Sega Golf Club set for PS3

SEGA announces new PS3 launch title

September 15, 2006 - Sega will be at the PS3's launch over in Japan with one of its lesser-known arcade titles. The company announced today plans to release Sega Golf Club for the PS3, in time for the system's 11/11 launch.

The exact name of the PS3 version is "Miyazato San Kyoudai Naizou Sega Golf Club." This translates to the somewhat bizarre "Sega Golf Club, with the Miyazato Siblings Built In." The Miyazato siblings are a brother, brother, sister trio of professional golfers, consisting of Kiyoshi Miyazato, Ai Miyazato and Yusaku Miyazato.

Sega's made a few modifications to make the arcade title suitable for the PS3. The arcade version used a special control setup with a small analogue lever for swinging. The PS3 version will use the left analogue stick to replicate the lever. To swing, you first tilt the left stick, then rotate it to set your power. Let go of the stick at the right time, and you'll swing.

Visually, the PS3 version looks like a next generation version of the arcade title. The arcade version ran on Sega's GameCube-based Tri-Force arcade board, so a visual update was expected. Check out our high resolution screens for a closer look.

In addition, Sega has added new modes of play to the PS3 version:

Round: 18 holes played with a single player and three computer players, following the standard rules of golf. You can set the computer player level and can chose between arcade mode, where you have a time and shot limit, or original mode, where all limits are removed.

Putter Golf: This mode offers wacky greens for your to test your golfing skills. By successfully striking item boxes, you earn new items.

Challenge Mode: This mode has an Outrun-like progression system. That is to say, when you clear one hole, you're allowed to select two additional holes of varying difficulty. Each hole presents a specific goal, with some even asking you to hit your ball into the water!

3 Hole Match: A 3 hole battle mode where players bet items on each hole. The game expects that each player will use his own memory card.

You're free to select from the three Miyazato siblings for each of these modes of play, or you can make use of a custom character that you've created on your own.

Currently, four courses have been announced for the PS3 version: Taiheiyo Club, Phoenix Country Club, Bali Hai Golf Club and St. Andrews Links. While these are all real life courses, the game will also, like the arcade version, have courses made exclusively for the home.

Sega is going to have some big competition in the golf genre come launch, as Sony's own Minna no Golf 5 (Hot Shots Golf 5) is also expected to launch with the PS3 in Japan. We'll get a chance to see how the two titles stack up to one another at the Tokyo Game Show next week

Sega Golf Club, I never heard about a golf game by Sega before.. Great news :)

There were rumours (which I really wanted to be true) of a Virtua Golf when the Dreamcast was still around, so it's good to see they finally made a golf game.

Control system sounds interesting as well, I wonder if thats how the arcade game plays as well, might have to try and see if its in any arcades near me to try out.