Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Top Shelf-- Matchmaster Virtual hockey toy


Design the proper care and feeding program for your own virtual hockey player!
.
With Christmas on the way, Santa’s gift lists will soon be in the mail, hopeful screeds from youngsters looking for the newest, the latest, the shiniest and the ones that offer the most fun.

A hopeful entry to the Christmas sweepstakes is a new creation for the hockey fan, a small handheld electronic gizmo that offers the player the chance to build their hockey player from the ground up. Each unit can be decorated with the logo of the player’s favourite squad and you can enter the name of your favourite player as your training camp subject.

The Matchmaster, is a virtual hockey toy, which requires the user to navigate through a number of activities that simulate the regimen of an average NHL hockey player.

Designed for the younger set somewhere from 8 years and up, the players will work out a balanced routine for eating, sleeping and training all designed to maximize the virtual player’s performance.

There are a number of skills that you have to work on as well taking part in a number of interactive practice sessions. You need to develop your shots, end to end rushes, sprints, dekes, one timers and shoot outs.

The key to all your training is to get to the point where you are strong enough and trained enough to play an infra red game with a friend, who has gone through the same process on his or her matchmaster.

The harder you’ve trained in the early days, the better your performance in the head to head action, a little incentive to take proper care of your player on a daily basis.

The unit itself is a small handheld device, no larger than a small cellular phone, it features a small screen, easily viewed by the younger folks but for us older types it’s a bit harder to get used to.

However, once you adjust to the process of playing the matchmaster it’s not that hard to master. The action moves fast and the concepts are easy to grasp after you’ve read through the instructions a few times.

The unit is the first attempt to cash in on the North American market and follows similar units in soccer mad England, where the same principle of training and reward are in place on the pitch and feature a number of decorative English and Scottish league stickers.

There is also an MLS version for North American’s who have dreams of feeding and training and bending it, with a virtual Beckham stick man.

Future projects even include Australian football, which we can imagine from our memories of that game would be an interesting concept, one that probably would require as much time in the hospital as you would on the field.

The matchmaster is available across Canada through a marketing arrangement at Wal Mart Stores, and for under seventeen dollars would fit into a stocking and a budget with little difficulty. It surely won’t be taking the place of the EA Sports Empire, built through the amazing graphics and speed of the digital designs for the next generation computers and gaming stations.
.
But for a diversion on a daily basis, the hand held units are easily transported and thus would set up an instant game in a pretty short order.

If you’re looking for something a little different for the hockey fan this Christmas, the matchmaster may be something to look at. It provides a good chance for Mom and Dad, daughter and son to set up their own Christmas hockey tournament without having to leave the house.

For more information on the matchmaster check out their website, they have a fair bit of information available, as well as some pictures to help you get a better idea of what the game is all about. Your chance to play coach and GM and turn your matchmaster player into a finely tuned hockey machine…

No comments: