PHOTO COURTESY OF ELECTRONIC ARTS    SSX 3   From Electronic Arts; Available October   www.easportsbig.com

SSX 3
Video games were made for sports that involve plummeting full-speed ahead down a mountain, dodging trees, getting buzzed by helicopters and leaping hundreds of feet off snowy ledges. Games like SSX are to snowboarding what Rocky movies are to boxing: If the action were real, you'd be dead in the first 30 seconds, but SSX3 and even less over-the-top but promising contenders like 1080 Avalanche from Nintendo and Amped 2 from Microsoft, will give you that stomach-in-your-throat feeling without forcing you to eat a flake of snow.