By Scott Huff
This fall… get ready for the invasion of the poker video games.
The gaming industry is booming, as is the poker industry, so it's no wonder they want a piece of each other. With four poker video games all slated for release this fall: Stacked, WPT 2K6, World Series of Poker, and World Championship Poker 2: Featuring Howard Lederer, it's shaping up to be a big season for poker gamers.
One thing that stands out is that many of these games share similar features. Most offer a variety of types of poker games (hold'em, 7-Stud, Omaha). World Championship Poker 2 offers some whacky games, like Pineapple, and baseball. While WPT 2K6 takes the opportunity for crazy games one step further, with its create a game feature, where the user can define a game based on hole cards, community cards, draws etc. All of the games listed include career modes where the user starts by creating an avatar, complete with poker gear (hats, sunglasses, hooded sweatshirts), a bankroll, and moves their way up the ranks in an attempt to become world champion. Also, every one of these games will be available for online play. With so many shared features - detail, ease of use, and speed of gameplay should play a huge role in who captures the largest market share. Here are the games, and some features that stand out:
Myelin Media's
Stacked has been the most heavily touted game so far. It's prized feature is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system known as Poki. Poki is capable of adjusting to the user's playing style, and coming up with counteractive strategies. This advanced AI should make it so that Stacked is an effective teaching tool, as well as a fun game. Arguably the biggest name in poker, Daniel Negreanu, endorses, and stars in the game along with: Josh Arieh, Jennifer Harman, Erick Lindgren, Carlos Mortenson, Evelyn Ng and David Williams.
WPT 2K6, a creation of software company 2K Games, carries the distinction of the
World Poker Tour (WPT) name. Endorsing and starring in the game are Phil "the Unabomer" Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Michael Mizrachi, Evelyn Ng, and Lyle Berman. Some of the environments within the game are replicas of actual casinos, and stops on the WPT, including: The Bicycle Club, and Commerce Casino in California, as well as The Aviation Club in Paris, Bay 101 in San Jose, and Foxwoods in Connecticut. For added authenticity, the graphics mimic the Travel Channel's WPT television broadcasts.
Crave Entertainment led the console poker game surge last November with the release of
Championship Poker. Although met by hardcore gamers with a lukewarm response, the game was successful enough to warrant a sequel: the retooled
World Championship Poker: Featuring Howard Lederer. Buzz around the second installment of this game, according to GameSpot (www.gamespot.com) is that the graphics and A.I. have been significantly improved. The new version of the game will include big name poker professionals, including: Annie Duke, Greg Raymer, Paul Darden, Amir Vahedi, Clonie Gowen, and Robert Williamson III. Tournament Director Matt Savage lends his commentary to the game.
Activision's
World Series of Poker is set for release on August 23
rd, making it the first of this next wave of poker games to be released. The action in the WSOP video game takes place inside the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where the actual tournament takes place. Similar to WPT 2K6, WSOP's graphics will replicate television coverage for a more exciting, realistic feel.
One software manufacturer who is, of yet, absent from the poker game market is EA Sports, famous for its
Madden series, and known the world over for making the most comprehensive and realistic sports games. Whether there is a poker game on the horizon remains to be seen. EA recently purchased the exclusive license from ESPN, making its own version of a
World Series of Poker or TILT video game a possibility in the future.
Even with EA out of the mix, one thing is for sure, poker fans will have plenty to choose from come autumn. And with poker's popularity still on the rise, one of these games is bound to be a huge hit.
