If there was any question as to how Incredible Technologies’ Power Putt LIVE has been doing, then this news that a 2013 update is being released for it in March should answer that.
Power Putt was first released by the makers of the popular Golden Tee series back in 2009 to do for mini-golf what Golden Tee had done for golf video games. Last year they upgraded it with the LIVE services to take advantage of the internet features IT offers like cash prize tournaments and such, along with some new courses. With the 2013 upgrade, they have added 5 18-hole courses on top of the six that the 2012 version already offered. These are called Lost Vegas, Camelot, Haunted Hills, Safari River, and Miner 49er. Taking a page from Golden Tee, they also have a much larger selection of character customization options, now tied to an unlocking system so new items are unlocked after events like playing “Every 5 Games; Every 30 Birdies; Every 10 Eagles; Every 10 Holes-in-one” and so on. Thanks to the LIVE system there is also a daily case prize contest that is held on connected machines, letting players get involved into a more professional degree of gaming if they so desire, or just earn a little extra cash on the side for being really good at the game.
One other thing they have added to the game is a new “Poker Putt” mode where you can win virtual playing cards for different shots. To spice things up for adult locations, this mode also has an optional “RawTalk” setting where an announcer by the name of Jack “Putter” Thompson unleashes his fury of observation to what is happening, expletives included. That is similar to a feature they had with Lawn Darts and was designed for mature locations, but again it is an option. One thing to remember with any LIVE game by IT though, is that they are designed just for businesses in mind, if a home user wants one they have to wait for IT to release on offline version of the game.
Whether IT will stick to an annual update schedule for Power Putt like they do with Golden Tee remains to be seen. The did release Silver Strike Live a few years back but we haven’t seen an update to that yet (of course that game is about bowling and its not like you get the same variety out of the venue setting like you do with golf courses). Like IT’s other games, this will be released in a Showcase Cabinet model which means you buy your own monitor to fit the budget, but they will also be releasing this as a kit for existing Power Putt cabinets.
With this announcement I also imagine that we will see PPGLIVE2013 at the upcoming Amusement Expo 2013 in Vegas next month. In the meantime, IT’s Livewire website has several updates about the game which you can check out here.
