24Jan Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds

Hot Shots Golf 5, already announced for a North American release, will bear a modified moniker when it hits the retail links this March: Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds.

The North American name change was announced via a post on the PlayStation.Blog today, in which Associate Producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda promised additional behind-the-scenes blogs before the title ships. The first PlayStation 3 iteration of the popular golf franchise, out in Japan since July, includes online play, an optional new swing style, and much shinier super-deformed golfers and caddies

Hot Shots Golf 5 came out in Japan last summer but Sony remained quiet about when it would make a stateside release. For the first time in the series, a new shot mechanism will be introduced, although the classic control scheme will also be selectable.

The game also packs in several new characters and an overhauled online mode. Users will be able to log into a virtual club house, and walk around with a customized avatar to find other players to challenge to a match.

Hot Shots Golf will be the first Playstation-exclusive franchise that has been around since the PSOne to make the jump to the PS3.

An associate producer on the project Chris Hinojosa-Miranda wrote on the official Playstation Blog that it will be available in the US in March.