When SSX: Deadly Descents was announced last year, boasting a new serious tone for the series, I think it’s safe to say there was a mild amount of discontent amongst the franchise’s fans from all corners of the internet. Yes, I was one of those people.

The debut dev diary out of EA Vancouver though looks to put those fears to rest. No, it doesn’t show any gameplay of any sort, but with developers constantly drilling home their point that their message was misinterpreted and showing off fancy concept art that looks to put the fun back in funky chicken (that was terrible... I apologise!), the future is certainly rosier for SSX fans than it probably was a few weeks ago.

Granted, it’s going to take more than a few minutes of, “Hey, it’s still SSX and it’s still arcadey*” but we’re much more hopeful after seeing this. Hell, it looks as if it’s even lost the “Deadly Descents” moniker as well, which may be EA Vancouver’s way of getting back on message. Well... it needs to be!

*totally paraphrased and how I heard it in my head.

[Via Gamesradar]