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Joystiq hands-on: Fishing Master (Wii)
I grew up fishing and still sometimes make it out on to a lake, river, or ocean to try to hook a meal. I attended Camp Fish. I know how to cut a herring so that it rolls in tune with a salmon's appetite. And I've been waiting for a good Wii fishing simulation, an obvious game idea, given the rod-like Remote. Fishing Master is not that simulation.Instead, Fishing Master is a more casual title that glosses over many parts of real fishing technique. Real fish are attracted to different colors of bait depending on the weather conditions, but Fishing Master has seasons and no other weather patterns. Rod position plays the most important role in keeping a fish on, but like most fishing games, Fishing Master uses the reeling-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough-meter to decide if a fish gets away.But I understand these design decisions and still had fun with a recent version of the game. With its projected September U.S. release from the recent Japan-only launch, casual anglers and gamers may be hooked.
Hudson confirms U.S. Fishing Master (Wii)
At a designed-to-be-informal blogger get together today, Hudson announced the Japan-only Wii game, Fishing Master, will be localized and released in the U.S. later this year. The game isn't the fishing simulation real-world anglers have been hoping for, but its waggling controls may still appeal in-part to those players. Instead, Fishing Master is a decidedly Japanese game -- your dog barks to help identify strikes -- that hopes to find an international audience of casual players.All other Japanese features, like the kinds of bait, types of fish, and locations based on prefectures, will remain intact for the rest of us. Hudson hopes to ship the game in September. Stay tuned for our hands-on impressions of the game.
