Everybody's Gone Surfing

The PlayStation 2 might be almost upon us, but with only a handful of the consoles available outside of Japan development on the original PlayStation is still going strong. Midas have already scooped the rights to bring Peter Molyneux's magnus opus "Black & White" to the PlayStation, which should be .. interesting, and now they have announced another PlayStation title - "California Water Sports". Set for release in January, when every surfer in the country with any sense will be huddled around their fire at home, the game promises a mixture of surfboards, bodyboards, windsurfers and jet watercraft to ride, while listening to the "popular surfin' tunes" of unfortunately named band "The Penetrators".

Midas are promising us "gorgeous California girls, strong guys and beautiful beaches with a variety of surf conditions faithfully recreated to accommodate shifting sands and wave patterns", with four player action and a "free ride" mode which allows you to just go out there, catch some surf and have some fun. There's even a championship mode where you can compete for a trophy for the best overall performance across all of the available beaches. Given that surfing in the middle of winter in the UK is a good way to win yourself a free trip to your local hospital to be treated for hypothermia, this is as close as you're likely to get to any surf this winter without emigrating to Australia... To find out more, read the press release.