Dadoo Games released “Curling 2010″ for the XBox360 this week– the full version is available for the amazing price of $3.00! It is downloaded through the XBox Live service directly from your game console, or through your web browser by following this link. The amount of bang for your buck is tremendous.  You can see screenshots from the game here, and videos here.

I’ve spent a bit of time with Curling 2010 since its release, and I can confidently say this is the best curling video game available for any console system today. Rather than make a winter sports compilation, this game is focused solely on curling, and it is clear that Dadoo thoroughly understands curling. In the basic match game, the standard competition rules, including the free guard rule, are in effect (although the number of ends per game, number of stones per end, Canadian versus international free guard rule, etc. are all changeable parameters– in fact you can set up a game with up to four teams, and four stone colors!).

The setting is an outdoor curling sheet, set in a valley surrounded by snow covered spruce. There are no cartoon characters or avatars to control; you basically act as skip and set a hovering broom to set the aiming point. You also set the weight with the left and right triggers, and turn with the X and B buttons. Once you have everything set to your satisfaction, press the A button to release the stone. Sweeping is accomplished by alternating left and right trigger buttons as the rock glides down the sheet.

(Click the “more. . .” link below for the rest of the review.)

The curling physics overall are great– the rocks don’t start curling until near the end of their run, making it possible to really bury rocks behind guards. The rocks also stay very straight with anything above about hack weight. When rocks hit, for the most part the physics seems accurate, but occasionally I’ve seen them take an odd bounce.

Curling 2010 allows you to play matches against very capable computer opponents, against friends in your living room, or, best of all, with friends across the globe using XBox Live. These matches are set up with a simple but effective lobby system, and if you have a microphone, you can chat with your opponent during the game. I have played several games against live opponents so far, and they are a lot of fun. Although you can not see your opponents broom or weight settings, each stone leaves a lightly colored trail, allowing you to see where the rock was aimed and when it started to break.

In addition to the standard matches, Curling 2010 also has several additions that provide even more value for the modest $3.00 price. There is a practice mode that lets you set up the house however you want, and then make a shot–so if you wanted to relive Jason Smith’s great draw in the eleventh end of the USA vs. Sweden match, you could set it up stone for stone. After your shot, you can reset the house back to its original setup with the press of a button, and different scenarios can be saved and replayed later. This feature makes Dadoo Games Curling 2010 stand out as not just a casual game, but a real curling simulation that has the potential to be a fantastic coaching aid.

To satisfy curler’s latent Pokeman instincts, Dadoo Games added a badge collecting feature. Every time you make a raise, tight guard, takeout, etc., you get a badge for that play. Then you can see how many times you’ve made a particular shot, and there are also achievements for earning a certain amount of badges. It seemed a little corny at first, but actually its kind of fun, and if you choose to ignore the badge system, it is not intrusive to the basic game at all.

This is a minor complaint, but Curling 2010 does omit one feature of curling: The ability to control a stone by sweeping ends as soon as it hits another rock. So for example if you’re peeling one of your own guards, in real life you could choose whether to sweep the shooter, the guard, or both. Similarly, when your opponent is shooting, you can’t sweep your own rocks or your opponent’s rock after it crosses the hogline. Admittedly, it would be difficult to map multiple sweeping possibilities to the limited buttons available on an XBox controller, but its something to think about.

If you have an XBox 360 with internet access, buy Curling 2010 by Dadoo Games as soon as there is a break in the Olypmics– this is a great value for a mere three dollars. And if you want to play online, my XBox Live username is “skildum”. Good curling!

And if you want to read an interview with Dadoo Game’s Bill Fowler, here it is on Gamespot.com.

From YouTube via zolson1404

I mention this because the curling episode has just been posted on YouTube. It features a cameo by Glenn Howard, and the prescient line, “Nobody wants to be in a bonspiel. Its something that happens to you.”

Here is part 1:

Part 2:

And the conclusion:

From YouTube via LittleMosqueSeason2.

Chinese skip Fengchun Wang and German skip Andreas Kapp sweep in the house in draw 2.

We made it back to Duluth after watching the first three draws of the 2008 World Men’s Curling Championship in Grand Forks, ND.  I sure wish we could have stayed all week– it was curling heaven.  The meticulously prepared ice set against the opulence of the Ralph Engelstad Arena served as a fitting stage for an event featuring the best curlers in the world.  Click the “more” link below to see a ton of pictures from the trip. . .

The Ralph Engelstad Arena is absolutely beautiful, from the brick exterior to the stone floors in the mens’ rooms.  Every seat is upholstered in leather, with cherry armrests– very comfortable!

An army of ice technicians prepare the ice before the first draw on saturday.

Before the draws, the teams paraded out behind their flags.  At each draw, one country’s national anthem was played while a video showing scenes from the homeland played on the scoreboard.  Here we see the Chinese team being honored before the first draw.

US Skip Craig Brown discusses the shot with his teammates in the game against the Czech Republic in the third draw.  Brown had some trouble finding his draw weight in this game, and gave the Czechs a couple steals.  The Czechs won 7-6.

Brown watches his sweepers carry the rock in draw three.

China fielded a good looking young team.  This shot shows Jialang Zang, Xiaoming Xu, Riu Liu and skip Fengchun Wang getting ready before their game against Germany in draw 2.  China stuggled and only scored in two ends, losing 11-5.  They are currently in the middle of the pack with two wins and three losses.  Considering the youth of their Men’s team and the outstanding performance of their Women’s team in the Worlds a couple weeks ago, China has a bright future in world curling.

Chinese third Liu delivers versus Germany in the third draw.

Australian skip Hugh Milliken watches the rock closely in their game against Sweden in the second draw.  Sweden won 6-5.

The Aussies consider strategy in the second draw versus Sweden.  They may have the coolest jerseys in world curling.

Kevin Martin’s unstoppable juggernaut beat Denmark 9-3 in the second draw.  The scoreboard suspended from the arena’s ceiling showed the live broadcast feed (some games can be watched live over the internet, either at curltv.com or wcsn.com).

The Czech team skipped by Jiri Snitil consider their options late in their game against Scotland in the first draw.

The Scotties needed some time to cogitate also.  Here they get some advice from their coach, David Hay.  The Czechs went on to win the game 7-5.

In addition to the great curling on the sheets, it was a lot of fun to watch all the behind the scenes action of the umpires, camera crew, ice technicians, and event organizers.  Here is a shot of ice tech central, right behind the scoreboards.

We also managed to squeeze in a little sightseeing while in Grand Forks, and we found a good alternative to arena hotdogs.  We had our fill of tacos, tortilla soup and sodas– about $10 for the two of us.  Nice!

And that is the end of our photo odyssey to Grand Forks.  The drive back to Duluth Sunday was a little dicey; let’s just say the roads had a very heavy pebble.  But its all melting, so if anyone is considering a trip to watch this great event, I highly recommend it.

The story so far: Ringo has a large ring stuck on his finger. Various bad guys want the ring. Naturally, the Beatles travel to the sheltering alps to hide out, and enjoy the local winter sports scene.

I think “Hey its a thingy– a fiendish thingy!” is British for “Hurry hard!”

If you miss Paul Gross because of his magical performance as a Canadian Mounty in Due South (which I do), here’s your chance to see him once again. He stars in and also directs this rare movie about curling. One of his costars is Leslie Nielson. No, there aren’t any broom to the groin shots or gratuitous slapstick. Nielson plays Gross’s father who also coaches this group of relatively ragtag misfits into becoming a rink in this small town setting. They go on to play for the “Golden Broom” after previously chasing this title ten years earlier and quitting because of their ethics or lack thereof.

The movie is somewhat predictable and follows the premise of the Karate Kid where an untrained, unfit group takes on the flashy, well funded antagonist. And when you feel that all hope is lost, Nielson exclaims, “you want an easy ride? Go play a bonspiel for the gutless!”

All in all, the movie is well done. Some cheesy special effects, but that’s to be expected when it isn’t directed by Spielberg. There are some very funny lines and the movie moves along well enough that your attention span doesn’t get “bumped out of the house”. The characters are likable, the acting is likable and the end result is a little predictable. But who cares, someone made a movie about curling. That’s just fantastic!!

I give the movie 6 out of 8 stones in the house.

Mud Duck

If you have or find any other movies about curling, let me know.

Last year midway through the curling season, I upgraded from a wood handled broom to a fiberglass Reactor 2 by Olson Curling Supplies. It is a great broom– it is very light and quick, and the narrow head makes it easy to brush right next to the rock. The best part of this broom though is the handle: Instead of being round, it has flat edges, more like a hockey stick than a traditional broom handle. This makes the broom much easier to grip tightly and put muscle into the sweep.

My Reactor2 in happier times

I was very happy with this broom. I think it made me a much more effective sweeper, and it was reasonably priced (purchased on Amazon.com for ~$65). Prior to sunday night, I would have given the fiberglass Reactor 2 a solid B+.

What happened sunday night? In about the fifth end, while delivering a stone, the business end of my broom broke off. Yes, broke off. I was watching my shot and didn’t notice it, until a player on the opposing team picked the broom head off the ice and handed it to me. I was shocked, obviously. Why would the broom snap during a delivery? There must be a lot more force on it while sweeping. I pondered this as I grabbed a club broom from the barrel to continue the game (we lost).

Broken brooms, shattered lives. The broken end of the screw is visible at the end of the handle. It was screwed in to the deep nut connected to the swivel. The whole connection was encased in hard plastic.

I took a closer look at the busted broom after the game. There is a threaded rod which secures the handle into the the swiveling head, and a hard plastic cowling around the connection. It looks like the threaded rod snapped one or two threads deep, leaving only the plastic to hold it together. I probably broke the rod while sweeping, and then side loaded the fracture during my delivery, resulting in broom decapitation.

I don’t think I’m particularly tough on brooms, so I’m attributing this catastrophic failure to either a design flaw or a defect in the steel threaded rod. Either way it knocks my grading of the Olson Fiberglass Reactor2 down to a B-. This was a great broom that never let me down, until it did, and then it did big time.