Minna No Golf 5 PS3 bundle on its way to Japan

by Jem Alexander { Jun 20th 2007 at 7:40AM }

The Japanese love their golf. In particular, they love Minna No Golf (you might know it better as Hot Shots Golf). They love it so much, in fact, that to date there have been over 300,000 pre-orders for the latest iteration of the series on the PS3. Seeing this as an opportunity to boost system sales in Japan, Sony have announced plans to release a Minna No Golf 5 bundle pack.

Interestingly, the bundle will come in both 20GB and 60GB form, so there's no sign that the 20GB system is being dropped yet as it has elsewhere. The bundle allows a saving of almost 4000 yen when compared to buying the system and the game separately. That works out to about £16 or $32, so nothing special. Still, that coupled with the light and airy box art (as opposed to the "forbidden evil" design that the boxes have now) may allow for a surge in console sales.

Japan is an important market for the PlayStation 3 and, as of yet, the decent game offerings have been a bit western for their tastes. With FolksSoul released tomorrow and Minna No Golf 5 next month, we could be seeing the real start of the Japanese PlayStation adoption taking place quite soon.

[Via IGN]

Tags: bundle, golf, hot shots, hot shots golf, HotShots, HotShotsGolf, minna no golf, MinnaNoGolf

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Alex @ Jun 20th 2007 8:51AM

i hope it doesn't turn into the LocoRoco PSP bundle disaster.

the PS3 really needs something... anything. looking at the line-up for this year, it doesn't look like it'll get it. unless Kojima really does squeeze out Metal Gear Solid 4, which i'm not sure about.

good luck PS3, i still love thee.

Matt B @ Jun 20th 2007 9:19AM

Please expedite the process of getting Hot Shots 5 to the states ASAP!!!!

Of course there are 20GB units still available. THey didn't just throw them in the trash.

WhackMushroom @ Jun 20th 2007 9:28AM

i wonder if this is the marketing version of limbo .. testing a market without officially announcing a price drop to figure out what consumers whisper price is ;)

Kxpuc @ Jun 20th 2007 9:28AM

@1 what you don't like minna? bad arse game and i can't wait til the NA release and considering just screwing it and playing the japanese version

Popfrogs @ Jun 20th 2007 10:00AM

This game rocks. I can pick up and play any time and quit whenever. It's called Everybody's Golf 5 and is available as a demo on the Japan/HK PS Store. I suggest everyone try it, it's alot of fun and easy for beginners.

I imagine that this will sell extremely well in Japan, and 300,000 preorders is no joke. This is a popular series (after all, this is the 5th) and it looks and plays great.

Neil @ Jun 20th 2007 10:14AM

Yeah, the demo is great. To be good takes some skill as well. Nice graphics too. Not really my kind of game though and anyway, I'm happy to wait till closer to crimbo ([Translate] Christmas/Holiday season ) before I go on a PS3 games purchase spree. I'll pick this up when the price drops to 20GBP, 40USD.

My Mom who loves you @ Jun 20th 2007 11:02AM

It also comes with a copy of "Happy Gilmore" on Blu-Ray

OrganicShadow @ Jun 20th 2007 12:02PM

@7: Do you REALLY think nextgen graphics and rumble is what sells in Japan? Dusty ole' 360 over there is doing GREAT isn't it?

Skemo @ Jun 20th 2007 1:57PM

God I love Hot Shots Golf, I play HSF:Fore to this very day. I'm not going to lie when I say it is one (among many) reasons I bought a PS3. Imagine that shiznite online, omfg!!! I can't wait for it.

Naaiif @ Jun 20th 2007 3:32PM

"I mean, look at the way the graphics of this animated Golf game look more like a PS2 game than a PS3 game. The gameplay is exactly the same as PS2 versions, except for the PS3 version doesn't let the controller rumble like the PS2 version did.

Those reasons are why I think this game won't help out in Japan."

Each pokemon game released every few years makes absolutely no improvements, they never change the gameplay and they never change the graphics, each of the games still look worse than SNES graphics.

I don't think the Japanese care about graphics tbh...

Castor @ Jun 20th 2007 3:59PM

From what I saw playing the demo Hot Shots Golf definitely has better graphics on the PS3 than PS2. When teh ball rolls up onto the fairway or green you can see each and every blade of grass in great detail. I never played any of the previous games just saw screenshots and videos but the demo has me thinking about picking it up for a casual game to play with my 8yr old nephew. Something he can handle and I might actually play instead of a sponge bob game or something.