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# SSX Developers scan NASA satellite images into game world
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/uncanny-mountain-ssx-developers-scan-nasa-satellite-imag/
- Published: 2012-01-17T16:20:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T15:27:46.000Z
- Description: EA Canada have turned to an unlikely source for help building tracks in the new SSX title; namely, NASA. Data from the Aster Global Digital Elevation Map, a joint project between NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade have been uploaded into EA Canada’s Mountain Man level building
- Author: Kill Screen Staff
- Tags: News, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/16010110918_1.jpg)

EA Canada have turned to an unlikely source for help building tracks in the new *SSX* title; namely, NASA. Data from the Aster Global Digital Elevation Map, a joint project between NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade have been uploaded into EA Canada’s Mountain Man level building tool. With 1.3 million hi-res satellite photos of Earth, incredibly detailed to-scale representations of some of the planet’s most iconic mountains have been recreated, and according to [Wired](http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/pl%5Fgamesssx/?pid=7943&ref=killscreen.com),

> *Riders will now be able to helicopter-drop onto the icy heights of Kilimanjaro, grind off the Great Wall of China, descend Everest, deploy a wing suit, and race in real time against 100,000 other players around the world-all set against a backdrop that’s as realistic as anything on Google Earth.*

This trend of videogames trying to exactly duplicate the real world seems to be growing, with Team Bondi’s use of photo-realistic face mapping and facial animations in their recent *L.A. Noire* serving as another high-profile example. While our games have always strove to create believable worlds for us to play in, time will tell if this shift towards the hyper-real is a permanent one. If so, our videogame developers may be enjoying a shift in role from simple masters of play to curators of entire digital realities

\[via [Wired](http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/pl%5Fgamesssx/?pid=7943&ref=killscreen.com)\]

*\-Patrick Lindsey*