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Wii

How Tiger Woods Sold Me a Kinect

by Neal Ronaghan - February 13, 2012, 12:24 pm EST
Total comments: 15

An EA press event without Nintendo games wound up selling NWR's Director on buying a Kinect.

At an EA event last week with little Nintendo relevance, I tried out Tiger Woods on Kinect. To put it simply, I was blown away by it and almost promptly went out and bought a Kinect in preparation.

While I adore the MotionPlus-enabled Tiger Woods games on Wii (R.I.P.), you could still easily game the control scheme. Yes, you had the ability to buckle down with the MotionPlus and mimic a golf swing, but you could still just as easily swing the Wii Remote one-handed. Tiger Woods on Kinect makes you actually practice a legitimate golf swing, and it does it in a smart way.

Instead of lining up like you're hitting the ball into the screen, you line up so you are facing the television. The game reads your swing very well, as far as I could tell. When I metaphorically choked up (your hands are empty, though EA Executive Producer Brent Nielsen said you can hold a golf club if you want to, and he worked on MVP Baseball, so of course he's right!) and shot off my back foot, it reacted realistically. It just worked.

Even the game's menu navigation is way better than other Kinect games. Instead of holding your hand over an icon for five seconds, you just merely move it up and down and swipe to the side to select. The only other game I've played that also does this is Dance Central.

Aiming your shot is a little obtuse at first, but once you grasp it, almost literally, it makes sense. You hold your hand out and make a fist, in effect grabbing the screen, and then you can make subtle adjustments to alter your aim. It was a little wonky at the event, though I'm willing to cut the experience a little bit of slack since busy press events aren't usually the best scenario for camera-based games.

Almost immediately after playing the demo, I texted my brother, an avid golfer and fan of Tiger Woods on Wii, declaring that we had to somehow get this. As I'm the only one who owns an Xbox 360, I knew my task.

Now, I own a Kinect. Let's see if I regret the decision or not.

Also, since I don't get to say this enough, MVP Baseball 2005 is the best baseball game ever. If there is a just sports gaming god, he or she will let EA get the band back together and make a new game using the MLB license.

Talkback

SorenFebruary 13, 2012

Me thinks thou madeth a rasheth decision...eth.

Although I do agree with MVP Baseball 05.

Quote from: Soren

Me thinks thou madeth a rasheth decision...eth.

Although I do agree with MVP Baseball 05.

That's why there will be a follow-up. ;)

Chozo GhostFebruary 13, 2012

Since you now have a Kinect, why not grab that Hulk Hogan wrestling game for it and post a review?

Quote from: Chozo

Since you now have a Kinect, why not grab that Hulk Hogan wrestling game for it and post a review?

I totally forgot about that. You buying?

TJ SpykeFebruary 13, 2012

Metacritic only has 3 reviews listed. DailyGame (who I never heard of) gave it a 77%, Official Xbox Magazine gave it 20%, Game Informer gave it 10%. It looks terrible and sounds bad from what I have heard about it, so I would love to see a video review of it by you Neal.

Think MetaCritic would list a review of a 360 game from Nintendo World Report. :P (not seriously doing that)

nickmitchFebruary 13, 2012

Quote:

An EA press event without Nintendo games wound up selling NWR's Director on buying a Kinect.

I think we can call this the exact moment the Wii officially died.

SorenFebruary 13, 2012

Well, the guys who make Madden for the Wii are saying there will be a Madden 13. (https://twitter.com/#!/wiimakemadden), so the Wii is not totally dead. It's still depressing.

TJ SpykeFebruary 14, 2012

Not that surprised Soren, they even made a PS2 Madden last year. I am glad it will happen though.

Quote from: Soren

Well, the guys who make Madden for the Wii are saying there will be a Madden 13. (https://twitter.com/#!/wiimakemadden), so the Wii is not totally dead. It's still depressing.

Oh wow. I had no idea that the Wii was getting Madden. Color me shocked. I'm going to follow up with EA. Soren, I'll give you credit when a story goes up.

ShyGuyFebruary 14, 2012

I see a world, I see reportin', but I don't see no NINTENDO

Quote from: ShyGuy

I see a world, I see reportin', but I don't see no NINTENDO

This is a blog post, which can be about things other than Nintendo.

ShyGuyFebruary 14, 2012

$5 to the first NWR staffer who blogs about having a hard day at school and getting in a fight with their BFF.

YmeegodFebruary 14, 2012

You can try Gunstringer and Child of Eden.  And you can find Kinect Sports cheap (wouldn't buy this at retail pricing but for a sub-$10 game).

I might buy the Kinect as well this year, ebay prices have used ones going for less than $50 at times.

Quote from: ShyGuy

$5 to the first NWR staffer who blogs about having a hard day at school and getting in a fight with their BFF.

How did you know my next post?!?!?

But seriously, this is related to video games and Nintendo. That's usually our barometer for blog stuff. It's like why our podcasts occasionally talk about other Nontendo topics. It's not the focus, but we can't pretend we're in a world where none of this stuff exists.

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