The news we broke exclusively last week has now been confirmed officially by Nintendo and EA! Video footage inside!

Nintendo and EA have confirmed Mario, Luigi and Peach will be playable in the upcoming GameCube version of SSX On Tour. Cube-Europe were the first in the world to break the news last week, when we posted video footage of the trio in action after finding them present in a review copy of the game.

SSX On Tour will build upon the SSX franchise by including new player customisation options, plus new tricks, tracks and multiplayer options. As usual, players can compete for medals through races and stunt competitions or simply tear through slopes freestyle.

This marks the second such partnership between Nintendo and EA, the first of which brought Mario, Luigi and Peach into NBA Street V3.

"I am extremely proud of our innovative partnership with Nintendo with our EA SPORTS BIG titles," said John Schappert, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Canada. "Mario, Peach and Luigi are among the greatest videogame characters of all time and we are thrilled to include them in SSX On Tour."

Nintendo celebrity Reggie Fils-Aime also had something to say concerning Mario's latest athletic venture.

"When Electronic Arts put a basketball in Mario's hand, he did quite well," said Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president, sales and marketing, for Nintendo of America Inc. "Now Mario and crew are hitting the slopes thanks to a successful and creative partnership between Nintendo and EA. Mario has traveled in snow before, but never this fast. Let's hope his mustache doesn't freeze."

SSX On Tour is on its way before the end of the year, but until then, here's the video exclusives from earlier in the week EA ordered us to take down (we really didn't want to get sued...)