Joystiq

Mega Man bombs Virtual Console, golf too

Jason Dobson — 2008-08-18T14:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii, Action, Sports

The Virtual Console just got its weekly nostalgia injection, offering fans of all colors -- but mostly blue and green -- something else to download and play as we wonder where the weekend went and why exactly there is a receipt for a Magnet Beam on the kitchen table.

Mega Man (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points): With the Blue Bomber set to don pixelated pajamas next month, his freshman adventure marks this week's most noteworthy addition to the Wii's window into the past. Assuming you haven't bought the original Mega Man in one of Capcom's many other compilations, Guts Man and company are waiting ever so patiently for you to drop by.
Neo Turf Masters (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): This is 133 megs of hot golf action right here, straight from 1996 to your living room. You don't have even to admit to your friends that you like video game golf. We'll keep your dirty little secret.

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Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 hitting the greens on June 3

Griffin McElroy — 2008-04-20T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PSP, Sports

Are you a fan of the professional golfing scene, but wish that Tiger Woods' head was a tad more hydrocephalitic? Feel disappointed when your long drives aren't punctuated with high-pitched squeals and rainbow trails? Whether you're a soon to be fan or a returning wedge-wielder, we're sure the news of a North American release date for the sequel to the PSP's premier anime-inspired golf simulator, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, will bring tears of joy to your dinner plate-sized, sparkle-filled eyes.

Sony recently confirmed that the game, appropriately titled Open Tee 2, will hit store shelves June 3, and will tout an 16-player online tournament mode (making up for the original game's complete lack of online support) and an 8-player ad-hoc match play mode. If you've never been exposed to Clap Hanz' peculiar take on the ancient sport, you can get the full version of Open Tee the first on the Playstation Store for $10.99 -- a mere fraction of the cost to hit the big boy links, and without all that pesky walking.

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We Love Golf American release to include online play

Zack Stern — 2008-03-13T11:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Online, Strategy, Casual, Galleries

Capcom's upcoming North American version of We Love Golf will add four-player online matches to the recently released Japanese game. Wii players will be able to connect with or without Friend Codes, and they'll have the option of Mii avatars in games.

Due sometime this year, the Wii golf game is being developed by Camelot Software, long-time cartoon-golf developers. Collectables and other touches add value to the OCD set; the poll results are in, and we'll get Ken and Morgan costumes in this version. But screw those extras, Capcom had us at "Friend Code optional."

Gallery: We Love Golf (Wii)

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Hot Shots Golf 5 swings into US March 2008

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2007-12-11T17:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Sports

A little birdie told us.

Actually, it was PS3 Fanboy, but working those guys into a golf pun proved to be more challenging and awkward than hitting a hole-in-one with a pool noodle. As the strikingly informative headline would suggest, the fifth main iteration of Sony's Hot Shots Golf is expected to cross the gulf between the US and Japan sometime in March 2008. The game was greeted with polite applause upon its initial release in July, prompting PlayStation 3 sales to double and avid clubbers to praise its sparkling graphics and adorably deformed characters.

Expect to hear an exact release date early next year. Until then, caddy on.

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Today's hungriest video: Aqua Teens

Zack Stern — 2007-07-31T00:40:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Action, Driving, Fighting, Sports, Video, Casual

The half-baked, non sequitur style of Adult Swim prevails in this trailer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am. They couldn't even resize footage from different sources to be the same resolution. That's the Adult Swim seal of approval.

Strangely -- like some of those cartoon shows the kids are into -- the trailer comes off as engaging and funny. There's golf cart racing, a helpless Carl taking the detectives' abuse, Mooninites, and very little actual golf. Hopefully the actual game will strike a similar balance.

See the trailer after the break.

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Ninja Gaiden costumes in Super Swing Golf sequel

John Bardinelli — 2007-06-28T15:28:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports

In the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu, Tecmo announced a sequel to Super Swing Golf (known as PangYa elsewhere) for the Wii. Along with more courses, extra modes and items, the game will feature several new costumes, including those of Ryu and Rachel from Ninja Gaiden. There will also be new special moves such as "spike shots" that are unaffected by the wind. Japanese gamers can get their hands on the game this winter, but no word on a North American release yet.

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Hot Shots PS3 bundle cheaper than standalone console

Ross Miller — 2007-06-20T18:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Sports, Business

What's the value of Hot Shots golf for the PlayStation 3? Apparently negative 5,800 yen (that's approximately negative US $47).

Siliconera has found a pair of Hot Shots PS3 console bundle, with the 20 GB model for 51,980 yen ($423) and the 60 GB model for 61,980 yen ($503), according to Impress Watch. And though on Amazon Japan, the 20 GB standalone model is cheaper at 49,980 yen ($406), the 60 GB standalone SKU is 67,780 ($551).

Is this indicative of a forthcoming price drop, a distaste for golf, a miscalculation, or some rift in the time-space continuum where a bundle of consoles from three years ahead found their way into Sony's hands? If that's the case, somebody check that Sixaxis for rumble.

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Virtual Console Monday celebrates gentlemanly sport

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2007-06-18T10:31:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Action, Sports

In belated celebration of Father's Day, today's Virtual Console releases uphold the spirit of proper and dignified competition amongst gentlemen of all ages. At 9AM PST, don your finest collared shirt to partake in a classy game of golf, flex your muscles in preparation for a grueling bout at the Olympics and then laugh maniacally as you mow down enemy soldiers in man's oldest sport, senseless killing.

Hey, we didn't pick 'em.

NES Open Tournament Golf (NES, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Enjoy a long and relaxing walk with Mario, stopping occasionally to batter an innocent white ball with a large club. Tournament and Match Modes sound enjoyable enough, though you'll probably want to put on a hat for Stroke Mode.
World Sports Competition (TurboGrafx-16, 1-5 players, 600 Wii Points): Comprised of 18 events, the Olympics competition sees the world's most skilled photographers competing to capture the first image of a legendary creature, the Olym!
Bloody Wolf (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): In this top-down shooter, it's up to you to rescue the president and otherwise blow up the sort of people who make jokes like the one in the paragraph above.

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Gears of War gets golf mode

Justin McElroy — 2007-05-12T09:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Hacks, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

Perhaps tired of complaints that all of the Gears of War gametypes are too similar, Epic has struck back with a new one that's just about as different as different gets: Golf. The only problem? You'll probably never get to play it.

Games Radar has the full story from Mark Rein in an upcoming issue of Edge magazine. Eager to prove to a Korean publisher that Unreal Engine 3 is about more than shooting people until they die from it, the team at Epic spent a day transforming Gears into golfing game that used the game's grenade mechanics to aim and swing and featured Marcus Fenix as the man behind the clubs. One of the levels from Gears even got it's landscape reworked to make it more of a course. It all sounds intriguing, too bad we'll never see it.

"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former ~~greenskeeper~~ space marine, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!"

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Today's "Poor Wiimote" video: Tiger Woods Wii golf trick

Kevin Kelly — 2007-04-24T00:01:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports, Video

Tiger Woods attempts to recreate his famous "Golf Trick" ad with a Wiimote, and all we can think is, "That's no way to treat a Wiimote!" Although he did have the wrist strap on, if you notice, we don't think it's good to be smacking balls around with it like that.. A slap in the face to Wii owners.

If he was trying it with a Guitar Hero controller or something more club-like, then sure. But come on, Tig ... what did that Wiimote ever do to you?

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Midway to develop Aqua Teen Hunger Force combat golf game

Ross Miller — 2007-03-21T20:10:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Action, Adventure, Driving, Sports, Competitive Gaming

What has already been hinted at has finally been confirmed: Aqua Teen Hunger Force is getting a console game. This fall, the mooninites will be invading retail outlets with Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am. Billed as an "epic, action-adventure combat golf, cart racing game," ATHFZNP-A will pit players as the dynamic fast food trio, complete with weapons and golfing equipment, to face bad guys derived from the show.

Licensed games, with some exceptions, generally fare badly in terms of quality. There is a glimmer of hope in that ATHF creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis will be "working closely" with Midway, but we're not getting our hopes up.

The game is due out this fall on PlayStation 2. If there is any parallel to be drawn between the game and the movie, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres, however, some sensationalist event might cause the game to expand its horizons to newer generation consoles.

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Joystiq interviews Wes Culver, Tiger Woods Wii designer

Zack Stern — 2007-01-22T08:04:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports, Interviews

After recently playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the Wii, we asked several questions of Wes Culver, lead designer of the game on that platform. In our brief interview, he discussed specific changes between the Wii game and the title on other systems, and he also described how the Wii's horsepower stacks up against the other consoles.

What are the differences between Tiger Woods on the Wii and the other platforms?

So the difference between the Wii and the other platforms is obviously the control. All the gameplay controls have been totally redone to take advantage of the Wii Remote. If you want to, you can even go back and plug in the Nunchuk to get the analog swing. You can do that, and you play it as you would on the PS2 or the Xbox 360. But everything from the swing, the draw and fades, the spin -- all that sutff has been mapped to the Wii Remote, one way or another.

Are there differences in options or modes between the systems?

There are minor mode differences, but for the most part we try to keep as much content as possible while keeping it fun, keeping it fresh. So the Tiger Challenge will have more game modes built-in which are brand new for Wii. We carried over fun arcade game modes like Skills 18, Target2Target, T-I-G-E-R, and Battle Golf. We have all of the regular, official modes like stroke play, match play ... so we have a lot for future golf fans.

What about differences in the quality between the systems? Was it harder to develop for the Wii?

It's harder ... are you talking like as far as the horsepower ...?

Yes.

So the horsepower of the Wii is not quite up to the par of the 360. It's a little bit better than what we saw on the Xbox and PS2. So the graphics fall somewhere in between, you know, the PS2/Xbox and the 360. We do support 480p widescreen, we updated a lot of textures; the sky domes, and the courses were all retouched, so they are updated as far as better than PS2 and Xbox. But they're not as up to par as Xbox 360 and PS3, which is understandable because that's what Nintendo is kind of going for. They're just trying to revolutionize the gameplay, instead of revolutionize graphics.

I think the biggest thing is the real golf fans get a great experience from Tiger because everything -- they can play the game as they would play on the course. They can have their natural golf, their natural slice. I have a natural slice myself, and I slice it in the game, so that is like proof of pudding that our swing is as close as any game has come as far as a real golf swing -- a real golf simulator. We feel that that is the biggest selling point for this title.

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Joystiq hands-on: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Wii)

Zack Stern — 2007-01-18T08:05:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports

Wii Sports scored a spot among our favorite games of 2006 because of its innovation and motion-tastic controls. But we'd still rather play in-depth, stand-alone versions of the pack-in sports; Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is one of the first to answer the stand-alone challenge. I recently got to swing Tiger's virtual driver -- and putter -- with the Wii game, schedule for mid-March release.

Wii Sports Golf has grown on me as I've played it more. But the bundled title has many drawbacks, like quirky club control, lack of slice sensing, and an inability to spin the ball. As I would expect from EA's stand-alone title, Tiger Woods bests Wii Sports in all of those areas -- with a few caveats. While I only got a short session with Tiger Woods and I'm only casually a golf game fan, I'm looking forward to a golf game for the first time since, well, ever.

EA showed off Tiger Woods only on the Wii; I think the company rightly didn't want to present it side-by-side with the already-released HD versions. Without the direct comparison, the graphics held up fairly well, looking similar to what I'd expect on a PS2. Tiger and the foregrounds were the most detailed, but I wished Nintendo's console pushed more details when looking further away to the trees and backgrounds.

The game's unique controls kept my mind off graphic realism. I used the pointer to interact with on-screen menus and aim at a target down the fairway, then I prepared to swing. Like Wii Sports, I held A while swinging to hit the ball. Unlike Wii Sports -- one of the only times I preferred the Nintendo game -- I had to enter a practice mode to gauge my club speed. I easily entered and exited the mode, but it was an extra effort over just swinging without holding A in Wii Sports.

Club movements in Tiger Woods felt better than Wii Sports, but didn't yet feel perfect; just like Wii Sports, Tiger Woods had a hard time gauging my swings if I didn't take enough of a back-swing. Unlike Wii Sports, Tiger Woods includes the ability to calibrate the controller for a heavier or lighter touch. And Tiger Woods reads the twist of the controller to gauge slice instead of adding random slice to too-hard shots; you can't swing too hard other than to hit the ball past the cup. The sense of my motion creating the slice felt much more realistic than the Wii Sports power gauge.

To spin the ball, I held a direction on the D-pad after a shot while shaking the Wiimote like a maraca. I may get used to this method after more time with the game, but it broke the realism that the swinging mechanic created.

EA says Tiger Woods Wii includes almost all of the modes and options available for other platforms; you could even use the Nunchuk analog controller and Wiimote to play without any motion-sensing. The Wii version doesn't include other platforms' online matches, but four players can gather around a single Wii, sharing a Wiimote or using one-each.

When it's released in March, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for Wii should easily best Wii Sports Golf, but that's no surprise. The unknown is how well the title will sell and how eager EA and others will be to develop complete versions of the pack-in demos. Baseball is on the way, and I hope that bowling, tennis, and boxing are close behind.

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MMO golf game tees off

Jennie Lees — 2006-09-14T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sports, MMO

Massively multiplayer golf? Yes, you heard us right. Purporting to already have a million players worldwide, subscription-free MMO golf title Shot-Online hits retail stores this week. The game aims to combine the social aspects of MMO games with a serious golf mechanic, though its cartoony graphic style implies a less-than-serious approach.

From an outside view, this just looks like a golf game with a bit of social infrastructure slapped on; rankings, communication and levelling your character make a potentially dull sports game something that's potentially engrossing. It isn't true novelty -- the idea of ranking and progression in sports games, as well as competitive multiplayer, date back a way -- but at least it's not elves.

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Qmotions full motion game controller

Sarah J. Gim — 2006-05-10T19:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Sports, E3, Exergaming

Qmotions has controllers for active sports so now you can really pretend like you're playing golf, baseball, or skateboarding, instead of pretending to pretend with a mouse and keyboard. Using the Qmotions controller for Tiger Woods Golf wasn't too bad, but there is no way that even using your real clubs on a plastic ball feels like you're out on the links. Still, better to slice in the privacy of your own living room than at Pebble Beach.

They also had a hook-up to an exercise bike, which seemed kind of cool if you want to work out while racing around the city.

Wait. Exercise? You mean like, we actually have to be move around and be active?

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