Are you one of those people who just can’t see the point of playing sports in a videogame? Because isn’t the whole goal of sports to engage in physical activity… while the end result of videogames is usually a whole lot of sitting on your ass? If so, the Nintendo Wii may be the console for you.
For example - golf. Most gaming translations of the sport have you pressing buttons and not much else. But Wii launch title Super Swing Golf forces you to stand up, grab a club (in this case, the remote) and actually swing it through the air. As you might imagine, this requires the movement of not only your fingers, but also your arms, hands and even waist. Readour first preview to get an idea of how the Wii controls make all this possible.
But does it truly feel like you’re playing golf? After logging some more hours on Super Swing Golf’s virtual courses, we think so - at least, as much as a game full of anime girls, cartoon caddies and mountain-sized windmills can.
Here’s the proof. We challenged a couple of editors from our sister publication PSM to a friendly round of nine and, lo and behold, those with the best real-life skills won. The first player, who was on his golf team in high school, took an easy and early lead. With so many years of practice under his belt, he possessed a swift and arrow-straight stroke that, impressively, Super Swing Golf seemed to accurately recognize. The next player boasted to having taken a golf lesson - once - as well as to having taken many lessons in Hot Shots Golf. Sure enough, he managed second place.
Are you one of those people who just can’t see the point of playing sports in a videogame? Because isn’t the whole goal of sports to engage in physical activity… while the end result of videogames is usually a whole lot of sitting on your ass? If so, the Nintendo Wii may be the console for you.
For example - golf. Most gaming translations of the sport have you pressing buttons and not much else. But Wii launch title Super Swing Golf forces you to stand up, grab a club (in this case, the remote) and actually swing it through the air. As you might imagine, this requires the movement of not only your fingers, but also your arms, hands and even waist. Readour first preview to get an idea of how the Wii controls make all this possible.
But does it truly feel like you’re playing golf? After logging some more hours on Super Swing Golf’s virtual courses, we think so - at least, as much as a game full of anime girls, cartoon caddies and mountain-sized windmills can.
Here’s the proof. We challenged a couple of editors from our sister publication PSM to a friendly round of nine and, lo and behold, those with the best real-life skills won. The first player, who was on his golf team in high school, took an easy and early lead. With so many years of practice under his belt, he possessed a swift and arrow-straight stroke that, impressively, Super Swing Golf seemed to accurately recognize. The next player boasted to having taken a golf lesson - once - as well as to having taken many lessons in Hot Shots Golf. Sure enough, he managed second place.
