With Mass Effect 3 dropping next week, this week’s Pulse also shows off the unique in-game Argus rifle and exclusive PS3 theme available for those who pre-order from PlayStation Store. Other “Only on PlayStation” content shown in this episode include a look at SSX’s Mt Fuji mountain and Street Fighter X Tekken’s exclusive character Cole MacGrath.

Finally, with the Academy Awards behind us, the Top 10 highlights the most popular past Best Picture winners you guys are watching from Video Unlimited.

Download full HD editions of PULSE from the PlayStation Store after today’s update.

This edition of Pulse also takes the Mass Effect 3 demo (coming to PSN later today) and SSX demo (coming soon) for a test drive. And, with only a week until PS Vita rolls out here in North America, Christina Lee takes a quick look at the must-have launch titles such as Escape Plan, wipEout 2048, and UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss. We also take you behind the velvet rope of PlayStation Home’s exclusive VIP Club ‘X7.’

Remember, you can watch the full editions of Pulse in the “What’s New” section under the PlayStation Network icon when the PlayStation Store updates later today and download in full HD or to your PSP.

SSX is just over a month away, and we’re excited to give our PS3 fans in North America some exclusive content to keep you busy on the slopes. Mt. Fuji, the legendary Japanese mountain will only available on PS3 in North America. The mountain that owns the horizon in Tokyo is packed with six unique event drops. Three race drops and three trick drops will have PS3 players carving down and in the majestic landmark in true SSX fashion – with a complete disregard for the laws of physics. From racing through cherry blossoms to tricking off Torii gates, North American Playstation gamers will have something unique to look forward to when SSX arrives on Feb 28th.

Now a few words from the creative director on bringing back SSX from Creative Director Todd Batty:

“Extreme Sports is a dead genre.” Over the past three years I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this. As a gamer who has been playing for more than 20 years and, as a huge fan of games like SSX and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, it is also something that I refuse to believe.

Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy blowing things up and shooting people in the face as much as the next guy! But spending hundreds of hours with my friends stringing together endless combos in search of the ‘perfect run’ in SSX and THPS is easily some of my fondest gaming memories.

Fast forward nearly a decade and our team is hoping to not only re-launch one of the greatest IP franchises in EA Sports history, but to bring this type of experience back to the forefront of gaming. SSX is a game for gamers.

Arcade games are challenging to design. On one hand, many players expect instant gratification from an arcade title and have little tolerance for an overly steep learning curve. This is actually true of most games today, but is even more important in this type of game. On the other hand, with a shallow learning curve and instant gratification comes the perception (which is often true) that the game lacks depth and is therefore only going to be enjoyable for a short time.

Embracing this challenge from the onset, our team adopted a motto for SSX: “make awesome easy, and make oh-my-god really hard.” Rather than following a more traditional zero-to-hero learning curve, SSX lets you feel like a hero from the first time you pick up the controller. And from there, with a little practice, or in some cases a LOT of practice, you can start to perform like a superhero.

We had three major goals for SSX. The first goal, and where we spent the majority of time and effort with this reboot, was to recapture that core gameplay magic across Race, Trick and Survival events. The second was to build a massive world for players to explore. The third goal was to redefine social gaming on a console with something we call RiderNet.

Race it, Trick It, Survive It

There are three ways to compete in SSX.

Race it is all about bombing down the mountain at insane speeds and trying to find the fastest path down our huge open mountains. Think: Burnout on snow. Beyond that, racing in SSX has always had its own game-changer as doing tricks gives you boost. Your reaction time needs to be lightning quick as youtry to decide whether or not to jump off a huge kickers to earn some valuable boost, or avoid them altogether and stick to the ground so that you don’t lose your speed. When you factor in the coolest new gameplay addition to SSX – a wingsuit that lets you glide high above the terrain for short stints – the level of depth gets even greater.

Trick it has always been the heart and soul of SSX, and this version is no exception. Trick it is all about style and flow, and trying to string together the perfect top-to-bottom combo in order to max your score. In this SSX you can ride everything in the world. Literally. if you can see it, you can ride it. The freedom of trying to grind, backflip, and vault off any piece of terrain means that you’re constantly discovering new tricks and lines on the mountain, even some stuff that we never designed or intended. It’s an awesome feeling knowing that you can make almost any line work if you can find the right angles.

Survive it is something completely new to the SSX franchise. These levels act like mini “boss battles’ where we challenge you to simply make it to the bottom of the mountain in one piece. In game design terms these are referred to as “exciters and delighters” – not meant to be a core part of the experience but something unique and fun to discover hidden among the many awesome race and trick events. Here you will battle different environmental challenges on nine of the most iconic mountains in the world. These challenges range from outrunning and jumping over massive avalanches on Denali in Alaska to riding through perfect darkness in the depths of Kilimanjaro with only a headlamp strapped to your head. Each of these “deadly descents” offers a fresh, and often harrowing, new gameplay experience.

The Massive World of SSX

The new SSX has more mountains than all of the previous versions of SSX combined. The massive world you will explore spans the entire globe and includes nine different regions, 29 unique mountains and over 150 different event drops, each unique in their own way and each offering tons of replayability. If you want to earn a gold medal on every drop in the main mode of SSX (named simply, “Explore”) you will find more than 50-100 hours of fun. And once you start chasing your friend’s records on your favorite drops that number will grow even larger. Much larger.

Ridernet

Finally, we wanted to put competition with friends at the absolute heart of the SSX experience, and we do that with something we call RiderNet. Inspired by Criterion’s awesome Autolog feature from NFSHP, RiderNet allows you to compete against ghosts of your friends best runs, points you to drops where your friends are dominating you, recommends drops based on what you and others like, allows you to share and collect something we call “geotags,” which are user-created collectibles found throughout our massive world, and so much more. We even have a mobile RiderNet application in development that lets you see what your friends are up to when you are away from your console and send them messages, letting you congratulate them or talk a little trash…This SSX was built from the ground up for the connected generation.

We think this game represents the beginnings of a new franchise and the return of an almost-forgotten genre, and we hope that after you get your hands on it you will agree.

SSX lands on the PS3 February 28 in North America and March 2 in the rest of the world. In addition, Sony gamers in North America will be treated to an exclusive mountain that is only available on the PS3 – the legendary Mt. Fuji in Japan. Look forward to seeing you all on the slopes!

During our chat, I was able to slip in some questions from the PlayStation.Blog community and squeak out some tantalizing hints of the PS3-exclusive Mt. Fuji level.

PlayStation.Blog: What does the PS3’s technology bring to SSX? What can you do now that you couldn’t do in the PS2 era?
Geoff Coates, Art Director, SSX: I worked on all the previous SSX games, and at the time we had a lot of big ambitions that we couldn’t execute due to technological limitations – whether it was console hardware power or software holding us back. We’ve just caught up now from a technical perspective, so it seems like the best possible time for a new SSX game.

Terrain is a great example of that. Having worked on the previous games, I remember how hard it was for us to create those tracks. Now, on the PS3, we have nine different mountain regions, 27 different peaks and over 100 different runs. That’s something we couldn’t have imagined pulling off on the PS2: those tracks worked more like linear racetracks. Now we model the mountain region in full, then we can drop you on different peaks and you can run them as Race It events, Trick It events, or Survive It events.

The scope is enormous. We have a Google Earth-style interface, and it’s fun to zip around in the UI and check out the global regions. We’ve got Alaska, the Himalayas, Siberia, Patagonia, and on and on.

PSB: The Survive It element was a bit controversial when it was first revealed, with some players worried it was tampering with a winning formula. What’s your response?
GC: When we initially showed the Survive It challenges when we unveiled the game, we wanted to show what was new. The Race It and Trick It events are still the heart of what SSX is all about; Survive It aspect is just an added component. All the stuff you love about the game – the over-the-top tricks, the terrain, the characters – are coming back. Survive It adds a new twist, and it’s compelling partly due to the danger and partly due to helpful gear like the Wing Suit. It’s super fun to shred down a course and know that if you don’t make a big jump, you’re going to fall into the crevice and die. That’s an experience we’ve never had before.

PSB: As EA announced at E3, Mt. Fuji will be an exclusive bonus for PS3 players. Can you give us a preview of what we can expect?
GC: I was actually just playing Mt. Fuji the other day! I can’t share too much yet, but it will fit into the rest of the SSX world. It does, however, have a very distinct look. It look really cool and I think PS3 fans will be excited once they see it.

PSB: What’s your favorite feature in the new SSX? What grabs you, personally?
GC: I really like all the gear enhancements that the characters have now – the Wing Suit, the ice axe or other survival equipment. It’s something we’ve never had before, and they add these really cool layers to the gameplay. And once you unlock them you can use them anywhere… But we have to be careful with something (as liberating as the Wing Suit) so that we don’t mess up the gameplay. The designers have done a good job with it so far: it’s very fun but it doesn’t break the balance.

PSB: One of the key ingredients of any SSX game lies in the soundtrack. Can you share any details?
GC: You’re right: Music has always been a key element of the SSX experience, and it will continue to be so. We’re looking at a lot of things: letting players use their own music in the game, customize their playlist and that kind of thing. In terms of performers and types of music on the soundtrack, we’ll have more to share once those details are finalized.

PSB: The Rewind feature looks pretty cool — if you screw up a jump, you can just turn the clock back with a button press. How do you balance a feature that allows you to literally undo mistakes?
GC: We’re getting really good feedback for Rewind, and we’ll definitely have it in the game. Its impact on gameplay will depend on gameplay balancing – it’s a cool feature, but it will definitely have to have a cost in terms of time or a Tricky boost. We’ll balance that out as we get closer to final.

PSB: How does online competition work? Will there be any way to post run times or high scores to your friends?
GC: The online component and being able to interact with and race against your friends online is a huge component. You will be able to see your friends’ best scores and they can challenge you to races. We’ve also got RiderNet, which allows you to recommend drops and runs to your friends. There’s a lot of interaction with your friends — online is a big pillar for SSX. When I get a chance to see what the online group is planning, I’m always super stoked.

PSB: The control scheme has evolved over the SSX series, moving from the d-pad focus of the first game to a reliance on analog sticks in later titles. What’s your philosophy for this game?
GC: We’re still trying to nail down exactly what the final control scheme will be. We were looking at multiple control configurations, that kind of thing. But one thing our creative director always says is “make awesome easy.” Whatever control config we do end up with, you’ll be able to pick it up and play and bust awesome tricks right away. But there is a layer of depth – it’s easy to pick up, hard to master.

PSB: Race It and Trick It are the stalwarts of the series. What’s evolved there?
GC: Their essence is fully intact. What’s changed is that the design of the world now dictates how you interact with the tracks. The traditional SSX games were highly crafted experiences: it was all about hitting that same jump in a slightly different way to get slightly more air, to earn a few extra points. I watch people playing this game, and they take entirely different paths, different rails, different routes. The tracks are so big and expansive now that you can take many, many routes down the mountain. It’s less about hitting a specific jump perfectly and more about finding a whole new line down the hill.

Here I spoke with Jeff Rubenstein of the PlayStation.Blog about how we use NASA satellite maps to create new runs, including the PS3-exclusive Mount Fuji level.