Don't call it a comeback I've been here for years Those of us who have been gamers for many years will remember the heyday of PC Golf Gaming back in the 90s. Games like Mean 18, Jack Nicklaus, Links, Tiger Woods and many more all were on the top of the sports gaming charts. Then, over time, they died off like the dinosaurs...one by one. The last excellent PC golf game was probably Links 2003 and the last decent one was Tiger Woods back around 2005-2006. Since then, there's been slim pickings when there was any pickings to be had at all. However, there's a new light on the horizon - Perfect Parallel's PerfectGolf. http://www.perfectparallel.com/blog/ There's not much out there yet - I think they want to go the kickstarter route - but it looks amazing thus far. I can only hope...
Actually, following this up, the decline of PC golf feels to me like an artifact of the changing demographics of computer owners. Once upon a time, most PC owners were middle aged upper-middle class men (and some of their kids). Thus, you see comparatively easy markets for games that cater to that market: golf games and flight sims.
I'm not really a golf person, but that last hole in the video looks like it'd be a lot of fun. Not to mention the water hazard being pretty rough :)
All I remember about Jack Nicklaus golf is my friend using the course editor to make Jack say horrible things.
http://www.perfectparallel.com/the-three-click-bunker/ New blog update. It appears it will come with a course designer with it that looks fucking awesome.
Kickstarter was launched. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/perfectparallel/perfectgolf?ref=live The $300k goal is very ambitious, but I'm in for it.
I've already funded the kickstarter, but I also upvoted. A beautiful golf game with a course designer? So long as the swing meter works, I'll be a very happy camper. It's been a long time since I designed courses for JNSE (along with guys like Ken McHale), but I'd love to do it again.
If Perfect Parallel comes out, I bet Ken will do Augusta. He has for virtually every other PC golf game out there.
Very cool! I was a huge PC golf fan back in the '90s with Links 386 Pro. I used to get in the Links Tour golf tournaments back in the day and man those things were expensive, but fun as heck. You had to pay an entry fee to play them. I even have a plaque still they mailed me when I won one. You would dial-up to their BBS or whatever it was and it would send you a config file and pin positions. You would play a round and it would auto-dial up at the end and submit your results. I think it was pretty cheat proof for the day and didn't allow mulligans or restarts. Looking forward to seeing how this shapes up. Thanks for the heads-up.
For me the pinnacle of the golden generation of PC golf was Sierra Sports PGA Championship Golf. Great online multiplayer, terrific tournament setup, robust course architect....and of course the first implementation of TruSwing. It immediately made Links and the then-current Tiger Woods and Nicklaus franchises obsolete. EA bought the designers and co-opted TruSwing for future Tiger Woods games after that, but that first game was terrific. I hope this is a return to those days.
I think this commenter has the right idea: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/perfectparallel/perfectgolf/comments So sad that it's not going to get funded, though I wonder whether or not making an ambitious golf game would require even more money than that.
Surprised this failed... too hardcore? Not enough advertisement? Oh well - it inspired me to get out my old copy of Sid Meier's SimGolf, and play for a few hours - now thats a game that could use a sequel...
I still play Jack Nicklaus Golf (JN6) in a league on-line. And yes, I think everyone involved is a senior citizen. They are still designing courses and there are still sites dedicated to it. I used to design for JNSE back in the day. Started out on the Prodigy Golf Tour.
