggestive swaying hips and bouncing breasts - I can't believe I missed it the first time around. This second video however definitely sets the scene with text like "Cruise Your Neighborhood", "Go One On One" and "Interact Live With Other Users" together with an alternative use for hot candle wax - I think you get the picture.

Although details are still sketchy, the word is that this WiiWare title is being developed by PheroseSoft, a small development team made up of ex EA and Rockstar staff and is scheduled for release as We Move in Q4 2008. I'll keep you posted as things hot up as I'm sure they will.

Wow, it's been a busy 24 hours with sightings on videogaming247 of three new Balance Board game rumours.

First up, it's news of a concept for Wii Yoga, supposedly spotted on research website, Intellisponse. The leaked blurb has this to say:

"In the game 'Wii Yoga', boost your energy, flexibility and improve your well being the fun way through an adaptable weekly schedule of interactive exercises that will leave you feeling refreshed. Follow along with an inspirational yoga guru instructor matching their on-screen poses, stretches and triangular positions with the motion sensing Wii controller and Balance Board. Track your progress, compare your fitness results with friends and family, and feel good about yourself as you enhance your physical health."

Next up, and from the same source, is news of 14 potential Spidey games with at least one of them, Spider-Man: Agile Warrior said to include Wii Balance Board support. Here's what the blurb had to say about this one:

"It might be Spider-Man's heart that keeps him going. Or maybe his strength. Step into Spider-Man's shoes and decide for yourself - one jump, leap, stomp and kick at a time. Climb atop your Wii Fit board to control Spider-Man's acrobatic abilities like nothing before. Lean one way or the other to send Spider-Man soaring in the air. Jump as high as you can to propel Spider-Man off Manhattan's tallest rooftops. Hop quickly to help Spidey climb walls and get a vertical advantage over his enemies. Stomp your feet to kick and cartwheel foes in the cirty's darkest alleys. It's been said that the fate of New York lies in Spider-Man's hands. Control his feet and see the truth for yourself: heroes don't enter the battle, they jump into it."

Lastly it's news that Tony Hawk may finally be joining the balance board party with news that Tony Hawk’s Adrenaline will make use of "a new motion sensing board controller". That doesn't necessarily mean that the controller is the Wii Balance Board since according to the original post on joystiq, there was no mention of a Wii version, just Xbox, PS3 and PC versions so the plot thickens. Could this be the start of a competing peripheral? We can only hope that a Wii version is also in the works and that it will be Wii Board compatible.

Of course all of this is highly speculative and based on information that I assume wasn't supposed to be publicly available so I wouldn't get too excited just yet. Also bear in mind that these are still 'concepts' which means they may never actually see the light of day so I won't be adding any of these to the Wii Balance Board Games List just yet.

More skateboarding news and this time it's rumoured by EGM that Sega's arcade titles Ollie King and Top Skater will be coming to the Wii and will include Balance Board support.

There's no official word from Sega on this and even rumours that Sega is currently in some legal wrangling over the original Ollie King so don't hold your breath on this one.

The word on the Ubisoft forums is that Rayman Rabbids 3 has been confirmed by Gamestop for a November release and is supposedly available for pre-order in store. They also seemed to imply that it does have balance board support but whether this is fact our just assumption based on the teaser trailer is unknown. There's still no official word from Ubisoft so this has to remain a rumour for now.

On the subject of teaser trailers, that was some marketing genius. It's a well known fact that Rabbids fans have been disappointed with the game since Rabbids 2. By supposedly including balance board support, Ubisoft most probably hope that the game will now appeal to the growing number of casual gamers thanks to Wii Fit. Whether Rabbids 3 will appease the diehard fans remains to be seen.

Now that Wii Fit is done and dusted, let's hope that Nintendo have been concentrating more on Wii Music. Wii Music was originally announced as part of the Wii Series which included Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Wii Chess and although there have been hints of the game since 2005 and a confirmation by The Shig of a 2008 launch, definitive information has been scarce.

A recent post by revogamers has hinted that the game will in fact be released before November this year and it's also rumoured to include Balance Board support with the Wii Board used as a drum pedal.

For now, this has to remain in the rumours category but I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement about Wii Music at E3 in July.

With WiiWare opening up a whole new world of channels for the Wii console, it was only a matter of time until there was talk of Wii Balance Board support.

It looks like Hudson Entertainment is first off the mark. In a recent interview on Siliconera, Kentaro Murayama, Hudson Entertainment’s Executive Vice President in Japan had this to say about Tetris for WiiWare:

"It features a number of new rules and items. Currently, we’re tossing around the idea of using the Balance Board."

Ok, not exactly cast in stone but it's a start and you can be sure that if Hudson are considering it, other WiiWare developers are too.