Sports Party Wii Screenshot

All of the sudden we've gone from nothing but a few free PC download games to two croquet releases on the Wii. They both come as part of compilation games and it appears that they are both the same game:

Summer Sports: Island Party

Sports Party

With the revolutionary controller, the Wii is perfect for croquet and I can't wait to try out one of these games. A friend of mine tried out the Summer Island version and seemed pretty impressed. Again, after checking out the screenshots and video they pretty much look like the same game, so it may be a good idea to rent. Also, when watching the video be prepared to throw up a little bit in your mouth when the guy scores his wicket from the wrong side (why?!?).

Even with the inaccuracy -- the exposure on this platform will have an impact. Believe me, there will be kids playing these games on the Wii and they'll put two-and-two together with the old croquet set in the backyard. With that and the surging popularity of Golf Croquet (needs to be on TV), let me go on record as saying the next decade should be a boom period for the sport. We've seen it before with hockey in the early nineties. It's open to speculation, but the two things that drove that boom -- EA's NHL video games and a new version of the game in the form of inline hockey.

I wonder if some developer will have the guts to offer a full croquet version with the six-wicket game plus golf croquet.