High Velocity Bowling is ... bowling its way onto PS3
by Kevin Kelly 
{ May 17th 2007 at 3:01AM }
Click for bigger version.
Sound simple? Well, it is and it isn't. Holding the Sixaxis like that feels really, really weird. It's like we're wired or programmed to hold that controller with both hands, and doing something like that makes our gamer genes cry out in pain. Although, in all honesty, once we got the hang of it, it wasn't all that bad. It's not Wiimote easy, and with the Sixaxis having no wrist strap whatsoever, we're especially worried about people sending these things sailing through their 1080p plasma screens.
There's no Mii-like cutesy Fisher-Price people in this bowling game. Instead, you get extremely uncanny valley-ish avatars that look a tad frightening. Those shiny wood floors sure look good in HD, though, and there's a fairly kitschy Lebowski feel to the whole setting. Strangely enough, this downloadable PlayStation Network game is different than the bowling game you can play in Home (which still in the works). They haven't announced a price point yet but as far as a release date goes, "Fall" has been the watchword of the day.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Aex @ May 17th 2007 5:43AM
"Although, in all honesty, once we got the hang of it, it wasn't all that bad."
Please, expand on that feeling.
dontplaygameswithme @ May 21st 2007 8:16PM
where is the next gen graphics? This looks like a ps2 game!!! Seems to me a bowling game would be no chalenge for graphics! Go figure
SKI @ May 17th 2007 8:30AM
"while holding and releasing one of the buttons"
Which one? because if it's a shoulder button like I think it is, then many SIXAXISs will be flying.
Jake @ May 17th 2007 8:34AM
Pretty shameless ripoff. Who is developing it again? What the hell? Did WiiBowling spawn a new genre?
x876543 @ May 17th 2007 8:37AM
Months later, Sony gets a clue.
megaStryke @ May 17th 2007 8:56AM
Now, just wait and watch for a Sony rep to come along and say that they had a patent or a desire to develop a title like this for YEARS before Nintendo ever conceived of Wii Sports.
samfish @ May 17th 2007 9:31AM
We all KNEW something like this was coming. How could we not after seeing how successful Wii Sports bowling was?
Would we expect anything less from Sony?
mushiking @ May 17th 2007 10:42AM
ZOMG ripoff! we all know Nintendo invented Bowling
Jonathan Tran @ May 17th 2007 11:29AM
This site is so biase.
I don't know why I read this stupid site.
Brian @ May 17th 2007 11:59AM
Yeah Jake is right on.
I had never heard of bowling before I got my Wii and certainly didn't know there had been tons of bowling games on every console in history.
Geoff Gibson @ May 17th 2007 1:17PM
Oh come on Sony!
Are you serious? Back when Sony announced HOME and Nintendo commented on it as a Mii-too approach I didn't agree with them. I thought Sony was honestly trying to be original and that Nintendo just wanted to capitalize on more popularity. This, however, is such an obvious Mii-too game. Wow.
Want to know why WiiSports was so popular and fun Sony?
Because it was on a system that was targetted at people who like those types of games, the PS3 is not.
Sean @ May 17th 2007 7:40PM
They're not kidding about Work In Progress. There is absolutely no lighting whatsoever in the screenshots or the video. No shadows at all.
kftgr @ May 17th 2007 9:45PM
Well, at least the chances of cracking a tv screen isn't as bad with the much lighter and less corner-licious sixaxis!
shaoron @ May 17th 2007 10:33PM
wow! so unoriginal! :p
Kyle @ May 18th 2007 12:20AM
Oh please. Like Nintendo is the first console to ever think of bowling with a motion sensitive controller. You guys need to get your wiimotes out of your asses and freaking look around. Yeah, it's innovative, but the second a rival company uses their motion sensitive controller for something as simple and "no-brainer" as bowling, crying "copy" only makes you look like idiots.
This is coming from a fellow Wii owner.
Dorkmaster Flek @ May 18th 2007 9:55AM
It's not the fact that they're making a motion controlled bowling game, it's the fact that it's on top of the already blatant ripoff of the motion controls in the first place. Ripping out the rumble to tack on motion controls in the first place just reeked of this "Mii-too" attitude. The SIXAXIS was designed as a traditional controller from the ground up. Holding it sideways and trying to bowl with it is just not a natural use for the controller design in the least. I'm sure it will work okay in the end, but the fact is the Wiimote was designed from the ground up for this kind of thing. Adapting a traditional controller design for motion controlled games can work to a degree, but never as well.
beazley @ May 20th 2007 3:05AM
if sony would just release a speacilize controller for the game that would b crazy.....sorry Wii owners.
DeathChronx @ Jul 9th 2007 12:53AM
Does anyone else notice that sometimes when the ball is thrown it doesn't even roll? It looks like the bowling ball is just sliding along the top of the surface like ice. I still can't believe that this is meant for the ps3. Well I'd probably give it a try, but some things don't match up. It doesn't feel addicting like Wii Sports is. I can't see myself of my friends 'warming up' to this game, as we did any title in Wii Sports.
dm @ Jul 25th 2007 10:09AM
the ball doesnt even roll?!?! thats because the lane has oil on it, the first 45 ft should be oiled then the hook point comes at the dry back end and the ball snaps into the pocket, do you even bowl?!