Tiger Woods 13: Country Clubs Online Feature Details, Demo Date Announced

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by rolltide1017

Can you have people from different consoles in the same Country Club? I don't see why they couldn't do this if you are not require to play head to head. I have friends who have a PS3 and I'm on Xbox, it would be fun if we could all be apart of the same Online Country Club.

I'm sure this won't be possible. You access your Club's "clubhouse" via XBox Live for the 360 and PSN for the PS3. You also have Live Tournaments and even Head to Head play within your own clubhouse. There's no way you could have head to head play between an XBox 360 and a PS3 via the proprietary networks that serve them. I agree that it would be cool if they could do it! I still think it's going to be a blast as it stands.

[DivotMaker]

Quote: Originally Posted by rolltide1017

Can you have people from different consoles in the same Country Club? I don't see why they couldn't do this if you are not require to play head to head. I have friends who have a PS3 and I'm on Xbox, it would be fun if we could all be apart of the same Online Country Club.

If the day ever comes where PS3 and 360 users are allowed to play against each other, then something like this would be possible. I don't see this happening anytime soon if ever, but if a company wanted to make this happen using Cloud-based services, and could navigate the EULA's for both Sony and MS, then anything is possible.....

[OnlookerDelay]

Guys, I just wanted to inject a question into the thread here to get some opinions on what I see as an alarmingly low buzz about this year's Tiger Woods game. Here we are only a week away from the release of the demo, and less than a month from the release of the full game, yet I'm only seeing a trickle of discussion about it at every forum I frequent.

What makes this situation even harder to explain is that this year's Tiger is almost unarguably - on paper - the most progressive step in the history of the series. It's got:

1.) A tempo reliant swing control system which requires swing plane/path alteration to shape shots (scalable to all difficulties above Amateur), exponentially proportionally penal results for tracking errors in the overswing region.

2.) Kinect integration for the 360 version, which many of us are cautiously skeptical about, but it's still a bold stride that should at least help advance motion controls towards viability.

3.) Online Country Clubs is an answer to a number user requests in terms of Custom Live Tournaments, custom lobbies, more cohesive competitive options, and encouragement of communities.

4.) New presentation options in terms of both swing camera and cut-views. One dev has only made tangential references to this in the official forum, but it sounds like there's a lot there. We now that "True View" is definitely an option. I think True View is an expansion on what was called "First Person View" in the PS3 and to a less extent, Tiger 12's True View from the Wii version.

5.) The option to earn DLC courses via earning them via satisfying performance goals.

With all of the above in mind, why do you guys think this game is so low on the radar right now? My best guess is this game had such a track record of sameness over the last few years that both the established user base and potential buyers have been lulled into apathy.

[Zinger]

Quote: Originally Posted by OnlookerDelay

With all of the above in mind, why do you guys think this game is so low on the radar right now? My best guess is this game had such a track record of sameness over the last few years that both the established user base and potential buyers have been lulled into apathy.

Yep, 'sameness' which amounts to mediocrity. I for one have little faith in the devs after giving us a sub-standard game for so many years. The game is so unpolished it's hard to know where to begin in describing what needs attention. It does sound as if they have been listening to the users more this year and there are reasons to be hopeful, but I would be truly amazed if the game knocks my socks off with its improvements. I still expect to find plenty of stuff which annoys me. If there is apathy around the devs have brought it upon themselves.

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by Zinger

Yep, 'sameness' which amounts to mediocrity. I for one have little faith in the devs after giving us a sub-standard game for so many years. The game is so unpolished it's hard to know where to begin in describing what needs attention.

I've bought every Tiger game in this gen of consoles, starting with Tiger 06 on the XBox 360. The only title in the series which I thought made an expected advancement over the previous year's title was in Tiger 10, when they introduced Precision Putting and Live Tournaments. They didn't take the improvements made there and take them to the level they could have in Tiger 11 and 12, IMO. Their vision just seems to be inexplicably limited.

Having read Fred Parrow's blog on Total Swing Control, I know the biggest complaint I've made in this entire generation has at least had an attempt made to address. The swing interface just didn't require enough touch and intuition. Fred says that the gamer feels "invested" in the shot this year in his blog. That will cure a lot of what ailes the game for me if it proves to be the case.

I really appreciate your weighing in on this Zinger... good stuff!

[kerosene31]

I think the game taking a step back last year hurt a little, although I am definitely looking forward to the demo. I went back and played some TW12 this weekend and remembered how much I missed 11. I could never get tournament difficulty without the putting meter. I could never get the feel down. I ended up dropping down to tour pro, which was ok, but there you are forced to use focus or your accuracy is horrible. I could just never find a difficulty I liked.

I am interested in the new swing. I haven't watched many videos but will of course try the demo. It could really make a great game. I guess I'm just in wait and see mode.

Online country clubs could be good, however I don't have many friends who play TW.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by OnlookerDelay

I've bought every Tiger game in this gen of consoles, starting with Tiger 06 on the XBox 360. The only title in the series which I thought made an expected advancement over the previous year's title was in Tiger 10, when they introduced Precision Putting and Live Tournaments. They didn't take the improvements made there and take them to the level they could have in Tiger 11 and 12, IMO. Their vision just seems to be inexplicably limited. Having read Fred Parrow's blog on Total Swing Control, I know the biggest complaint I've made in this entire generation has at least had an attempt made to address. The swing interface just didn't require enough touch and intuition. Fred says that the gamer feels "invested" in the shot this year in his blog. That will cure a lot of what ailes the game for me if it proves to be the case. I really appreciate your weighing in on this Zinger... good stuff!

Onlooker I like you, you are a good poster, always respectful to others on here (even of they don;t deserve it sometimes) and an eternal optimist and the world can't have enough optimists.

I'll give you my long winded theories as to why the there is a lukewarm reception and why I feel the same way.

1. Sports gamers (and that includes many who aren't on the internet) really don't care about online that much. Although they've made alot of positive changes that's not gonna get people that excited. Many gamers know online is always broken one way or another and many simply view it as as add-on, not the main reason they buy the game. Gamers buy sports games mainly to play the franchise mode and there has been minimal improvement (if any) to the career mode. Things such as playoffs, comprehensive season stats, full customization with DLC, an attempt to make it feel like you're actually on the PGA tour by progressing through different tours (not the half assed attempt done last year), and a presentation overhaul has not been done. The game looks the same and people go by the looks. The PGA tour could be an amazing franchise mode if done properly and they could make much more organic and let you play beside other AI golfers and make you feel like you are in a tourney. People have been asking for stuff like that alot longer than online country clubs which is still just playing mainly against a stat sheet. And many gamers don't have enough online friends who play TW to take advantage of the new CC so it's not really that appealing to most and it's difficult to get people to play at the same time. Everyone has different schedules.

If they have made much needed changes to the career mode then it is simply bizarre they refuse to divulge it. They are cutting off thier nose to spite thier face. If they allow you to use DLC at your discretion then you better advertize that fact because if you don't and wait until it comes out then people will move on to the next game if they don;t pre-order this one. And to ask gamers to spend an extra $40 every year for DLC and not even allow the user to customize thier career mode with it is a big slap in the face.

2. The new swing is nice but most of it is just remapped buttons, there may be an improved tempo but tempo was a part of TW12's swing. And difficulty has never been a problem with this game on tour mode so while the new swing will feel more intuitive it hardly justifies a purchase for most gamers.

3. NOBODY cares about Legacy Mode. It's a waste of resources and the fact that they advertized the hell out of it makes one to believe they've done nothing to overhaul the stale career mode and wasted time on this instead.

Again it's a case of EA totally misreading the market and wasting thier energy on the wrong things that will get people excited (mainly Legacy mode) and ignoring the franchise mode which needed to be redone years ago and give a reason for gamers to buy the DLC. Yes you can get it free online but that takes some time and most want to buy and play it right away. People who play Madden play the franchise mode, yes they play online but online is always exploited so the main charm is the franchise mode. Why EA thinks the TW crowd is different is beyond me.

On the EA board I keep asking what is changing for franchise mode and the devs don;t even acknowledge in giving me a date on when they are revealing anything and also in respect to TW True Aim returning which many gamers would love. Go ahead and ignore the franchise gamer but guess what, I'm not pre-ordering (and many others like me I presume) because of the lack of cooperation (they've been cooperative with every other feature so it leads me to believe career mode is the same old, same old, what else am I supposed to think).

And if they want to suprise people and not reveal anything until the game comes out then that is just a bizarre marketing decision and will backfire. But I doubt any major changes were made that they wouldn't want to reveal beforehand. I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it.

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by kerosene31

I think the game taking a step back last year hurt a little,

I hadn't really stopped to put everything in perspective, but ater reading your post, it dawned on me that Tiger 11's gameplay is superior to that of '12. There were some graphical aspects of Tiger '11 that I didn't like, but it did offer more realism. I quit playing it all together when Tiger 12 came out, but went back and played it last week for kicks. It does feel better in the saddle. Since I mostly play Live Tournaments, '12 is my only option now. The only Live Tournaments they offer now on '11 are Amateur.

[quote]I could never get tournament difficulty without the putting meter. I could never get the feel down.[/quote

It is tough for sure. I'm pretty good with it up to about 30'; once I get beyond that, I can easily misgauge the distance worse than I would in real life. Take me beyond 50' and it's a crap shoot! Tiger 10's meterless putting was by far the best. I think the reason it was scaled to an 80' maximum putt distance, whereas '11 and '12 are scaled to 120'. If you faced an 85' putt in TW 10, you were screwed unless you swallowed your pride and used a PW on the green.

Quote:

I am interested in the new swing. I haven't watched many videos but will of course try the demo. It could really make a great game. I guess I'm just in wait and see mode. Online country clubs could be good, however I don't have many friends who play TW.

It's going to take the demo to answer my questions about how the new swing mechanic actually feels, particularly in Tournament difficulty.

As for Online Country Clubs, if the gameplay is there, I think there will be plenty of active clubs looking to recruit members. There are already a few floating recruiting posts at the official forum. I think a lot of gamers are going to see if the game is worth playing before they commit to a club though.