SSX is a series that has attracted even casual fans of extreme sports games like myself. SSX 3, the pinnacle of the series so far, is a title I regularly preach about to my non-gaming friends, espousing the game's amazing open-ended playstyle, epic environments, and wonderful control scheme. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to find a game I enjoyed more in 2003 than SSX3.

So it's with a mixture of anticipation and cautious optimism that I read the preview of the newest SSX title, SSX: Out of Bounds, due for release on the N-Gage next month.

When you typically think of an "extreme" game, what comes to mind? Boards, right? Snowboards, skateboards, wakeboards, etc. It seems like, in order to qualify as "extreme" the game character has to be somehow strapped to an oblong piece of fibreglass, wood, or metal. But isn't that doing a disservice to other forms of extreme sports games out there? I mean, how extreme is dangerous big game hunting, as found in Cabela's Dangerous Hunts for PC? There's a degree of "extremeness" found in those that strap on shotguns and go out looking to wax wild boar and polar bears that somehow the likes of Shaun Murray and Dave Mirra can't touch.

So what's your definition of extreme sports games? Does it take more than wheels nailed to a piece of plywood and some baggy shorts to qualify? Let's hear your take!

I haven't stepped on a skateboard since some time in the late 1980s. Even back then, my skills weren't much more than simply staying upright on the board while skating from one end of my driveway to the next. I did an Atomic Drop once, if that means anything to you. Nailed it, too.

Believe it or not, Tony Hawk was a big name even back then. Of course he was known more for his actual skills on the skateboard than for the video game that bears his likeness.