E3 06: Sega pockets snooker, pool games

Sega today announced that World Snooker Championship 2007--called World Pool Championship 2007 in the US--is going next gen and will be released on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game will also be available on the PlayStation 2, with all three versions scheduled for release in the UK and North America in autumn 2006.

The game is being developed by Blade Interactive and will boast 104 top snooker players and ten official tournaments, all modelled for the 2007 season. The game will also boast a pool mode with 9-ball and 8-ball competitions, along with 10 major pool tournaments and a trick-shot championship.

The addition of the pool feature has let Blade create a Golden Cue mode, which will mix different cue sports into one match. This lets gamers challenge others to a mix of pool and snooker over a number of frames. Further advancements have also been made in the create-a-player mode, which will let users customize their avatars even more.

A PlayStation Portable version of the game, titled World Snooker Challenge 2007--aka World Pool Challenge 2007 in North America--will also be available in the autumn.