EA Sports Producer Tour Report

We visit the sports giant to find out what to expect from the new Madden, Tiger Woods, NBA Live and NHL games out this autumn.

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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08

It may seem that there aren't many things that can be done to shake up the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise, but EA Tiburon (developer of EA's juggernaut Madden series) is determined to try anyway. As Tom Goedde, director of marketing for EA in Florida, told me, the biggest changes in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 have more to do with the structure of play than with the mechanics of the swing.

Though that has changed too. Tiger has a more realistic swing this year. Now you'll be able to determine exactly the strength of a shot based rather on how far you bring the club back than on the velocity of the swing relied on by EA's Redwood Shores team in previous instalments. And because the team is insistent on appealing to as wide an audience as possible, the familiar three-click system from dozens of other golf games is included too - even though it has been tweaked to make it slightly harder to hit perfectly.

And why not? After all, progression is something at the heart of Tiger. The deluge of statistics that seem so threatening in Madden are here too, if you want them. The game will track everything about you, from how you swing the five-iron on the fairways to how successful you've been at putting from the shoulder of the green. It's all there. Visually, this is represented by the familiar shot target, showing you where your shot will land - only this one evolves. Initially you'll have a wide target, but as you get better at particular shots, this will narrow, echoing your confidence at various shots.

And I do mean "your" confidence. The major cosmetic change to Tiger this year is Photo Game Face. This completely revamps the Game Face system from previous games by allowing you to start off with photos. Simply upload front-view and side-view photos (or take them with an attached camera) and, a few minutes of processing later, you're in the game. The best part is that this is still user-changeable, meaning that you can take your rendered character model and tweak it. Want a smaller nose - do it. Better jaw line line - it's yours. You can alter it just as you would any other user-created model. And the reason you'll want to do this is Gamer Net.

Think of Gamer Net as the YouTube of golf games. It's best demonstrated by an example. Say you hit a once-in-a-lifetime drive that goes further than you've ever hit before, and just as the ball is about to land, it hits a cart track and bounces even further. Unbeatable? You can find out. By uploading this clip to the network, you'll be able to set this as a challenge to anyone willing to take it up. They'll be able to download your clip, see how you did it, and then try to better it. And it's not just individual shots. You'll be able to upload shots, holes and even entire rounds. That lets you, for example, play a round and upload it for a friend who can then download it and play against you. It's like online play over Xbox Live, only time-shifted.

In addition to the flagship Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, Tiger is also coming to the Wii. This is a similar game to last year's instalment, though it brings the refinements in shot mechanics to the Wii. The core of this version is Tiger Challenge, which is more varied this year. Rather than playing through full rounds most of the time, you'll need to complete mini-challenges arranged in grids. Once you've completed these challenges, which can include, for example, playing all the par-3s on a course or putting challenges, you'll be able to play against a pro before moving on.

EA Tiburon has had 18 months already to work on Tiger's newest and it shows. The game plays better and looks prettier than previous games, and it's got more options too. We'll find out when Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 comes out this autumn.

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