Invalid characterset or character set not supported Martin visits <I>UTour Golf</i>. Dream career in pro golf dashed.





Martin visits UTour Golf. Dream career in pro golf dashed.
November 22, 2007



The press event concerning the future release of the computer game UTour Golf took place in Urban Golf, a slick, well-lit venue with modern furniture and tasteful minimalist decoration. It is also, strangely enough, a place where you can play actual golf in Central London.

Yesterday’s event gave us the chance to try both ways of playing golf in a full-fledged tournament. The first prize was a ridiculously expensive Tag Heuer state-of-the-art sports watch, but the atmosphere was far from competitive: there were free drinks and food available at all times and all screens displayed the England vs. Croatia football match, so everybody was relaxed and entertained. Half of the attendants were there for the videogame, but the other half were working for golf magazines; it was curious to see different people trying different games. The golfers had no problem with the physical club, but had a little trouble getting used to the computer game. For gamers, it was often exactly the opposite.



Those of us who arrived early got a brief training session in the virtual golf booths with a professional golf player who very kindly, and unsuccessfully, tried to get me to hit the ball with the club. It’s not like I broke him or made him cry or anything, but I never saw him again that night, is all I’m sayin’. This virtual golf is equivalent to real golf, as far as the player is concerned: you play with a real club and hit a real ball, so you’re doing everything like you would in an open space. The only difference is that the ball hits a wall, which uses some pretty clever witchcraft technology to measure its direction and position and then replicates it on the 3D field projected onto the screen.



UTour Golf, on the other hand, is a computer game that you’ll instantly feel comfortable with. I also had a personal trainer to get to grips with it, and there was a brief and to-the-point introduction by Michael Haines, the managing director of Groove Games. When the serious tournament kicked in, I ended up in a respectable 7th position. Do look out for the preview to learn more about the details.

This is where the tale gets ominous, because I wasn’t exactly as skilled in real golf. My best shot had the ball roll about six feet on a 300 yard course, and simply making the club connect with the ball was a major success in my game. I was so bad that the machine took pity on me. I’m not even kidding, guys –the CPU really started giving me extra turns in spite of the other two people that were playing with me at the time, for motives that nobody could explain rationally. The only reason why I didn’t end up last on this tournament was because they finally allowed me to drop out after 16 shots and a total progress of about 12 feet (some of them, into the water). Otherwise I would still be there as you’re reading this, swinging and hitting the air until I passed out. My fans will be happy to know, though, that by this time I was fully impersonating EmP and it’s therefore his name that is probably written in the “Worst Scores (Ever)” record.



It was a very entertaining night with well-organised distractions. The people who, unlike this correspondent, actually had hand-to-eye coordination got a chance to compete for prizes and try their skill against other players. Additionally, because we were all made to try both types of golf (I know, I tried to shirk the real one) we got to learn new stuff, so for me it was a positive experience.

Most recent blog posts from Martin G...

Feedback
EmP EmP - November 22, 2007 (10:34 AM)
Sullying my good name. Grrrr!

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998-2024 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.