Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

There was lots of talk about innovation at this year's UbiDays conference. Voice control. 3D visuals. Super-clever sidekicks. And, of course, "A world exclusive, the first ever game you can play with your ass."

What could it be? Tom Clancy's Bumfighter? Cheek to Cheek With Jade Raymond? A misguidedly literal sequel to Assassin's Creed? No, it's Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, the game first hinted at in a teaser trailer released in April.

For the third instalment in the RRR series, Ubisoft has decided to make some of the mini-games playable using the Wii balance board. Only one of these was demonstrated at the event - a sledging game played by sitting down and shifting your weight left and right to steer. But, as game manager Adrian Lacey explains during our post-conference chat, there will be more board games in the finished product.

"I reckon about 30 percent of the games use the balance board," he says. "There will be dancing games, rhythm games, balance games - and a few I'm not allowed to tell you about just yet."

Sounds interesting, but there's one obvious problem. RRR has always been about multiplayer fun, and battling it out using two or more remotes. The Wii balance board is currently only available bundled with Wii Fit, and it's not cheap. It seems unlikely casual gamers would want to pay GBP 69.99 more than once just to play their Mum at arseboarding.

America's Next Top Rabbid.

It's a problem Mr Ubisoft's aware of. "The difficulty we have with the balance board is we try to make all the games simultaneous, so up to four players can play at the same time," he says. "Obviously, just one player can use the balance board. It's quite a solo experience. But we try to involve everyone else around you." So, for example, "There are sabotage games where you might be balancing using your bottom, and people are pressing buttons on their remotes to throw stuff at you at the same time, and knock you off balance."

According to Lacey there are more than 75 mini-games in TV Party. Working the percentages it follows that around 50 will be playable with traditional controllers rather than the board. Once again, just one was on show at Ubidays - Dancing With Dweebs. Holding the remote and nunchuk, you follow the on-screen instructions and dance along to classic disco track Jungle Boogie. Moves include stretching your arm up and out then bringing it back down across your body, Saturday Night Fever-style, and waving your arms in the air, like you just don't care.

Here's hoping they make a Wii balance board game based on Cool Runnings.

Trying out the game, it's easy to see how it all works. It's not too hard to pull the moves off, either, as there are healthy gaps between most of them. In fact, there's so little challenge it's a bit dull. It's probably a lot more fun when you're dancing in your own lounge with some drunk people, rather than dancing at a videogames conference with some PR people while being observed by a group of retail executives. Things do get a bit frantic towards the end, and no doubt there will be higher difficulty levels in the finished game.

If you think waving your arms around in front of people you don't know sounds embarassing, imagine them watching you play a game with your buttocks. Yes, it's arseboarding time. In brief: the technology works. Shifting your weight right or left does indeed make the bunny on screen steer its sledge in the relevant direction. The goal is to guide your sledge through a series of flags, just like in Wii Fit skiing. There's definitely skill involved as the board is very sensitive to your movements, but it's easy to get the hang of how it all works.

Things get trickier halfway down the course when you're told to lean backwards to make the sledge gather speed. It's at this point you lose control of the whole thing, and start missing all the flags and crashing into the sides, and you hear a snigger from the man standing behind you, and you think well at least I don't have to take the Argos catalogue seriously for a living. The point is, the sledging game is fun and offers a proper challenge, much like Wii Fit skiing - and like Wii Fit skiing, it's likely to be good for playing with non-gaming friends after a few drinks.

So what else is new for TV Party? Well, there's the Pimp My Rabbit feature. This allows you to customise your rabbids with a selection of stupid clothes, and share pictures of them via Wi-Fi Connect. You can also upload high scores. There's still no online multiplayer mode, though. How come?

"It's about having the time and having the games that are fit for it," says Lacey. "Nintendo is very strong, it's their console, and that's why they're going to be the first to do it, with things like Super Smash Bros. It is going to happen more and more."

Suspect this shot may not be from the actual game.

However, sounds like it won't necessarily happen for RRR. "It's got to be the right game for the online community," Lacey observes. "With party games the idea is you play together. If we're playing a dancing game and you're in Australia and I'm in England, I can't see you, and I want to be able to see you. This is a social game. Online is great for certain types of game, but TV Party is about watching each other make fools of ourselves."

So the emphasis is on foolishness rather than fitness, despite the use of the balance board. There may be some health benefits though. "You're not necessarily going to get big biceps, but it's very much action gaming, it's very physical. If you play it all day you'll break a sweat," says Lacey. "Active movement has a benefit, no matter how much or how little you do." Any chance of a Wii Fit-style calendar so you can track your progress? Lacey's keeping quiet: "There may be something in there, but I can't say anything."

The thing to remember, he continues, is that TV Party is all about fun first and foremost. "It's not about having the perfect body, it's about having a laugh. That's the most important thing for this type of game." Well, that, and the fact you can play it with your arse.