DANBURY, Conn. -- For golfers and gamers wanting to capture all the thrills of flying fairway divots and exploding sand shots from the home course of the world's most celebrated professional golfer, Grolier Interactive presents a 2.0 version of "Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf."
Designed by Friendly Software Corporation, "Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf " offers the first golf simulation engine (SIM), capturing virtually every element of the game, down to the player's swing, style, preferences, strategies and skills. This revolutionary technology, coming to the market after 19 years of research and development, includes 44 options for everything from distance and accuracy to spin and height.
Other golf games use an arcade-style swing meter and rely on manual dexterity to determine shot length and accuracy. In "Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf," players click on a swing icon to activate the simulation engine for shot results that are based on hundreds of factors including playing characteristics, weather and course conditions to quench the thirst of the golfing purist.
New to the title are a fantasy golf course called Dorset Cliffs, a Lesson Tee with professional tips for improving a player's game and visible ball tracks on replays. With redraw speeds two times faster after shots and between holes than the previous version, users spend more time playing and less time waiting.
"Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf" recreates the serene, plush surroundings of Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., site of 1995 PGA Player of the Year Norman's home course. Pros, amateurs and duffers alike walking onto the graphically rich and precisely replicated South Florida golf course experience the true weather conditions, tee and pin placements and terrain as the "Shark" himself would.
"'Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf ' is the first CD-ROM to bring a real-life golf experience to the user," John McIlvaine, vice president, marketing, Grolier Interactive, said. "State-of-the-art graphics, an innovative simulation technology and the developer's attention to detail make this title the next best alternative to being on the course itself."
All-new Fantasy Course
Users itching to play a different golf course may also choose to tee it up on the Links at Dorset Cliffs, a fantasy course made up of interesting holes with different terrain and challenges reminiscent of the range of courses used for the U.S. and British Opens. Holes depict lighthouses, seaside and mountain views, desert backdrops, waterfalls and island greens.
The Links at Dorset Cliffs takes a page from the most unique golf settings in the world, offering a variety of landscape, weather and ground conditions and a choice of three season changes.
The Lesson Tee
"Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf " comes programmed with a Lesson Tee providing users with suggestions to improve their games onscreen and lower their scores on the real golf course. With nine useful lessons on tap, users are walked through the most common challenges of the game through narration, graphic overlays and the ability to recreate the shot.
Players selecting this option are treated to an interactive "virtual" lesson on how to develop and refine shot planning strategies. The Lesson Tee guides users through various shots and challenges, including tee shot strategies, battling uphill and downhill lies, blasting out of fairway bunkers, honing the short game, developing approach shots or going for broke by landing a par 5 on two shots.
"'Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge Golf ' captures the realism of a true golf game like no other CD-ROM on the market," said McIlvaine. "We offer advanced player profiles, golf tips, swing programming capability and, most importantly, the world's greatest golfer."
Cutting Edge 3DR Graphics
Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia." The company's main headquarters is located in Danbury, Conn. To order or register your product, please call (800) 285-4534. For other customer service inquiries, call (203) 797-3530. Grolier Interactive's Web site is http://www.grolier.com.
CONTACT: Dan Gugler/Jill Harakuni
The Bohle Company
(310) 785-0515
gug@bohle.com
