PS2 (also PC), £29.99 (Gametrak unit extra), In2Games, www.realworldgolf2007.com

By George Wright

PITCHING into shops before winter arrives is Real World Golf 2007, the follow-up to last year’s title that gave golf fans a chance to swap trudging round courses in the cold and rain for the comfort of their own home.

For those unfamiliar with the game, Real World Golf differs from other golf games in that you don’t use a controller to play. Instead, you hook up to a Gametrak unit that uses a motion tracking system to recreate your swing and shots on screen in 3D and with no time delay.

To create this wizardry you’re connected to the floor unit by wires that clip on to Trak “golf” gloves. It sounds cumbersome, but, in reality, you soon forget about the wires and are engrossed in improving your game.

It’s easy to set up and, after on-screen prompts to calibrate your stance over the floor unit, you’re set to swing into action. You can either use the mini-club provided or a club of your own — but watch out for the ornaments!

So, what’s changed in a year? Well, new features provide detailed training and analysis to improve your game just as golf pros would. Impact Analyser dissects your shot, examining how your club head meets the ball, outlining horizontal and vertical impact planes and giving tips on how to address problems. Swing Trainer System also gives similar in-depth advice on how to improve your swing.

There’s also an improved format when you reach the greens with a new putting system giving more refined control over aim and power, along with better reading of slope and green-speed factors.

Voice-of-golf Peter Allis makes a welcome return in the commentary box complete with extra in-game dialogue as you step up to the tee as any of the fully motion-captured players that recreate your moves.

There are 15 varied courses to tackle this time around, including the world famous Ryder Cup course, the Belfry. They all look great, too, thanks to a beefed-up graphics system that delivers twice the resolution of the original to ensure the golf looks great even when you’re slicing and hooking all over the place.

VERDICT: Polished update on a good game.

Logitech, £299.99, www.logitech.co.uk

By Derek Uchman

Universal remote controls are split into two groups — the budget range (costing between £10 and £100), which are generally pants, and the luxury (we’re talking £800 to £1000), which is probably more than most folk spend on their telly.

In the middle is the 895, which lacks a fancy touchscreen, but nonetheless has quite posh pretensions.

Like all its brothers and sisters in the Harmony range, the 895 is set-up online. You connect it to your PC, run the wizard, key in the information about all the remotes you wish to replace — and that should be it. Within 15 minutes, the 895 will be updated, and you’ll be up-and-running. That’s the theory, anyway, but the reality is you’ll almost certainly need to fine-tune it — and that’ll be time-consuming. For instance, the direction button for the Sky box didn’t work too well for us. So it’s back to the PC to do some troubleshooting. Then we discovered the play, pause, fast forward buttons were completely missing for the Telewest TVDrive. Back to the PC once more.

To cap it all, the wizards have so many options you often find yourself going round in circles. However, persistence brings its rewards, and once you have tweaked and massaged the 895 to exactly how you want it (this may take hours), you’ll quickly bin all your other remotes. In fact, it even managed to outperform some of the older handsets.

It can also be configured to carry out multiple tasks at a push of a button. Press “Watch DVD”, for example, and the 895 will fire up your TV, DVD player and surround sound system all at once. Perfect for the gadget-loving couch potato in your life.

We were also mightily impressed by the 895’s ability to control set-top boxes which may be hidden out of sight in cupboards and units. To do this Logitech have supplied a small, black heel-shaped object called the Wireless A/V Bridge Receiver. Running from it are thin wires which you place in the cupboard. These relay the signal from the 895 to the hidden box.

VERDICT: The 895: a sophisticated remote for the digital home, or Homer Simpson’s perfect Father’s Day gift? Either way, it does the business.