There are those who say golf and bowling are not real sports, that they are more like skills, and they point to the least shapely purveyors of those pursuits as evidence to support their view.
If they feel that way about the physical games of golf and bowling, what does that say about the players of the virtual versions of those activities?
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It's something to think about as Santa Ana-based Crave Games today ships its Brunswick® Pro Bowling video games out to stores.
Brunswick Pro Bowling, which fully support the PlayStation Move motion
controller, lets players compete in one of six “highly detailed
bowling environments,” each with its own unique lane characteristics. Different game-play options are Exhibition,
League Play, Tournament, a Spares Challenge and an online
feature that allows players to join teams and compete in multiplayer
matches against bowlers worldwide.
There's even a kid-friendly bumper bowling
option like they used to have at the bowling alley–before they tore down all the bowling alleys. Ah, well, at least Brunswick Pro Bowling gives the real life Brunswick Bowling something to license, which probably explains one company official's giddiness.
“We are
thrilled to partner with Crave Games to bring the authentic nature of
the famous Brunswick Bowling lanes into the homes of the sport's biggest
fans,” Ron Addison, Brunswick's director of
Product Management, says in a statement distributed by Crave. “The game provides the perfect
social activity and quality entertainment experience to audiences of all
skill levels.”
The game even allows the bowlers on screen to be outfitted with authentic
Brunswick shirts, shoes, bowling balls, and other equipment used by
pro bowlers worldwide. Neat. But call me when I can outfit my bowler with a cool Earl Anthony flattop.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.