As you know doubt will have read on CVG last month, EA Sports has launched the Beta for a new, web-only Tiger Woods game for PC.
The browser-based Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online is based around a subscription model - and, unlike the latest Tiger console games, won't be represented by a retail release.
We caught up with Mike Taramykin, Executive Producer of the title, to find out more...
Could you give us a timetable of how you'll come out of open Beta into a full release? As far as the timetable, it's a little too early to hit real calendar dates. For the past eight months we've been testing the core mechanics of the gameplay with users.
The phase we're in right now in the Open Beta is to fine tune the product so it can stand up on its own. I'd love to say 'it's ready when it's ready', but we anticipate a month or two - we'll keep an open Beta for the time being at least. When we think people are staying around long enough and inviting their friends, we'll move it on to the next stage.
Can you tell us what the pricing models will be? We're not ready to talk about the dollar amounts or anything but we've got several general models in the game that include microtransactions and pro-shop, as well as a multi-tiered subscription model.
So you're talking about the game coming in the spring - before the console version hits? Possibly. Again, the difference between launching an online game like this and [a disc-based version] is you try to go on feedback. All that influence from the community helps us make sure the game is perfect - well, as close to perfect as you can get it.
Until we're there, we're not in a hurry to release a specific date. Once we've got our head around what the user's telling us to do in the game, we'll honour that. The console games [Tiger Woods PGA Tour '11] will be shipping in June. This will probably be coming out a little bit before them, but we're not co-ordinating [the console release] that tightly yet.
Will bandwith differences greatly affect the PC version? We've tested it on airplane flights at 30,000 feet and it works fine. We want you to be able to lay this game on your lap in business class.
The bandwith will not affect the actual gameplay. It's just how the Beta gets to you. Someone with a very fast connection will get it very quickly, while someone with a slower connection might have to wait 10 to 15 seconds to load the next hole. But while they're playing, the frame rate or anything won't be affected by that [there will be no difference]. Even on very low bandwith, the [between game] hole-to-hole loading is still in seconds.
There's also a lot of scalability in the game. You can turn reflection in the water off. You can really tune the graphics to anything that will work on any PC bought in the last three years - all the way up to a full, high def experience with every bell and whistle turned on.
Will you be following this model with other PC sports games? Clearly our goal for PC is to work out how we can go direct to customers and how we can really start seeing the PC as a different platform, not just another platform. Will we be doing this with other sports? Yes, we will, but a lot will depend on what we can figure out [with Tiger].
Are you looking for both PC and console games to work together in future - so that you can play a few rounds in one and finish it on another format? We're actually aiming this PC title at an audience that isn't the Xbox, PS3, Wii demographic. We think there are [lots of] sports fans out there that don't own an Xbox but do own a PC - and they're the guys we're going after.
Will there be crossover? Undoubtedly there will be, but we're hoping by releasing them side by side, you can play it on your 360 with full surround sound and HD TV, but then when you're at work, you can get a couple of holes in on my lunch. We think they work pretty well side-by-side. They're not in competition with each other.
Does this server-based strategy tell us anything about how EA Sports is eyeing OnLive and other Cloud-based gaming systems? For us it all comes down to the experience for the player and what we think we can bring. As long as it feels like an EA Sports simulation and we can get people connected to the sport. Technology is just a tool to let us do that.
OnLive is very interesting as far as technology is concerned. But what we're doing with Tiger on PC is reasonably interesting. We analyse all the technology out there and if we think it will give us a better avenue to our customers and sports fans, we're checking it out.
EA Sports is leading the way in terms of server-based, disc-less games releases. Do you expect other EA labels will follow suit with their PC titles? Yeah, anything that anyone does that's successful, it's pretty inevitable that others will follow. There's a lot of focus on doing online stuff [across EA] - as you can see with Battlefield Heroes and some of our more casual stuff. So clearly across the company we're looking at how to go direct to customers in a big way and we're trying a lot of stuff. If a route [to gamers] makes sense for the individual games we'll keep doing it.
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