Children and those young at heart could be playing a different sport next year on their Nintendo Wii video game console - one that has a direct connection to Columbia County - disc golf.

"I've been contacted by two different (software) companies who are both interested in making disc golf games for the Wii," said Brian Graham, an Augusta resident and the executive director of the Professional Disc Golf Association, which is managing a new International Disc Golf Center at Wildwood Park in Appling.

The Wii is an interactive video game console that allows play with arm movements using a handheld controller. Disc golf, meanwhile, has rules similar to golf but involves using a flying disc instead of a golf ball and clubs.

Mr. Graham said he was approached recently about two game ideas: one that would focus on some of the top players of the game, another that would be a partnership with the PDGA "and may possibly even take one of the courses out here at the IDGC (at Wildwood) and make that a digital course that you can play."

Development of such games, he said, is in the early stages, "but they've started the communication on it."

One of the software companies is Autonomous Productions, based in Redwood City, Calif. Shayne Guiliano, the studio director for Autonomous, said there do not seem to be any major obstacles keeping his company from developing a disc golf game for the Wii.

"Our tentative plans are to release a game sometime middle or late next year," he said. "... The Wii is obviously a great platform ... and we just think it's perfectly suited for what we want to do for a disc golf game."

Mr. Guiliano said the game most likely will be downloadable at a cost of about $10 to $15 through a new Wii service called Wii Ware.

"We're looking at re-creating some of the famous courses, working with Brian (Graham) and that organization to make sure that the game is authentic, and kind of take people through the steps of becoming a professional disc golfer," he said.

Mr. Graham says such interest in disc golf says a lot about the game's growing popularity.