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Bobby Bolin |
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| Posted: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at
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| edited by: Gunpower61 on
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http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53921
Seems to say that it is almost definite that we will see Tiger 10 next year.
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Homeboy |
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| Posted: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at
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Well, it's based on a very reliable source: EA's Q1 2009 Earnings Call that happened just the other day on July 29, 2008.
If you're interested, here is the full transcript: http://seekingalpha.com/article/87852-electronic-arts-f1q09-qtr-end-6-30-08-earnings-call-transcript?page=1
Parts of it are pretty dry -- discussing financial results and accounting details, but the Q&A with the Wall Street analysts is pretty interesting since Peter Moore, President of EA Sports speaks extensively.
In a nutshell, they are pushing the digital direct to consumer business that drives repetitive sales. On page 4 of the transcript, Peter Moore says:
"As many of you probably noticed, this year we cut back on our PC sports games, but only for a year. We are retooling these titles to take advantage of the online connectivity in a bigger and a more meaningful way -- stay tuned for more on this.
And finally, we are working on subscription programs that will provide our large base of EA Sports consumers with greater value for their loyalty."
Based on this, I would anticipate that we will likely see TW10 on the PC, but I could envision EA Sports having add-on stock courses that can be purchased to create an annuity of sorts on sales. The question is whether the community will still be able to design and release custom courses.
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TruBluMich |
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| Posted: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at
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| Ive stepped back from the cituation a little and looked at all possible solutions. Heres what I came up with Headgate has always been for designers all the way back to PGA 2000 since 2007 when they were pulled fro mthe PC gaming to be put on the console version of the game there has been no course architect. Nascar 09 actually got me thinking when I designed something in photoshop and then saw it on my TV through a console version of a game. There is NO reason why we wont see the ability to design courses on your PC and then have them uploaded via EA Sports World. Difference of course is a golf course is ALOT bigger of an upload then a dds file. |
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Bobby Bolin |
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| Posted: Friday, August 1, 2008 at
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| I sure hope you are right!!!! |
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jurgie |
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| Posted: Monday, August 4, 2008 at
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| Interestingly enough, Roger does pose the ultimate question and one that is probably on the top of everybodys list in the event that there should be a TW 10 release. Will one still be able to introduce custom designs into the new release. My convidence level in the EA franchise is to the point where I find it hard to believe that even if there is a new release of the game, that it will be business as usual. I am sure the new game will have certain added bells and whistles, but as far as continuing custom course capabilities, that might be a different story. In my opinion, the custom course issue is what finally drove the dagger into the heart of the Links game and resulted in little interest by any gaming manufacturer to revive it. Actually, the road travelled by both Links and TW conjure up paralallisms that are hard to ignore. Links like TW made a CA available to the public with the idea that they could create their own fun little courses for their own private use thinking that this would be a great market strategy to boost sales of the platform. Linkss CA program better known as the APCD or Arnold Palmer Course Designer was a very sophisticated designing program when introduced on a seperate disc in the Links 2001 version which was the first year that Microsoft released the game after purchasing the rights from Access Software, the original introducer of the Links franchise. The APCD when first released was so complex and polished that it only underwent a somewhat modest upgrade with the release of the last Links platform Links 2003. Access Software, when it was in their posession did release numerous add-on single courses as well as expansion packs where you could purchase ten or so add-ons as a bundle package. There was only one problem with that little strategy. Although reasonably priced, the add-ons were no better in design or visual quality than the stock courses that came with the original game. When the APCD was introduced in 2001 making custom design insertion possible it did not take long for designers to make customs available for Links and in a short period of time the custom designs were much better in quality than the stock ones that were available for purchase through Microsoft. Sound familiar at all to all you TW fans? When the 2003 game appeared with an updated APCD, this trend continued and has to this very day. Although comlex in nature and only a couple handfull of custom designers have truly mastered the full capabilities of this program, it really produces some remarkable visuals and is still even by todays standards a state of the art 2D rendering program. It is because of this fact that Links still has a very strong following not to mention that with the recent 1.7 patch edition to the game it will now allow designers to render their courses in 1024x1024 textures producing a much improved overall graphic appearance to the custom creations. So if you are willing to overlook the fact that there is no movement in the scenes rendered, then this is the cats meow for you because the scenes are beautiful. The point of all this is simply stated once the custom courses rolled off the assembly line so as to speak, all interest in buying add ons or expansion packs by the game owners died out. Why pay for something when you can receive a better product free? I am sure that both Microsoft and EAS grossly underestimated the designing abilities of the general public especially considering that their designers who are well paid were not putting out designs better than the customs. Gaming is a big business and it does not make market sense and it certainly does not serve the manufacturers interest to introduce a new TW platform, have people buy it, virtually discard the stock courses, introduce custom design and be able to continue that practice over several years using the same platform. Therefore, if EA is going to do away with the feature of custom course compatability for any new platform and go to an add on purchase option of additional stock courses, major changes must occur. The stock course quality must exceed significantly the quality of the custom designs we have presently technically and visually. This must be achieved in a manner where the guy who has a middle of the road system can still visually experience any improvements comming down the pike. Tough to accomplish when you consider that higher graphic quality usually equates to hardware upgrades and increased prices because of greater computer sophistication. I hope I am wrong about the end of customs for TW. AS far as buying add ons I am going to take a wait and see approach to that one because I have been down that road before. If EA is thinking along those lines, I wish them the best of luck. No future customs for TW means no more purchases of future TW platforms for me. The real pleasure for me in regards to this game is to witness a never ending variety of designs by talented individuals. It is truly the pulse and lifeline of this game. |
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axe360 |
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| Posted: Monday, August 4, 2008 at
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Well said Jurgie, I agree, I don't think their going to keep letting us piggy back off their product..
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BladeRunnerZ |
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| Posted: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at
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Well summed up Jurgie.
Ok, assuming that EA indeed wants to do away with the ability of the TW community to design their own courses and distribute them gratis, will that mean that any future version for the PC will have a substantial change in the game and render engine that all previous customs including 08 will look terrible or simply wont load?
If there is no change and 08 courses load and play fine then there is no real problem we just carry on designing as before.
If EA stamp out custom designs and go the route of releasing extra course bundle packs, at a premium of course, how quickly will these packs be made available to all corners of the globe. This could have an impact on the online gaming fraternity where tours are set up with courses that some countries may not have received.?
I know that when a new game is released in the US it can take a couple of months before it hits the shelves here in South Africa and i presume in many other countries as well.
Just a few extra questions to throw into the mix.... |
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Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle
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Sscott |
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| Posted: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at
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Wizards and Jurgie, well put. As a long time Links player I also am wondering about any future ability to produce designer courses etc. within a TW10.
The one comment from EA which sticks in my mind is:
"...We are retooling these titles to take advantage of the online connectivity in a bigger and a more meaningful way..."
Who knows what the final product will be in 2010, but my take is that the game will probably be just for online gaming. MMO and/or Pay to play.
Identical comments from EA regarding the Madden 2010 PC release are also being hashed about over at the Football Freaks site.
Scott
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| Par par birdie par ... then I woke up. |
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jurgie |
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| Posted: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at
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| If you are familiar with the Links Platform and the Links Community at all you know that the the top custom designers have created a considerable number of courses known as Pay to Play courses that are available for purchase at the APCD website. They run between four to six dollars and are a direct download from the site. Infact, Microsoft is using the same method if for any reason you are interested in purchasing any of their vintage 2003 stock courses. As wizards points out that world wide distribution of add-ons or entire expansion packs could open the flood gates to problems tha EA might not want to or would be entirely unable to deal with. If the add-on senario materializes, distribution of theses course will probably occur by going to a download site, paying your money and directly downloading the product to you computer. This method has really become quite common and a lot of gaming sites employ it. I personally have used this method and I actually prefer it to buying a factory disc. For some of you who have never done this, the obvious question would be: What if the file becomes corrupt during transfer or the download fails in some other manner? Every site that I have ever directly downloaded from will give you a grace period if you will, to redownload the file if necessary. Some sites handle their own transactions and they are traditionally handled via credit card. Some sites employ an internet accounting service such as PayPal a service that I personally use extensively, to handle the financial transactions. APCD for instance uses PayPal, which is actually a good thing. If you have any grievances regarding the product you downloaded, they will intervene to rectify the complaint you might have if you canot come directly to terms with the vendor. Furthermore, what I have always done is that once the file was downloaded to my computer, I would immediately back it up to disc. This way there is no chance of the file being lost or damaged in case of a crash. A direct download method would be the most sensible and cost productive way for EA to distribute any add-on files to a new TW Platform if indeed they are contemplating such a venture. |
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TruBluMich |
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| Posted: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at
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My stance on this whole subject.....and I guess this site stance.
In the beginning of the CA EA tried everything thye could to control the public distribution of user created courses on the internet. They had thier own website that you uploaded the courses to. Then NCD came along...then Course Source...finnancially speaking for EA the two sites saved them considerable amounts of money. If you take into effect that the staff here collectively spends 20 - 40 hours a week on this site per person. If EA releases another game for the PC platform and they attempt to control the distribution of user created courses, because they wish to profit off the sales of these courses. I can tell you we have no plans of sitting around and watching. That being said, EA has always held fast to the policy of modding games is bad for business....ecspecially sports games. Extending the shelf life of a game beyond one year is not good for business when you release the same game every year. I do not see EA releasing a course architect program when/if they release another PC version of TW golf. The courses help sales, but also extend the shelf life of the game by giving users more content, they dont get bored playing the same game over and over. EA recognizes this two years is a long time for them to come up with something we cant figure out how to get around. Look at years past the community figures out a way to mod the game, the next year that ability to mod the game has been closed and re-worked so much it cant be figured out, and once it is they reworked it again.
In 2002 it took about a week for us to figure out how to mod textures and graphics in the game. Headgate was exstatic to see all the stuff we were coming up with, some of which actually found its way into TW2003...although they wont admit it. EA closed that door in TW2003.....they stoped releasing a CA in 2007 and moved the panos up to prevent custom courses from 06 from looking good in 07 but did manage to slip in an installer...we got around that. 2008 they repackaged the game and released it with some new atmospheric settings and camera effects...no CA and no installer....does anyone else catch they dont want us modding the game.....???? |
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jurgie |
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| Posted: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at
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"My stance on this whole subject.....and I guess this site stance.
In the beginning of the CA EA tried everything thye could to control the public distribution of user created courses on the internet. They had thier own website that you uploaded the courses to. Then NCD came along...then Course Source...finnancially speaking for EA the two sites saved them considerable amounts of money. If you take into effect that the staff here collectively spends 20 - 40 hours a week on this site per person. If EA releases another game for the PC platform and they attempt to control the distribution of user created courses, because they wish to profit off the sales of these courses. I can tell you we have no plans of sitting around and watching. That being said, EA has always held fast to the policy of modding games is bad for business....ecspecially sports games. Extending the shelf life of a game beyond one year is not good for business when you release the same game every year. I do not see EA releasing a course architect program when/if they release another PC version of TW golf. The courses help sales, but also extend the shelf life of the game by giving users more content, they dont get bored playing the same game over and over. EA recognizes this two years is a long time for them to come up with something we cant figure out how to get around. Look at years past the community figures out a way to mod the game, the next year that ability to mod the game has been closed and re-worked so much it cant be figured out, and once it is they reworked it again.
In 2002 it took about a week for us to figure out how to mod textures and graphics in the game. Headgate was exstatic to see all the stuff we were coming up with, some of which actually found its way into TW2003...although they wont admit it. EA closed that door in TW2003.....they stoped releasing a CA in 2007 and moved the panos up to prevent custom courses from 06 from looking good in 07 but did manage to slip in an installer...we got around that. 2008 they repackaged the game and released it with some new atmospheric settings and camera effects...no CA and no installer....does anyone else catch they dont want us modding the game.....????" |
Well said TBM. It is so blatantly obvious what they have done since 07, that there should be little question in anyones mind why EA has done what it has and what they probably will do in any future platform releases. |
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jurgie |
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| Posted: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at
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| If anyone here still has doubts about intent, consider this. Since 06, no new CA. No reason for it unless of course you are tying to discourage the introduction of custom designs into your platform. No CU or CE. Why would you need one unless of course you are putting custom courses into the game? The game has a PGA Tour Calendar but low and behold, it only works with the stock courses for that year. A game engine revamp in 07, new lighting and textures, and a different method of pano design. Certainly improvements to the actual game but also created a considerable amount of headaches for custom designers to find work arounds in regards to the new obstacles that were purposely layed out in order to discourage this nagging custom course business. Thanks to the brilliance and talents of our designers and the tireless efforts of TBM in giving us the super Course Caddy installation program and furthermore, consistantly overcomming the obstacles set forth, that we are even playing the 07 & 08 versions of this platform at all. If not for them, we would still be stuck in 06 and up to our ears in 06 customs. Not really a bad thing I guess, but I for one appreciate 08 and how the custom designs for this platform have matured into something to behold. |
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