Preview: “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08”

Posted Apr 12, 2007 by Wes Phillips

Updated Apr 14, 2007 at 11:52 PM

Release date: Oct. 2007
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

I spent a day at Electronic Arts’ Tiburon studio this week and got a look at this year’s lineup of sports titles. One of the biggest revelations is that the “Tiger Woods” series will now be produced at the Orlando studio, or as I like to call it “The House That Madden Built.”

EA wants to consolidate all of its sports resources in one office. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that Tiger Woods lives just down the road in Windemere. They didn’t show much of Tiger’s gameplay, but EA did unveil a couple of features that flesh out a sport that I often find dull.

Kind Of Like YouTube

The online component of “Tiger 08” is getting a major overhaul. It’s still golf, but EA is creating what they call “GamerNet” as a way to stake their claim in the world of “user-created content.” Aside from the normal stroke play, GamerNet will allow you to save your best and craziest shots and creates a competition with gamers all over the world who are trying to emulate your greatness. (more ...)

EA likes to compare it to YouTube, except here you save your best golf shots instead of videos. From there you post them on GamerNet with a set of conditions that must be met for the downloading public. And it doesn’t have to be in the hole. You like hitting spectators? Post it. You want to go off the cart path into the bunker? Post it.

Meeting these challenges will net points depending on the challenge. An ace is obviously going to be worth more than a par or a simple drive to the fairway. The points will tracked on a leader board, but there can be million possibilities for having fun if you don’t care about being No. 1. If you’re anything like me you’ll make a career of water hazards.

Really In The Game

If you want to be like me, which would be a little creepy, EA is making it possible with improvements to the Game Face feature. You’ve seen it before. It’s the option that lets you import your photo on to a character’s head in the game.

In the past, the image was just wrapped around a generic model of a head and didn’t show emotion or true profile features. With the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, EA is getting closer to the kind of technology used in the movies.

If you have a front and a profile photo of yourself (which can be taken from Microsoft’s Live Vision camera, Sony’s EyeToy or a normal digital camera), you’ll be able to use a set of markers on your face to build a head from scratch instead of just plopping a flat image on a head. If you have a big schnozz, you’ll have a big schnozz in the game.

EA demonstrated the process, which only took about five minutes. It’s hard to decide which is more weird, an emotionless version of yourself or an uncanny virtual re-creation.

We’ll have more coverage of “Tiger Woods 08” in the months to come, but be sure to download next week’s podcast for an interview with “Tiger” senior producer Mike Taramykin.