I am a big fan of the cutesy arcade style golf games like Mario Golf, Outlaw Golf, and Hot Shots Golf.  However, this genre is very hit or miss and none of these have the potential to arrive on my beloved Xbox 360.  Sure there is We Love Golf for Wii coming out this Tuesday (7/15).  But, XBL is what makes a game like this truly shine and I know that WFC is going to disappoint yet again.  So it was with this in mind that I made the purchase.  Actually, I downloaded the demo and played a few holes, once it gave me the ‘Unlock the full version and you will get this achievement’ message I couldn’t resist.  So I guess it was with an achievement in mind that I unlocked the full version.

I have to say that I have been pretty impressed with the game.  For $10 you get a lot of addictive, fun, action.  I think that had they added a few more options to character creations, a few more courses, and tournament modes online, they could have gotten away with making it a full priced game.  As it stands, it is a bargain and hopefully they will release new options and courses via DLC.

One of my favorite things about the XBL feature in the game is that you play side by side and do not have to wait for each other.  When you finish a hole you can watch other player’s replays to catch that sweet shot.  I do wish that you could actually choose the shot like you can the player.  But, for the most part online is fast paced and fun.  Except when your opponent disconnects because you are beating them badly.  Unfortunately the game does not deal with disconnects very gracefully and forces you to end the match.  Ugh!

My main complaint with the game is that (like you expect from any budget title) it seems to lack a little polish.  It’s just subtle details like the ball not spinning when it is rolling on the ground, the generic fonts and effects, or the physics seeming to be a little off.  But, this is definitely easy to look past and I don’t really even notice it now that I have played a few games.

All in all I think this is a great budget title and a must have for any Xbox player that is desiring an arcade golf experience.

So it’s that time of the year when the nights are long and gaming is short.  There is a gigantic void in the gaming industry in the  middle of the summer, that is only made palatable by the anticipation of exciting news coming out of E3.  Except, E3 is no longer what it used to be.  Gone are the days of waiting patiently for your magazine subscription to hear the latest news from the show, and gone are the days of millions of people sitting and refreshing their browsers on their favorite video game website, in hopes of being one of the first non-attendees to hear breaking news.  This year (and future years) we are stuck feeding on the table scraps of the few companies who are still participating in this affair.  Nonetheless, here are my predictions for this year:

1. Bungie will indeed announce a cross-platform game.
2. Song lists released for the next Guitar Hero and Rock Band. UPDATE: Rock Band Track List
3. Nintendo will announce the much anticipated, Kid Icarus and provide very little details.
4. Microsoft will drop the price on all the Xbox 360’s by $50, worst kept secret ever.  UPDATE: Worse yet, the $50 price drop is only until the 20 GB model runs out and gives way to the new 60 GB one
5. and, Sony will talk some more about the ill fated Home (or be suspiciously silent, maybe everyone will forget), which one is worse?

Now that seems drab.  Hopefully, there will be at least one exciting announcement.  What I would like to hear:

1. Activision and EA are cancelling the next iterations of Rock Band and Guitar Hero due to the fact that they are just fancy karaoke games and will soon be relegated to drunken, old, fat men playing in seedy bars on Sunday nights.
2. Nintendo is going to drop the D’s from 3 to 2 in their next Zelda game, since the last time the series had a decent game was in two dimensions.  Oh yea, and they will announce that it will be out by Christmas.
3. Friend codes will be removed from all Nintendo products, gamers will be treated like adults, and the Big N is implementing some kind of original ‘achievement’ type system.
4. Sony is going to redesign their PS3 console so it doesn’t look like something out of a flash forward in a low budget science fiction flick from the 80’s, and lighten it so it doesn’t weigh as much as my couch (is there a brick in there?).
5. Microsoft is going to add Blu Ray support to the 360, in the form of an external drive or Xbox Blue Edition, seems like a no brainer to me.

Needless to say, I am not holding my breath…