DONEGAL DEFENDER EAMON McGEE is allowing himself one guilty pleasure over the winter before he sights his sights on winning a second All-Ireland in succession – ‘Sitting around playing computer games’.
The only problem is, the Gweedore native will be forced to forgo Gaelic (computer) games as there seems to be a severe lack of titles on the market.
There was Gaelic Games Football – so good they spawned it twice – made by Sony for the Playstation Two in 2007 and 2008 but it did not make the grade with McGee’s younger brother, Neil.
The two-time footballing All-Star declared, “It was terrible. I played it for about 20 seconds.”
“It’s a tough enough one to do, in fairness,” a diplomatic Eamon McGee told TheScore.ie. ”Soccer is just so easy to translate but with GAA there are just so many rules and different things.”
Asked if he would be willing to commit himself to a day in a motion-capture suit to help create a decent Gaelic football computer game, McGee remarked, “If they had me doing that I’d just be wrestling or pulling someone’s jersey.”
There will never be another Jonah
While there may not be a huge market for a Gaelic computer game, rugby’s popularity, in about 12 countries at least, would surely lead to the release of an enjoyable game on the market.
Not so according to gaming fans, and Heineken Cup winners with Leinster, Rob and Dave Kearney.
Rob Kearney commented, “Jonah Lomu Rugby (Challenge) was just so simple but everybody loved it, didn’t they?
EA have brought out a couple of rugby games and they have been quite good, but for some reason they’ve never really captured it in terms of the gaming side of it.
“Obviously the soccer games are awesome and the golf is brilliant but, for some reason, probably the rules of rugby are too complicated.”
Fear not computer fans
Having taken a scan of the current gaming market, there is a Rugby World Cup 2011 and a new Jonah Lomu title on the scene. EA’s last two rugby releases came in 2002 and 2005.
Despite online campaigns, like the GAA Football ’13 Facebook page, it looks a lot sparser on the Gaelic front, with Bainisteoir, a hurling manager game, available to download.
One gameplayer commented that he had won the All-Ireland with Clare and was sacked by a’fickle’ county board after losing the next game out.
However TheScore.ie has found a winner in Ulster Bank’s desktop classic The 16th Man. For research purposes we took on Cavan twice and were the victors.
Bring back Seanie Johnston.
Take that Cavan! (gaa.ulsterbank.com)
The Kearneys and McGees were speaking at the launch of Medal of Honour: Warfighter and, it seems, Gaelic was the winner.
“We were having a wee go and were taking them on,” said Eamon McGee. “I have to say that the McGees came out on top.
“I was staying back and letting Neil do all the shooting.”
